Posted on Jan 1, 2015
Inclusion in the military. You're special, just like everyone else.
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the real military
I can't help but to feel that we tend to over compensate in some areas. Inclustion in the military is one of them that I feel that we overreach. Everyone should feel like a member of the team and should feel that they are valuable. But there is a point where you try to make everyone feel special. If everyone is special then we are all the same and you redefined what really is special. Changing norms will not have the desired effect you may intend in the long run.
First, it was the black beret. I understand that others wore it before the Rangers did. But the only ones who were wearing it was the Rangers at the time. Below is an official statement.
"In the United States Army, the beret has become a symbol of excellence of our specialty units. Soldiers of the Special Forces, our airborne units, and the Ranger Regiment have long demonstrated such excellence through their legendary accomplishments and unmatched capabilities. Their deployability, versatility, and agility are due, in part, to their organizational structure and equipment."
They got it right that they beret was a symbol of excellence. But if everyone in the Army is excellent wouldn't that just be average. Excellence reserved for those that strive beyond that that is average. But everyone got it and were so proud of it all.
Next came the awards. Now we have awards such as the Combat Action Badge, Sapper Tab, Jungle Expert Tab, and the Army Instructor Badge. I understand the intent behind them. But I can't recall a time when so many new badges came out in one shot. At first Special Forces didn't even have a tab and the President himself was the one that authorized the wear of the Green Beret.
In addition we have more patches that came out. We now have the "MP" and "CBRN" patch. I thought you were to only wear them when on duty that is not the case now. I am sure there are some more.
Are we developing a culture where we award you for doing your job? Should you get an award for what is expected of you? Do you deserve a special uniform accessory for just being in the Army and if so is it special anymore if everyone has it?
It always reminds me of this movie. It is a comedy. This clips explains it pretty well.
First, it was the black beret. I understand that others wore it before the Rangers did. But the only ones who were wearing it was the Rangers at the time. Below is an official statement.
"In the United States Army, the beret has become a symbol of excellence of our specialty units. Soldiers of the Special Forces, our airborne units, and the Ranger Regiment have long demonstrated such excellence through their legendary accomplishments and unmatched capabilities. Their deployability, versatility, and agility are due, in part, to their organizational structure and equipment."
They got it right that they beret was a symbol of excellence. But if everyone in the Army is excellent wouldn't that just be average. Excellence reserved for those that strive beyond that that is average. But everyone got it and were so proud of it all.
Next came the awards. Now we have awards such as the Combat Action Badge, Sapper Tab, Jungle Expert Tab, and the Army Instructor Badge. I understand the intent behind them. But I can't recall a time when so many new badges came out in one shot. At first Special Forces didn't even have a tab and the President himself was the one that authorized the wear of the Green Beret.
In addition we have more patches that came out. We now have the "MP" and "CBRN" patch. I thought you were to only wear them when on duty that is not the case now. I am sure there are some more.
Are we developing a culture where we award you for doing your job? Should you get an award for what is expected of you? Do you deserve a special uniform accessory for just being in the Army and if so is it special anymore if everyone has it?
It always reminds me of this movie. It is a comedy. This clips explains it pretty well.
Awards
Badges
Beret
Edited 11 y ago
Posted 11 y ago
Responses: 47
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I completely agree with everything you’re saying. Towards the end of my career a junior enlisted member coming off of a ship looked like a North Korean general. Everyone expects “end of tour” awards and if not received they get butthurt. Officers get meritorious awards just for being officers. The “everyone gets a trophy” generation is now serving.
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Back in the day, I and other MP's thought we deserved special recognition. We wanted beret's. What color?, white?. Green and gold are the MPcolors. I still believe that MP's deserve a certain distinctive accessory. The beret should have been left to the few that took the challenge and made the grade. I think the Rangers need their Black beret's back.
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Seems like it’s getting to be like in school, everyone gets an award just for showing up.
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I think Army Brass is adhering to the Napolean concept of "a soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of colored ribbon". I am retired USAF and we had/have a similar problem, ribbons and awards for just being present. I think it's what I call the Millenial Mentality, the awarding of participation trophies.
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I’m only going to speak on the MP part. We’ve had MP patches and even MP painted on our helmets as long as the infantry have had blue chords. Certain MP brigades have NCO’s and Officers wear the MP patch when they are “off duty” and in uniform as a deterrent. (Whether you believe it actually does that is debatable, but it is the policy) But I do agree with the other points you make, I just think everyone is trying to distinguish themselves from one another. Black beret, maroon beret, tan beret, green beret, I don’t think one takes any bit of pride away from the other, because it’s well known what each stands for, and what is required in order to wear that beret.
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Isn’t this ironic an infantry officer making a post about berets, badges, and distinctions. EVERY School designed specifically for infantry Soldiers has a special pin or badge associated with it. If it weren’t for Senior Infantry Officers who never could get tan or green berets the black beret would not be in the army inventory for every joe and Jane in basic training. Same with Airborne, there are 3 different cool guy levels and a damn red beret! Stop trying to one up each other. We don’t care that your ORB/ERB is on your daily uniform. Why have Class A’s, we already know you have 4 badges and a Tab, and probably not many ribbons because you’ve spent your entire 3 year commitment at Benning in “training”, while low density MOS’s are doing the heavy lifting in combat zones as PVTs and 2LTs. This sounds like the ramblings of a bitter LT who didn’t make it through SFAS. Like my drill sergeant always told me, “do something remarkable and you will be recognized”. Congrats you passed a school you were expected to, you don’t deserve a special trophy for it. ie airborne wings, air assault wings, path finder badge, ranger tab, sapper tab, eib, cib, cab, Eod crab, free fall badge. The only ones that should exist are the Special forces tab and green beret... they’re actually special because if you spent two years in specific training you deserve something, that is an accomplishment. As far as brassard, you were obviously too poorly educated to even know what they are, an MP can only where it while serving on the road in the capacity of an officer. And the CBRN brassard was designed to distinguish CBRN soldiers down range (not for garrison wear) during the HUNDREDS of Hazard Material missions in Iraq since there is typically 1-4 Soldiers in a Battalion, and that brassard let’s knuckle nuts 11B know not to kick over the black jugs of acid he thinks is water.... which actually happened! Pro Tip... do research before you sound foolish.
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I'm sorry to whatever happened to you in the Army. maybe you didn't get the badges and you felt like you were cheated. The premise is in that there are badges but that they are too many. if you look at the history of bed is like the expert infantry badge or the combat infantry badge it meant something. When you look back at the history of the expert Action Badge it was for equality. It's okay though. I'm sure you're too young to realize what I'm trying to get at. Maybe I'll tell you about it one day.
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Awards have became ridiculous. When i received an ARCOM on deployment it meant something to me at first, but when i saw that fobbits were receiving one as well and they never left the base and were in harms way it insulted me. Leadership gave ARCOMS to useless shitbag soldiers.
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Did they not deploy to a combat zone away from their family in to support the fight?
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Lt Rosa, you’re 10% correct. When I was in the Navy a number of years ago, getting your warfare pin was really an accomplishment. I was an air warfare designee. You had a lot of work to do and a lot of knowledge to gain. I was pinned in 1988 by the commanding officer of the uSS Swight D. Eisenhower and I personally felt I really did something. Now, it’s expected to advance and it is open to anyone, not just aviation. You used to have already made E-4 and now kids are getting this done in the first couple years of a career. Sad. It has cheapened the process to the point where it is meaningless.
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