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

C'mon, we actually have ribbons for completing basic training in some of the services, and NDSM should be abolished..being in the Armed Forces is "National Defense Service".

I think with ribbons and medals, there are a lot that of people who do not know what they are looking at.
They tell what a service member did, what, when and where.
Also what Branch they were in.
And there good behavior.

There could be a limit.
But Service, NCO Professional, Good Conduct, Overseas, Leadership awards should be left alone.

I a person doe's not know what is?
Just ask.

Keep everything as is. Valor is distinguished from the atta-boys already. Precedence is already set by the color of ribbons and the design of the ribbon. Valor has always been been given the first and highest order.

Respectfully, sir: Please stop. We need to spend less time worrying about what is or isn't on our chest and more working on soldiering skills that will help us win today's and tomorrow's battles.

Let's be real here; somebody getting an AAM for being on 'latrine" detail their entire deployment to BF Sandbox does nothing more than belittle the award and the purpose it was designated for... When I was in uniform, their seemed to be a requirement for NCO's to warp their creative writing skills in writing up a AAM, ARCOM, MSM, just because a soldier was PCS/ETSing and the "Command" directive was "...the soldier 'needs/deserves' an award...' One gets tired of "Gold-plating" mediocracy...

The Service Ribbon can go, it's a "one time award" just for completing AIT, correct? Doesn't the 'Lapel Device' say the same thing???
The NCO Development ribbon... Gone; that you did the school should be on your "brag sheet", and that should be good enough.
Overseas Ribbon... you didn't earn those "Combat" stripes by being deployed to the Pentagon... (well, maybe with all the 'inter-service in-fighting)...
... and different ribbons for operations in the same location??? what's up with that????

I guess for me feelings are divided. When I received my first ARCOM I went "That's all I get for all that work?!" and for the other I felt "That was nothing, why did I get a medal for that?!"

The Korea Defense Service Medal means a lot to me, most people don't realize the danger we were in during that year of service, but Desert Storm is "Famous".

I guess it all evens out, I met a two star once that noticed I had a better "rack"... did my service warrant it? I don't know...

When I see troops with 4, 5, 6 ribbons BELOW their ASR, you know the one you get for completing AIT, something is wrong.

I spent a year in the Saini with the 'Jimmy Carter Peeping Tom BDE"; OK, it was the Multinational Force and Observers, but anyhow... I spent more time with the other Contingents assigned than hanging with my fellow Americans. One of the things I noticed though was it took a lot for the other Contingent Service Members to earn an award vs. a American Soldier who could receive an award just for keeping their personal space clean... or so it seams... So, earning a medal for valor, Yes; a GCM, Ok, getting a ribbon just because you where there.... Nah, don't think that's right...

At one time, I believe that the Army Air Corps and then the Air Force wore very few if any decorations -- just Pilot wings. I suspect the reason is that there were some very junior Colonels and even General Officers during WWII and their rack would look skimpy next to Army colleagues. But if no ribbons are worn by custom, then no problem. That changed, I believe, when Curtis LeMay became Chief of Staff of the AF. Curtis did, I believe, like to wear his decorations and AF regs were changed to require that one wear everything to which they were entitled.

Unfortunately, the photo of Eisenhower fails to grasp that the wearing of awards is voluntary and an individual can wear as many or as few as they desire. Wikipedia may not be an authoritative source but it does provide greater detail on the number and type of ribbons and medals awarded to Eisenhower. More importantly, many of our awards were not authorized when Eisenhower was in the military. Congress created them for each operation (humanitarian, regional, large and small, etc.) as well as for peacetime (soldier's medal, ARCOM, AAM, etc.). So, to compare Eisenhower, who served in the Mexican campaign, Philippine's Occupation, WWI, and WWII with Patreus, whose career started 60 years after Eisenhower's doesn't work. The valid point remains, we should recognize people for both achievement and service and stop inflating awards or over recognizing participation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwight_D._Eisenhower