Army Service Ribbon - Should it be discontinued?

I Think rather than discontinue it entirely, Making something like specific ribbons for the base you attended basic training. To me its a pride thing. I came from Fort Sill, OK and they definitely taught me well. Im sure people from benning would argue saying that there ribbon is better... So on and so forth

Well, I wouldn't say the ASR serves no purpose: after all, it shows that you have completed US Army Initial Entry Training. I do believe that the basis of its award criteria is too variable, essentially making the award criteria uneven across the board. If one attends certain forms of OSUT, one might earn the ASR in three months. If one attends certain BCT and follow-on MOS training combinations, one might not earn the ASR for upwards of a year or more. The basis for the award criteria background should be more evenly applicable across the Army for continued use.

Regardless, I believe there are several medals and ribbons that fall into the same general category of recognition for just drawing breath in the military. Chief among the offenders for the Army are the ASR and the NDSM. At least the Overseas Service Ribbon requires you to leave the comfort of big American 24-hour super stores and serve the interests of the US overseas (maybe Hawaii and certain parts of Alaska should be exempt from that ribbon.

The GWOT Service Medal has also been perverted from its original intent. It was originally intended to recognize those individuals that had supported CONUS counter-terrorism/force protection operations like NOBLE EAGLE. Then Big Army said every Soldier on active duty had earned the GWOT-SM simply by being on active duty. Even now the requirement is to serve 30 days on active duty at one's first duty assignment. Ideally one should be supporting CT/FP somehow, but seriously, it's a rare commander that would deny this recognition, at least from the Army side.

I won't speak to the other services because some of them recognize with ribbons what we would recognize with badges. There is a divergence there which other service members fail to see sometimes.

Last point: I've had a chance in the recent past to work with some guys from the UK, and all the US uniformed branches give awards away when compared with the British. I worked with one 22-year member of the RAF who had six medals, which made him something of a big deal in the RAF. I told him that an average American Soldier (1O-level) in their first three years in service with one tour in Afghanistan would have six ribbons (EOT Award, GCM, NDSM, ACM, GWOT-SM, NATO Medal--not including the OSR and ASR) and he almost choked on his tongue. The Danes were the same way. Point is, I guess there has to be some reasonable middle ground in there somewhere.

With all due respect the Army Service Ribbon is to show that one has served in the Army. This is more for people that have served with multiple branches.

A common misconception is that awards are for you. They in all practices have very little permanent impact on your personal reflection other than devices or awards given for sincere acts of heroism. When is the last time you looked with genuine appreciation at that AAM you got for whatever reason? Not often at all, I would argue.
They are more importantly for your children, your grand children. When your grandchild opens up that chest you always kept locked in your closet (much like my grandfather did) the awards tell a story about you that they would not know. I never would have known about my grandfather's silver star, nor details about his service without his awards and the documentation that goes with them (as he passed before he could tell me). So keep the service ribbon, it tells a part of the tale. It paints a piece of the picture that is your legacy.

My opinion as the wee E4 I am, we need to stop focusing on changing all these things. AR 670-1, awards, the list goes on. Can we not focus on sustaining what we already have and bettering it before we start troubling ourselves with completely new change?

Keep it for sure. There are a lot of good points and opinions which caused me to think about my response for a short time but my opinion is this- wearing a uniform is earned by enlisting because it's our uniform and I'm proud to wear mine too. Once we graduate BCT and then AIT, we earn addiction all ribbons because the big army felt it was appropriate to award those who enlisted and completed training. I have seen many not make it through BCT, so for those that did, it's a simple but effective ribbon that we are awarded to be that 1% of the U.S. Although it has no other purpose than to be a ribbon on your chest, it neither hurts anyone, nor adds any incentives (such as promotion points).