To the Navy members.... What is your opinion of Red vs. Gold Service Stripes?

Really? The Navy does the whole scarlet letter branding thing to those that get out? That is seriously stupid, no offense intended to Navy folk. People make mistakes, the mistake does not define you, how you learn, grow and progress from that mistake however does.

It’s just another way to acknowledge exemplary service. Nobody is perfect and if you get a chit you lose the gold. It’s that simple. Having red isn’t dishonorable and you should be proud regardless of the color you wear if you finish honorably with your DD214.

Mistakes happens the point is learning from it

I think a point to note is, if it seen month or years after the incident to everyone, does the Sailor ever really get over it or do they just accept the fact that no matter how good they are today, everyone will know they screwed up?

Who gives a fuck! One owns his or her stripes, no matter the color red or gold stand tall!

I spent 10 years in the Naval Reserve before being selected for Officer Candidate School by the Air National Guard. I was never awarded a Good Conduct Medal because I spent 3 years in reserve status, 2 years on active duty, 2 additional years in reserve status, discharged upon graduation from college, then reenlisted for an additional 3 years in the reserves.

I always expected that Chiefs would have earned gold stripes, but I never really thought about the color of stripes below the rank of Chief.

I think the Army's version of the red stripes would be the presence of a Good Conduct Medal, but it isn't the same. I was in the Infantry, While I never received an article 15, but if I had it wouldn't have counted towards my good conduct medal, because my commander was an O-3. If I were in the Artillery though, then it would have counted because a CO for an artillery company is an O-4, which is a flag officer.

Best Master Chief I had, 30 years of red stripes.

I kept wearing red under the mistaken belief that 12 consecutive years would be affected by broken service. In reality you continue where you left off before getting out. I wasn't too crazy about spending that money on gold plus you seem to get more street cred when you wear red.

My “feeling” , or impression I suppose, was never negative against the Red Stripes.
I often found more senior Gold Stripes acted aloof. These were a young man’s impressions and not necessarily accurate nor would they be the same now.
At the time I often got the impression that some Gold strippers didn’t swing their arms very much so that folks might think that the hash marks on the sleeve were actually around the cuff.