Why American Troops Don't wear their medals?

vtjames7433

In the US, medals and awards are only worn on dress uniforms and it isnt often that you will see a member of the military wondering around in a dress uniform- trust me, we do wear them and our awards and medals are on them

laughter_every_day

medals are not worn with working uniforms, cammo and such. Dress uniforms call for medals and I don't know anyone who doesn't comply with that.

artilleryman89

We don't feel the need to show off. We know what we've done and that's all that matters. And we have ribbions to show what medals we've earned.

AP Mik

They don't wear their medals. However, if you look they have a million ribbons over their heart. Every ribbon could represent anything from the Bronze medal to "I served in Mission Iraqi Freedom"

Dan P

I am a Viet Nam Vet. There was so much anti war thrown at returning vets that they did not wear uniforms or medals because of public outcry of those who should have addressed their concerns to the leaders instead of the returning vets. Why wear any sort of item that would attract attention of those people and receive unwanted attention, even negative attention. Once I was home, I was axious to get a job and get back into the normal routine, I put the war behind me and moved forward to the future that awaited me.

Perhaps you have noticed recently returning vets. It takes a while for the awards to be approved and distributed, so a returning vet may not receive the medal until later, even after being back awhile. Maybe the other countries are able to distribute medals sooner and the public accept their service without questioning the reason the country is or was at war.

I wore my dress uniform on occasions, but did not have that many occasions, once I returned to civilian life. Medals are intended to be worn on the dress uniform. While there is a small rectangle medal representing the award, not many people know which ones are for what. Military personnel who wear only the small rectangle award may not want to draw attention to the very fine award of the dangly award. Perhaps this is what you are looking for in the awards you see in other countries military personnel mentioned in your question.

fuzzyface1972

I have several friends in the Military and several friends who are veterans.I also am a Veteran.The wearing of the Medals is something we all do Proudly on our dress uniform only, we don't disgrace our country by wearing them any other way.The ones you were talking about not wearing their medals were either not wearing a dress uniform or didn't earn any is my opinion.I Salute All Our Troops who are serving and have served our country Honorably.

Slowblinker

Medals are for show and there are specific uniforms for that.

Cammies are for work and there is no reason to wear any medals/ribbons on those.

All branches, do, however, have some awards that are worn on the cammies like Jmpmaster wings, EOD etc that would show you are qualified to perform a certain job.

Lillian

We wear the ribbons on our dress uniform.

shlick

The only time you wear your medals is with your dress uniform and the only time you wear your dress uniform is at a funeral a ball a wedding or when your unit dictates it. You can wear ribbons but again most of the us military simply wears there working uniforms so your not going to see any medals or ribbons unless its at a function.

wichitaor1

I hardly ever wear my ribbons at drill or on AT, because I am wearing BDUs and ribbons are not worn with utilities.

When I wear my other uniforms, I wear my ribbons, but no medals. Medals are worn only on formal occassions, like change of command, commissioning/decommissioning, and formal balls. In twenty years years, I have only worn my medals about a dozen times.

bob t

the ribbons worn on the left side represent the medals that a serviseman has won medals are worn on dress uniforms. Full size medals (the ones presented to the service person) are rarely worn but minature medals are worn on the dress mess uniform in the army. Minature medals if lost can be replaced but full sized medals can only be replaced by the granting authority and thus harder to replace so most recipients keep them in a safe place.

Pampernator

Because we only wear them in service uniforms...and most of us don't wear our service uniforms...however, when we do, we typically wear our medals etc. (Air Force is all or none...and if it's for a specific function they usually mandate ALL ribbons etc.)

Farbo

Top secret.

The Scorpion

You only wear actual medals on certain uniforms and the vast majority of the military is RARELY in these uniforms.

Mike S

I rarely wore mine because always wore BDU's. On the service uniform they can get in the way at work and even be a hazard depending one your job. Everyone wears then on their dress uniforms, they just don't wear the dress uniform often.

david o

Many of our servicemen are NOW allowed to travel in their fatigues, with which you don't wear your ribbons/medals. Fatigues,combat uniforms,are not designed to be "street clothes".

Enter Your Message or Comment

User Name:
User Email:
Post a comment: