Should the DoD redesign its medals and ribbons policy and precedence to give more importance to valor than "good work"?

The country's, generals, and SMAJs who suffer from medal-envy will never fix this. That said, I wore everything I was awarded.

A soldiers ribbons tell the story of his service. We know which are which and what they are for

The CIB used to be made from sterling silver. I went to purchase an original silver one from ebay for my father so he could have an extra one. Unfortunately in the process of polishing the silver it removed some of the blue enamel.

Here is where it gets interesting. The seller sent the CIB with the records of the recipient. It was from WWII. The MOS of the recipient was clerical. Looked to me like someone fudged his own records. .

Reduce the amount of Army and AF ribbons, and redo that stupid ASR! A rainbow, have mercy! Why not a Cav blue ribbon with national eagle in the center. Or better yet do away with it and make it a entry in the Soldiers file. Same for BNOC, ANOC entry into the record book. Multiple jump wings? I can see wearing ours. But I have seen some ridiculous setups. Once again, entry into the record book. CIB Vs EIB. Why would you want to wear that plain jane blue bar, Once you have earned and survived the action that you were awarded the CIB for. Once again. When a soldier returns with a CIB the EIB goes in the record book. Sorry folks I was Army before USMC I always thought the Army Greens was the oorah thing. But I think some things have to be regarded as clutter! Or hey, look at me thing!

This is apples and oranges. First off, they created the Air Medal, CIB, BSM, and CMB late in the war to recognize the hard ships borne from heavy losses in the air and on the ground. GEN Eisenhower is only wearing a handful of awards here by choice. There are other photos of him and his peers wearing a more extensive set of decorations. I liken this to GEN Dempsey wearing 6 ribbons and one or two qualification badges, while in official photos, he has a full rack.

Soldiers have had the option to wear some of their decorations, vice all, unless directed by the commander.

My Grandfather was awarded five medals and a CIB for his service as an infantryman in the Pacific. All five were campaign medals and a GCM. He did not go back withe the 1947 policy to retroactively award the BSM to all CMB and CIB recipients for meritorious service.

When I joined the Navy 1966 (E-1) the Navy and even more so, the Marine Corps were penurious with their awarding of medals. the campaign ribbons/medals make some kind of sense, as do valor awards, and personal awards (XXcom, XXmeritorious, XX achievement ) but awards for recruiting, boot camp completion, winter-over, are beginning to look like little league - participation awards. In the Old Days in the Navy, Unit commanders were given a quota of each type of award to be given, and there was also a heir achy of what level of award could be given my a particular rank. Things have change, not sure I agree.

I could be mistaken, but I'm pretty certain sure they already are and always have been.

I thought something was wrong when I was issued (awarded) The National Defense ribbon in
Boot camp. Why was a ribbon needed... Wearing my uniform said I was involved with National Defense.... If there was to be a award for National Defense it should have been handed me at separation when I received my DD-214 and good conduct medal.... There are two reasons I see for Ribbons and medals..... It keeps an industry alive with new orders (which isn't all that bad) and or giving ribbons is like bribing kids with candy.

Awards are represented not given for a reason

I think of valor ribbons are moved to the right side, we will start looking more like Heroes of the Soviet Union. In addition, it seems that medals were given out like candy e.g. EVERYONE got an MSM or BSM when assigned to Kuwait. I have also seen Soldiers that wanted to ensure they got an award and spend considerable time and effort ensuring one was submitted for them or the unwritten policy to give an award for PCSing.