# How Hard Is It To Get A Good Conduct Medal **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 29, 2008, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-to-get-a-good-conduct-medal/479091 "2008-12-29T18:04:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mr.Goob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c77e96/32.png) [@Mr.Goob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Goob)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2008, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-to-get-a-good-conduct-medal/479091/21 "2008-12-30T05:08:07Z")
Hey **Chiefguy** , a former DC2 here, just wanted to add that I went to a C school once and the Command Master Chief had red stripes. Rumor was they had to be specially made for him. 4 years no violations of the UCMJ and it was automatic for me too. ---
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2008, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-to-get-a-good-conduct-medal/479091/22 "2008-12-30T14:58:13Z")
> [@rhythmonly](#): > > On the other hand, I personally saw a Mess Specialist (cook) receive a Navy Achievement Medal for baking a cake. I also saw a Bosun’s Mate get a NAM for re-tiling the passageway outside of the Admiral’s At-Sea Cabin. For sailors like the cook and the Bosun’s Mate, what’s the most prestigious medal they can hope to get if they never see combat? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2008, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-to-get-a-good-conduct-medal/479091/23 "2008-12-30T15:13:54Z")
> [@sciurophobic](#): > > For sailors like the cook and the Bosun’s Mate, what’s the most prestigious medal they can hope to get if they never see combat? AFAIK, you can win medals for heroic action outside combat - say, pulling someone from a fire in a burning building or something. ---
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2008, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-to-get-a-good-conduct-medal/479091/24 "2008-12-30T15:31:39Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > AFAIK, you can win medals for heroic action outside combat - say, pulling someone from a fire in a burning building or something. But what about for non-heroic action? What do you get if you go above and beyond the call of duty if your duty is to make pastry? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2008, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-to-get-a-good-conduct-medal/479091/25 "2008-12-30T15:36:31Z")
> [@sciurophobic](#): > > But what about for non-heroic action? What do you get if you go above and beyond the call of duty if your duty is to make pastry? Good question. Given the military grade inflation described above, I wouldn’t be surprised if some CO somewhere has claimed his mess staff’s spaghetti was responsible for enhancing national security. ---
**Author:** ![rhythmonly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ee59a6/32.png) [@rhythmonly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rhythmonly)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2008, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-to-get-a-good-conduct-medal/479091/26 "2008-12-30T16:05:42Z")
That’s what made me cynical about being in the Navy. It’s discouraging to bust your ass, really make a difference to mission parameters, and get a piece of paper for your efforts. And then see a baker get a medal pinned on his chest. **Mr.Goob** , while I was at the ASW base in San Dog, a classmate was an E3 with 4 red stripes. We called him the Master Bulldog Seaman of the Navy. I also worked in TPD with an E6 that had 6 red stripes. We called him Bill. ---
**Author:** ![zut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zut/32/2875_2.png) [@zut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zut)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2008, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-to-get-a-good-conduct-medal/479091/27 "2008-12-30T16:15:53Z")
> [@Mr.Goob](#): > > Hey **Chiefguy** , a former DC2 here, just wanted to add that I went to a C school once and the Command Master Chief had red stripes. Rumor was they had to be specially made for him. I don’t get it. Are red stripes that uncommon? > [@rhythmonly](#): > > **Mr.Goob** , while I was at the ASW base in San Dog, a classmate was an E3 with 4 red stripes. We called him the Master Bulldog Seaman of the Navy. I also worked in TPD with an E6 that had 6 red stripes. We called him Bill. Same question. Are multiple red stripes uncommon? Or do guys who get one red stripe tend to, for one reason or another, accumulate nothing but red? ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2008, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-to-get-a-good-conduct-medal/479091/28 "2008-12-30T16:17:00Z")
> [@sciurophobic](#): > > But what about for non-heroic action? What do you get if you go above and beyond the call of duty if your duty is to make pastry? The Navy Commendation Medal is a personal award that is fairly high in the order and doesn’t have to relate to combat duties. Then there are unit awards such as the Meritorious Unit Citation (MUC) and the Navy Unit Commendation (NUC) and the Presidential Unit Citation (PUC), known as the "Muke, the Nuke, and the Puke in Navy circles. The awards I was most proud of were the two Humanitarian Service Medals I was awarded for assisting with earthquake relief in Guatemala (signed by Henry Kissinger) and another for hurricane relief. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2008, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-to-get-a-good-conduct-medal/479091/29 "2008-12-30T16:20:43Z")
> [@zut](#): > > I don’t get it. Are red stripes that uncommon? > > Same question. Are multiple red stripes uncommon? Or do guys who get one red stripe tend to, for one reason or another, accumulate nothing but red? On somebody that senior, it’s very unusual. Otherwise, no. Say a sailor behaved himself for 12 years and had three gold stripes. Then, in his 13th year, he screws up and punches a hooker and is court martialed. Back to red stripes. ---
**Author:** ![rhythmonly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ee59a6/32.png) [@rhythmonly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rhythmonly)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2008, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-to-get-a-good-conduct-medal/479091/30 "2008-12-30T16:37:29Z")
It’s unsettling to see a higher paygrade make rate like that. There was a Senior Chief that popped positive for cocaine. He was restricted to base, and wore dungarees until he got his Big Chicken Dinner. Weird. ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2008, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-to-get-a-good-conduct-medal/479091/31 "2008-12-30T16:57:37Z")
> [@Keeve](#): > > Ordinary civilian here, saluting and thanking y’all on behalf of the rest of us. _ **How hard is it to get OTHER medals?** _ Maybe the intention was for the Good Conduct Medal to be a sort of consolation prize, so that no one goes home emptyhanded, and everyone goes home with at least something? This is a good question. Really, it depends upon your batallion-level command team and your PAC (Personnel Action Center, the “clerks” that move the paperwork through the sstem). In the 2nd ACR in Germany, our squadron (battalion equivalent) and regimental (brigade equivalent) commanders were death on legs to any officer or NCO that screwed over a trooper on medals and awards. Acievement awards for meritorious performance flowed freely, and weren’t awarded for “just showing up.” You actually had to do something very well, consistently, to be awarded. And when you were, the award came with due ceremony and all the trinkets and certificates that were appropriate. Additionally, everyone, of every branch (cooks, medics, mechanics, etc.) was rewarded for superior service; not just the “shooters” (infantry, artillery, armor, aviation). At Ft. Hood, it was the total opposite; inter-branch politics dominated everything. An entire [insert _your_ branch here] company could screw up by-the-numbers and still get awarded, while a [insert _other_ branches here] unit that blew the doors off of the training goals would get a gruff, perfunctory “well done.” Even if a soldier in the “other branches” managed to snag an award, it’s doubtful they’d actually get anything more than a copy of the orders confirming that, yes, they did receive that award. No ceremony, no medal, no gold-leaf certificate, suitable for framing, stating what they actually did to achieve the award. Just a bad photocopy of your orders. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2008, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-to-get-a-good-conduct-medal/479091/32 "2008-12-30T18:09:54Z")
I remember a _New Yorker_ cartoon that showed a soldier in dress uniform at a fancy party, talking to a matronly woman. He’s pointing to his medals and says, “They gave me this one by mistake, and they gave me the rest of these because I got this one.” ---
**Author:** ![davekhps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@davekhps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davekhps)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2008, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-to-get-a-good-conduct-medal/479091/33 "2008-12-30T18:20:01Z")
> [@sciurophobic](#): > > But what about for non-heroic action? What do you get if you go above and beyond the call of duty if your duty is to make pastry? The Air Force likes to hand out Achievement Medals: [Achievement Medal - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Force_Achievement_Medal) I knew a Pentagon-based AF Major who got one for successfully planning a _Christmas party_. Sure, it had several hundred attendees, but. . . _c’mon_. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2008, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-to-get-a-good-conduct-medal/479091/34 "2008-12-30T18:36:49Z")
> [@davekhps](#): > > The Air Force likes to hand out Achievement Medals: [Achievement Medal - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Force_Achievement_Medal) > > I knew a Pentagon-based AF Major who got one for successfully planning a _Christmas party_. Sure, it had several hundred attendees, but. . . _c’mon_. A close friend works for a well-known government investigation agency and she got a citation with a little placard thingy (that came with a healthy bonus) for exactly the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2008, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-to-get-a-good-conduct-medal/479091/35 "2008-12-30T18:42:02Z")
The red stripe/gold stripe difference: I had been under the impression that in order to get the stripes in gold, a sailor had to have ten years of unbroken not-in-trouble service. So you wouldn’t be eligible to have gold ones until you got your third stripe. Was that wrong? -kaylasdad99, wearer of two red stripes upon my discharge with just under eleven years. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2008, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-to-get-a-good-conduct-medal/479091/36 "2008-12-30T18:49:01Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > I was on the bus and I overheard, because, well if you don’t want me to listen you shouldn’t yell into your cellphone and start all your friends laughing… 🙂 > > Anyway the jist of it was there were these four young men and from what I could make out they were all in the armed forces. It sounded like they weren’t all in the same branch. > > One of them said something about medals into his cell phone and then hung up. One of his buddies said “But you got a good conduct medal right?” And the guy he asks just kind of turns away, and another of the young men “Dude, how bad were you that you couldn’t even get a good conduct medal?” > > Then the other three started laughing and teasing him. > > My question is how hard is it to get a good conduct medal? > > Here is a link to a wikipedia article about the criteria [Good Conduct Medal At Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Conduct_Medal) > > But I do realize sometimes in real life it’s not the same as on paper. > > So how hard is it to get a good conduct medal, or maybe I should ask how hard is it NOT to get one? My husband got one, and he spent time in jail in the service. I think they re-set your conduct clock every couple years. They’re very easy to get. He punched out his CO and still managed to get one!! ---
**Author:** ![Jake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2008, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-to-get-a-good-conduct-medal/479091/37 "2008-12-30T20:37:41Z")
Long ago when I was in the Army they gave out “Sharpshooter” Medals. Just for making it through basic training. If you wore the thing after basic, you would certainly get laughed at. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2008, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-to-get-a-good-conduct-medal/479091/38 "2008-12-30T21:15:29Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > The Navy Commendation Medal is a personal award that is fairly high in the order and doesn’t have to relate to combat duties. Then there are unit awards such as the Meritorious Unit Citation (MUC) and the Navy Unit Commendation (NUC) and the Presidential Unit Citation (PUC), known as the "Muke, the Nuke, and the Puke in Navy circles. > > The awards I was most proud of were the two Humanitarian Service Medals I was awarded for assisting with earthquake relief in Guatemala (signed by Henry Kissinger) and another for hurricane relief. I’ve seen Captains (soon to be Admirals) receive the Legion of Merit for not screwing up in a major Commanding Officer position. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2008, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-to-get-a-good-conduct-medal/479091/39 "2008-12-30T22:29:33Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > The red stripe/gold stripe difference: I had been under the impression that in order to get the stripes in gold, a sailor had to have ten years of unbroken not-in-trouble service. So you wouldn’t be eligible to have gold ones until you got your third stripe. > > Was that wrong? > > -kaylasdad99, wearer of two red stripes upon my discharge with just under eleven years. Ah, good point, and absolutely correct. You don’t get the gold until 12 consecutive (I think) years. So if you had an NJP at 8 years, you couldn’t wear gold until you had 12 more years of good conduct (or 20 years service). ---
**Author:** ![PaulParkhead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@PaulParkhead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PaulParkhead)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2008, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-to-get-a-good-conduct-medal/479091/40 "2008-12-30T23:19:48Z")
> [@rhythmonly](#): > > It’s unsettling to see a higher paygrade make rate like that. There was a Senior Chief that popped positive for cocaine. He was restricted to base, and wore dungarees until he got his Big Chicken Dinner. > > Weird. Um, until he got his _what_? 😕 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-to-get-a-good-conduct-medal/479091.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-to-get-a-good-conduct-medal/479091.md?page=3)