Is there really a need for a Cold War medal?

Sgt Spencer Sikder I think the Cold War Veterans deserve it. Keeping the peace is just as important than the bureaucracy of warfare. Our Armed Forces earned it.
Millions of Cold War veterans, who served in the military from September 1945 to Dec. 26, 1991 — the day the Soviet Union dissolved — during pockets of peacetime tension that came during the expansion of communism and the fall of the Berlin Wall.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/11/11/cold-war-vets-seek-recognition/18839955/

I agree the number is inflated. At one point the estimate included all who might be eligible by reason of service form 1945 until 1992. Let us be honest a great many of them have now died over the past 25 years. Many of those who are eligible will simply buy the medal rather then go through the process of obtaining them form DoD. In my opinion, Congress should follow a path similar to the KDSM creation process and require DoD to comply.

My knee-jerk reaction was to dismiss the idea, but... then I read that the Pentagon objected on the basis of cost ($400M to create and award the medal). Really? Is that sufficient reason to withhold recognition? So, I was inspired to think about it some more and concluded that yes, it is a reasonable idea. The United States has never faced a greater threat than nuclear annihilation at the hands of the Soviets and victory was only won by the fact that we had a leader willing to admit that we were at war and act like it, and he was backed up by those willing to serve. Many deny President Reagan his just recognition saying that the Gorbachev was a helluva nice guy and surrendered because it was the right thing to do. BS! Well, if it really was a war (and I believe it was), there should be a campaign ribbon. Probably it should be supplemented with officially designated campaigns: Korea, Vietnam, Berlin Blockade, Cuban Missile Crisis, to name a few. And $400M represents what? An Air Force decal on one F35?

Why not just authorize it and let anyone who actually wants one buy it? The army did that a bunch in the sixties. Except for my EIB and an ARCOM I had to buy everything on my uniform including my drill sergeant ID badge, good conduct medal, National Defense Medal etc. All that the army gave me was a piece of paper. I had to buy the rest. Much cheaper that way and the PX made more money.

I think that it makes sense since the Cold War was the longest war in our history Sgt Spencer Sikder :-)
Many of us were prepared to fight and die for our nation and what we thought of as the freedom of democracy. So many military service members served honorably during that period.
The downside is that I expect the vast majority of people eligible for the Cold War Medal are no longer in active duty. Therefor orders would be cut for us, military service records required to be updated, medals and ribbons would need to be sent to us or our survivors, etc.

I believe the $400mil would be better suited assisting our homeless and disable veterans who would probably want that far much more than another medal as quite a few of these are Cold War Vets as well... just an opinion...

We have one for many other conflicts and/or period of service, why not? And $400 Million is way too much...I doubt it would cost that much.

My English wife was tracking down her grand father's lost medals. All she had was a ribbon rack of his. She found a company in England called Awardmedals.com and they helped her buy replacement medals for her grand father and even mounted them in a beautiful shadow box. While she was there, the kids had been bugging her to help make me a father's day shadow box. They were pissed that they still had not received my Cold War certificate from the government. So wife plus kids asked Awardmedals.com if they knew what an American sailor during the Cold War would have and this is what they all came up with. Looks a hell of a lot nicer than what the DoD will probably decide on...

http://www.awardmedals.com/cold-war-medal-p-707.html?cPath=282_21_33

We all know why it will cost 400 million and probably more. The DOD will pay some incompetent design firm too much to come up with the medal. The design will be rejected and they will pay a second company even more to design something worse. That medal will be approved in the interest of saving further costs. The contract to make the medal will go to a factory owned by someone in Congress, located in a third world country. After they are paid half upfront to make needed equipment upgrades they will go bankrupt layoff all their workers and pay exorbitant severance packages to the executives. Because they were awarded the contract and the copyright to the design, a new medal will have to be designed. By the end of it all Congress will spend 500 Million to figure out what happened to the 400 million, and why there was additional 200 million in cost overruns and still no medals!