Does a getting a award, ribbon or medal define ones career. Does having a chest full of ribbons make you a better soldier ?

It shouldn't. One of the best leaders I know has a stack not much bigger than mine, but I'd follow him to hell and back, and make it a regular trip.

In general no, but at a certain point i would think the abscence of the commendatory FITREPS that come with recieving a performance award would not go un noticed by a promotion/selection board

not anymore, there are soo many participation awards now days. I got a medal for being assigned to a stateside base, merely because there were Nukes on it. in the air force if you are careful, and go to the correct base thirty days after getting to your first base you can have basic training ribbon, marksman ribbon, honor grad ribbon, national defense service medal, GWOT, and Nuke detterance service medal. 6 ribbons/medals out of training.

No! Not Necessarily. You could be a Damn Fine Soldier and done a career and never left the Garrison or the States. A chest full of Ribbons does tell me that you have seen quite a bit more than the Average Joe though. 21 years, I don't have that many.

The US military has become everything they made fun of other countries for a few decades ago. The term "medal creep" doesn't come close to describing what's happening now days.

I know everyone will say "I earned every one of mine" which although may technically be true...but only so because that bar in many instances has been dropped MUCH lower than years past. Hell...I'll even admit that I was surprised at the amount I received during Desert Storm. What's even MORE annoying are the amount of "been there" participation medals/ribbons. A ribbon just for getting past basic? C'mon. My great uncle built mulberries under German fire at Normandy then shipped over to the Pacific where he island hopped while getting shot at by the Japanese as he was building runways. He retired after 20 years with something like 10 ribbons/medals. I see junior enlisted get that after a deployment or two.

You really can get a sense for not really "who" the member is...but more for where they've been and what they've done. I pay almost no attention to the basement but only about the top two rows or so. Those are usually the personal awards...everything else is just kinda holding them up.

The old joke was "He's got more medals than a General in the Mexican Air Force". NOW...the Mexicans have turned that one around...

Since most of them are Participation awards anyways, I would say no.

Two questions: do awards and decorations define your career? No, but they are an outward illustration of your career. They can tell the informed world where you've been, how well you did your duty, and highlight heroism. Does having many awards and decorations make you a better service member? IMO it may raise self confidence, but I don't see it improving your technical or leadership capability.

Honestly, first thing I look for nowadays is a combat patch and how many overseas bars they are rocking (for Army anyways).

I think for the "younger" service members today, they desire to "be like" their leaders, and most leaders, especially if they deployed more than once, may have a decent rack on their chests. Now, a lot of the youngsters are also from the generation that have been awarded participation ribbons and trophies for everything they have participated in and therefor have developed a sense of entitlement when it comes to receiving awards. Me personally, I do not think that one's "fruit salad" defines their career, but it can tell what one may have done over the course of that career, ask, there may be a good story to an individual's rack.

Awards and badges earned are simply an indication of who the SM might be.>The "rack" never interested me, i took the time to make sure it was correct, and I new what every ribbon or badge I was wearing was for. Always tough with unit awards that are only on the uniform do to duty assignment.

But I can detail the reason and cause for issuance for both my CIB's, My Bronze star, MSM, my ARCOM, and most of my AAM....though even that is getting sketchy after such a long time.