Army Service Ribbon - Should it be discontinued?

I voted to keep it. It's been around for over 30 years and many moons ago, someone with a lot of rank on their chest decided to add the ASR, OSR and NCO Ribbon. From my understanding they were added to fluff up Soldiers racks because in the years after Vietnam they got a little thin.

Well those days will be coming again. 10 years after the wars draw down, Soldiers after 3-4 years in will have a vastly smaller rack then they do today. After the wars draw down, sooner or later the NDSM and the GWTSM will go away, and not be awarded anymore. I remember in 2000 I had some real high speed senior leaders, fine NCOs near retirement. How many ribbons did they have? 8 total, (MSM/ARCOM/AAM/GCM/NDSM/NCO/ASR/OSR). Through no fault of their own their racks, were the same size as your average SPC today with one ARCOM and one deployment. There will be a time where it will revert back to that standard. 10-15 years from now.

Yes Soldiers today are stacked very high. Don't blame the Soldier when the force gets a NDSM and GWTSM right off the bat, then 2-3 more medals right after one deployment to Afgahistan.

I voted to do away with it but I was wondering if it could be combined with the NDSM. That is, you are awarded one for peace time service and one for war time service. So for me I would only have the NDSM instead of both. When the wars draw down here in a year or 2 those soldiers that would only have the NDSM after serving 10+ years during war time would be awarded the ASR for peace time service. Just a thought.

After basic you wore 2 US insignia on class A/B uniform, after AIT you wore 1 US insignia and 1 branch insignia. The ASR should be eliminated along with OSR, NPDR, and the AAM, as they are totally worthless ribbons, nothing more than participation awards with no significance at all!

I was in during the eighties and if it were not for that ribbon some soldiers could have served out a whole first tour and have nothing but rifle and grenade qualification badges.

Lets try this - 1. Make the ASR for E-1 to E-4 only. (Sorry officers, you don't need one.) When an E-4 completes WLC they trade the ASR for an NCOPDR. If a soldier gets promoted to CPL or SGT without completing WLC they still lose their ASR. This will have two effects - 1. E-1s to E-4s still get some "candy" and it encourages E-4s to complete WLC as soon as possible to upgrade their "status". Now that that is settled, we can now start to argue about the NDSM and GWOTSM.....

Yeah so those of you that served almost entirely with a wartime Army may not understand the purpose of the ASR. In peacetime (when they are a lot more stingy with giving out ribbons) it can take years to get the next ribbon on your uniform depending on what unit your in. During the Cold War when I was with my unit in Germany, at least everyone got at least a OSR and a AAM before they PCS'd unless they were really a loser. 101st Airborne in CONUS, you basically got a pat on the back or a certificate to file away somewhere......that was it. All I got from the 101st was a GCR. I contributed a LOT more to my 101st unit then I did with my unit in Germany. 101st I was asst armorer while holding down a line platoon position as well.....which meant a lot of long hours. Nothing was awarded for that. So in peacetime the ASR does serve somewhat of a purpose for those in support units. Infantry units and Combat Arms units can probably do away with it though.

SGM, I see your point and can see both sides. So let me ask this question, why do we have an NCOPD Ribbon? Officers don’t earn PME ribbons so why not do away with the service ribbon and PME ribbon? Also, good conduct, shouldn’t all our Soldiers conduct themselves as professionals? So why give them a medal? Officers don’t earn good conduct medals, just a few questions I’d like your perspective on. Good Post and a valid question.

I would make it optional. The whole awards thing is so vari d, I’d leave it to give the young guys something. Otherwise we should get rid of time based awards altogether!

My belief is it should be awarded upon Honorable Discharge from the Army. It serves no purpose while in the Army, however for those that change services, or who become police or other officers who can wear military ribbons, it would actually serve a purpose. So yes, everyone should get one, but not until ETS/Retirement under honorable conditions

Well it was started after Vietnam for those that did not qualify for the NDSM, but also those that only did a 3 year tour. It also serves another purpose that is not discussed here. As it states the ribbon is when you successfully complete your army MOS training. Soldiers that transfer from another branch are not awarded the ribbon unless they complete MOS training if required, but also soldiers who are on split enlistment do not receive it until they finish MOS training. It may seem like a useless medal, but it was established for a reason.