# Is it possible to go through military service and be honorably discharged without being "decorated"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 25, 2010, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-go-through-military-service-and-be-honorably-discharged-without-being-decorated/544525 "2010-06-25T20:34:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2010, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-go-through-military-service-and-be-honorably-discharged-without-being-decorated/544525/1 "2010-06-25T20:34:24Z")
I hear all this stuff about political candidates being former “decorated” members of military service, and of course about making false claims of exactly what they were decorated with. My sister was in the Air Force, in peace time 30 some years ago, and according to her account did nothing at all unusual or heroic or even particularly tiring. Her job was eavesdropping on Russian Air Force radio nets. She ended up with half a dozen or so medals, the kind she says everybody gets if you don’t fuck up too badly. I don’t want to denigrate her service or anyone else’s, but if you hear someone described as “decorated” can you assume anything more than that person served honorably? Is there a definition of “decorated” within military service that means it is supposed to be restricted only to people who had some extraordinary achievement, like heroism in combat? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2010, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-go-through-military-service-and-be-honorably-discharged-without-being-decorated/544525/2 "2010-06-25T20:55:24Z")
If I use the word “decorated,” I mean at least a Purple Heart or two, maybe a Bronze Star. But I have a very tight definition. I think it’s very hard to do a hitch and get an honorable discharge without picking up a Good Conduct Medal at the very least. Or the Global War On Terrorism medal, which can be given to support persons as well. ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2010, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-go-through-military-service-and-be-honorably-discharged-without-being-decorated/544525/3 "2010-06-25T21:23:51Z")
IMO, if you don’t have an award for Valor, you are not “decorated”. That means Bronze Stars for “Service” and Purple Hearts don’t make you decorated. An ARCOM w/ V, or BSM w/ V… then you can claim to be decorated. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2010, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-go-through-military-service-and-be-honorably-discharged-without-being-decorated/544525/4 "2010-06-25T21:33:13Z")
Okay, but are these widely accepted definitions, or just your personal opinions of the curcumstances that merit the term? With politicians, “decorated” could mean putting a rose on a lapel. ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2010, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-go-through-military-service-and-be-honorably-discharged-without-being-decorated/544525/5 "2010-06-25T21:37:46Z")
Oh, sorry. Yea, you pretty much nailed it with your OP. There is no technical, specific, or accepted definition for “decorated”. It can mean whatever the user wants it to mean. In fact, you can’t even be certain that the person served honorably. A Soldier can be in for 4 years, earn a couple medals, be given even more, and then get dishonorably discharged for bad conduct. He doesn’t surrender the medals he’s already earned. So he could still get out and say he was a decorated Soldier. ---
**Author:** ![wsoldier182](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@wsoldier182](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wsoldier182)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2010, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-go-through-military-service-and-be-honorably-discharged-without-being-decorated/544525/6 "2010-06-25T21:43:37Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > I hear all this stuff about political candidates being former “decorated” members of military service, and of course about making false claims of exactly what they were decorated with. My sister was in the Air Force, in peace time 30 some years ago, and according to her account did nothing at all unusual or heroic or even particularly tiring. Her job was eavesdropping on Russian Air Force radio nets. She ended up with half a dozen or so medals, the kind she says everybody gets if you don’t fuck up too badly. > > I don’t want to denigrate her service or anyone else’s, but if you hear someone described as “decorated” can you assume anything more than that person served honorably? Is there a definition of “decorated” within military service that means it is supposed to be restricted only to people who had some extraordinary achievement, like heroism in combat? ``` Yes, someone can be honorably discharged without receiving anything other than the usual awards one gets just for serving. As for politicians claiming that they're "decorated" well that is just them trying to make themselves look better(usually). As for your sisters service in the Air Force, I heard they are notorious for giving out a lot of awards. I'm in the Army, and I consider myself fortunate to have 3 Army Achievement Medals. I also have two Army Commendation medals for two deployments. I'm not aware of any definition for the term. But like I said earlier most politicians are just trying to make themselves look good. ``` ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2010, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-go-through-military-service-and-be-honorably-discharged-without-being-decorated/544525/7 "2010-06-25T21:43:41Z")
Hell, I have about 31 medals, ribbons and badges, (inlcuding multiples of the same medal), and I would never consider calling myself “decorated” unless I was selling something or running for office. ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2010, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-go-through-military-service-and-be-honorably-discharged-without-being-decorated/544525/8 "2010-06-25T21:50:57Z")
> [@wsoldier182](#): > > I heard they are notorious for giving out a lot of awards. I’m in the Army, and I consider myself fortunate to have 3 Army Achievement Medals. I also have two Army Commendation medals for two deployments. If your deployments were to the Middle East, you have much more than just 3 AAMs and 2 ARCOMs. Don’t forget these. You have at _least_: Overseas Service Ribbon x 2 Army Service Ribbon x1 National Defense Service Meda x 1 Global War on Terrorism Service Medal x 1 Iraqi Campaign Medal **or** Afghanistan Campaign Medal (or possibly both, I don’t know your story) Good Conduct Medal (90% chance you didn’t do something to get refused this one) Plus your AAMs and ARCOMs. So we can’t exactly say it’s just the Air Force that’s giving medals away. . . ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2010, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-go-through-military-service-and-be-honorably-discharged-without-being-decorated/544525/9 "2010-06-25T21:51:02Z")
If by “decorated” you mean receiving ANY medals, I would say it would be hard to serve in the US military without being decorated. For example, as an enlisted naval reservist with 2 years active duty and 4 years active reserve duty, for service during certain time periods, one automatically gets the National Defense Service Medal. You can see that (and BUY one or more!) at [National Defense Service Medal](http://www.gruntsmilitary.com/natdef.shtml) ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2010, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-go-through-military-service-and-be-honorably-discharged-without-being-decorated/544525/10 "2010-06-26T01:49:14Z")
When I say that I’m a “decorated war veteran”, I mean to say that I’m “a war veteran by every conceivable definition.” I don’t use the term to say that someone (such as myself) is more honorable than another person. I actually use it to mean that the person did [whatever] in the normal way. That is, they didn’t go to Iraq once on a convoy 4 miles from the border. They didn’t go to, say, Kosovo on a peace keeping operation. They went, really and truly, to a war zone and stayed there for a decent amount of time. That’s just one sense of the word. The other would be more of a quantifiable characteristic. It’s not so much “That person is/is not a decorated soldier.” It’s more like “That person is not very/decently/very decorated,” or “My sergeant is more decorated that your sergeant!” It’s a scale, you see. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2010, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-go-through-military-service-and-be-honorably-discharged-without-being-decorated/544525/11 "2010-06-26T02:03:53Z")
It used to be absolutely possible. My old man was in the Air Force from 1969-1973, and while he did rather well promotion wise (E5, passed for E6, inside of 4 yrs), but his uniform only had the Good Conduct Medal. When I asked him how he got that one, he said “I didn’t kill anyone.” ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2010, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-go-through-military-service-and-be-honorably-discharged-without-being-decorated/544525/12 "2010-06-26T14:23:44Z")
I spent 4 years in the Navy, was honorably discharged and received no service medals or ribbons of any kind. I did one weekend of reserves 3 months after my discharge and about 6 months later I was sent a good conduct ribbon for my 4 years and 2 days of service in the US Navy. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2010, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-go-through-military-service-and-be-honorably-discharged-without-being-decorated/544525/13 "2010-06-26T15:27:12Z")
I hope they paid overtime for the 2 extra days. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2010, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-go-through-military-service-and-be-honorably-discharged-without-being-decorated/544525/14 "2010-06-26T15:46:26Z")
> [@Bear\_Nenno](#): > > In fact, you can’t even be certain that the person served honorably. A Soldier can be in for 4 years, earn a couple medals, be given even more, and then get dishonorably discharged for bad conduct. He doesn’t surrender the medals he’s already earned. Maybe not _surrender voluntarily,_ but they can be rescinded. I received a medal for a period of service from X to Y, but it was rescinded a year later even though there was no change in the situation or facts about that event or period of service. It was rescinded because I was brought up on courts-martial charges and it’s harder to convict someone if they have impressive medals. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2010, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-go-through-military-service-and-be-honorably-discharged-without-being-decorated/544525/15 "2010-06-26T15:51:06Z")
> [@bump](#): > > It used to be absolutely possible. My old man was in the Air Force from 1969-1973, and while he did rather well promotion wise (E5, passed for E6, inside of 4 yrs), but his uniform only had the Good Conduct Medal. Hard to believe that’s the only medal he received. There is usually a “campaign” medal, given out just for service in a particular event, like the Vietnam war, that everyone participating gets automatically. And in the outfit I served in, anyone reaching the rank of E6 was guaranteed additional medals just by virtue of rank – the higher the rank, the more medals they got. We used to have some imaginative boiler plate wording to use in the medal applications, but I don’t recall any being denied. “Bill got promoted to E6? Time to give him another medal!” ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2010, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-go-through-military-service-and-be-honorably-discharged-without-being-decorated/544525/16 "2010-06-26T16:12:00Z")
My dad never filed the paperwork for his purple heart. He had a minor injury in Viet Nam. Not a bullet. He didn’t feel right filing the paperwork. He also got service medals for viet nam. He was at several airfields. Da Nang was one. He’s got slides he took of them shelling the VC above the airfield. They’d been shelling the airfield for days before the bombers took out their position. I’m not sure if that was Da Nang or one of the other airfields. They moved him around several times. He worked on aircraft instruments. ---
**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:** [June 26, 2010, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-go-through-military-service-and-be-honorably-discharged-without-being-decorated/544525/17 "2010-06-26T17:18:27Z")
> [@bump](#): > > It used to be absolutely possible. My old man was in the Air Force from 1969-1973, and while he did rather well promotion wise (E5, passed for E6, inside of 4 yrs), but his uniform only had the Good Conduct Medal. > > When I asked him how he got that one, he said “I didn’t kill anyone.” Not possible. At the very least, he would have had the National Defense Medal just for serving during a time of conflict (Vietnam). ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2010, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-go-through-military-service-and-be-honorably-discharged-without-being-decorated/544525/18 "2010-06-26T18:01:14Z")
So, in fact virtually every soldier who serves honorably becomes a decorated soldier. That’s pretty much what I thought. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2010, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-go-through-military-service-and-be-honorably-discharged-without-being-decorated/544525/19 "2010-06-26T18:05:35Z")
That’s weird - so from what I’m reading here, my dad’s Korean War naval service should have netted him some sort of gewgaws. I wonder why I’ve never seen them? Maybe I should go through all the drawers? ---
**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:** [June 26, 2010, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-go-through-military-service-and-be-honorably-discharged-without-being-decorated/544525/20 "2010-06-26T20:54:42Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > So, in fact virtually every soldier who serves honorably becomes a decorated soldier. That’s pretty much what I thought. Well. . .no. If somebody joined the Navy in, say, 1956 and got out two years later, he could possibly have nothing to show on his chest. No military campaigns during that time, and the Sea Service Ribbon was not created until 1981. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-go-through-military-service-and-be-honorably-discharged-without-being-decorated/544525.md?page=2)