Posted on Apr 25, 2016
Do Your Awards Still Mean Something To You After Leaving The Service?
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When I served in the Army, my medals and awards were a sense of pride for me. Now that I am retired, they are simply some colored ribbons that I have in a display case in the den. I don't hold the same pride I had in them as when I was in the service. Do you believe that medals and awards only hold the pride that you assign them? Do you still feel pride in them now that you are out of the service?
Awards
Medals
ETS/EAS
Retirement
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 74
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They'll always mean something to me. One of the "projects" I plan on accomplishing once I retire is to build my own shadow box with all of my awards, and badges. Thanks to the new ASU's and the new colored metal unit badges, I plan on getting one for each unit I served in. It will be proudly hung in my house for all to see.
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Yes, they do. They represent the men I served with and the long military tradition in my family. My shadow box hangs with my father-in-law's box showing his service in the Philippines during WWII and my son-in-law's reflecting his current service as a MGySgt.
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Other than the MOH they are just some fancy ribbons that are meaningless to almost everyone in the civilian world. I'm not sure if that is a good or a bad thing
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SFC (Join to see)
My Dad was a retired Maj USAF, he used to say with those ribbons and $2.00 you can get a cup of coffee!
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The ones that meant something to me while I was AD, still mean something to me now. The ones that didn't mean anything - or were recognized as jokes or gimmes... they still mean nothing.
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I'm more in the proud to have served camp but otherwise have moved on. For memories, nothing beats worn photos and artifacts from yesteryear. Medals represent how someone else felt about you, not how you felt doing it or even fighting the dragon afterwards in some cases. That said, the medals are the first thing pointed at by the kids because they connect to them more readily than my double gradients. Bottom line, each piece in the shadow box will tell a story.
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MSG DiFondi, your medals and ribbons you have earned, will only ever have true value to you, and for those of us that have served. Civilians and Civilian jobs do not care or just don't understand
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i spent 31+ years in the service, i earned every ribbon and medal i recieved and some mean more than others but i'm proud of my service and will display all when i can afford it
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Yes they do. I have a shadow box that my dad wanted of my medals, ribbons and badges so he could hang them in his shop for all to see. He was as proud of them as I was. He finally retired last year and sold his business, so he gave me the box and I have it hanging in my office at work and sit back and look at it and let the fond memories of each medal come back to me and how I earned it, or a deployment, or something about it. Many people ask me about them and I always answer their questions with pride.
90% of my co-workers have never been around or know anyone that has served in the military, so it is an excellent opportunity to be a cheerleader for those that have served, serve now, and will serve.
90% of my co-workers have never been around or know anyone that has served in the military, so it is an excellent opportunity to be a cheerleader for those that have served, serve now, and will serve.
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