Army Service Ribbon - Should it be discontinued?

Seems stupid to me, wearing of the uniform already shows you made it.

My take is that if it is only awarded for your first MOS, then drop it, but for those of us who have earned multiple MOS's can put a numeric designating how many AIT's or OJT'd for a year or more, then it would mean something more. So I can go either way with that one, But as only indicating the initial training itself, toss it.

Drop the Army's ASR, OSR, NCOPDR, Sea Service, and GWOTSM. These ribbons came about after Vietnam and prior to 9/11. Senior NCOs and Field grade officers with over ten years on service had no ribbons or just the Good Conduct. These ribbons are like a trophy for showing up.

There should not be a ribbon for anything that can be otherwise be noted. You are already working in your MOS, so it is obvious that you passed the course, you are wearing the rank of SSG, so there isn't any reason to have an NCOES award. National defense? Make it an after service award, so you can wear it at parades when you get old. Good Conduct? I kind of like the Navy version, where your rank changes color to denote 12 years of such.

I honestly think it should stay but that is only my humble opinion. I have seen soldiers in the army that only had a total of 3 ribbons on their dress uniforms and it had nothing to do with bad performance. By the same token I have seen naval enlisted with 2 and a half rows of ribbons in less then 6 years of service. If you're going to trim down the Army awards then I believe you should trim down ALL the branches down to the same standard.

After reading a majority of the responses, one thing continuously mentioned is the repetition of NCOES, check the block ribbons. If the Army insists on having them, then why not change it just a bit to something like what is done with other "multiple" ribbons like OSR or AGCM?

My suggestion is find a middle ground, continue to acknowledge them by keeping the ASR, getting rid of the rest, and adding a knot for each successfully completed professional development related milestone. Maybe this is too simple of a solution and I'm missing the bigger picture, but to me at least, it makes more sense than just adding more meaningless ribbons.

I just can't see the point of a ribbon that shows that I'm qualified to be a soldier. My uniform portrays that already. Yes I know there are reservists that go to drills but haven't completed IET. I was one of them at one point, but I don't think we need a ribbon to differentiate us from the private that is waiting to go to basic training.

I think pointless awards cheapen the awards system. We don't need ribbons and badges for everything under the sun to look cooler in uniform. Just like I don't think we should be handing out other awards based on rank rather than accomplishments, but that's the start of a whole other rant.

Gee I served in the Army,or did I,vietnam in 66-67,but I guess I wasn't in since in don't have the Army service ribbon or overseas ribbon, so I was not overseas. If they are going to keep these ribbons then retro them back to WWII, so we can all prove we finished AIT and were across the ocean

The ASR served a purpose at the time it was introduced in the early 80s. But now it is nothing more than I survived basic training/AIT/OUST and really serves no purpose.

We have become a society where we have to recognize all participants the same as the "first place winner" which I vehemently disagree. As a Battalion Commander and Battalion Executive Officer, I witnessed first hand Soldiers arriving to those units partially trained, overweight and unable to pass the AFPT. Yet they were "awarded" a ribbon for completing the course.

Given the numerous awards being presented for service today, there is no longer a need for for this "award". Once we revert to a truly Peace time Army, the ASR may be reinstated so the peacetime Soldiers can feel as relevant as the wartime Soldiers.

I'm in the coast guard and we don't get this ribbon so what's it matter