You know the thingies I’m talking about. They wear them on their jacket, on the left breast. They’re rectangular (maybe four inches by a quarter inch) and have lots of different colors on them. The higher your rank, the more thingies you have.
What the hell are those?
Take a look at this picture, shamelessly stolen from the spectacularly mediocre film Rules of Engagement, to see what I mean.
I believe those are campaign ribbons that designate where the wearer has served.
They are “been there, done that bars” or “fruit salad”, or by the technical term “ribbons”. Each 4" bar is 3 different ribbons. You can’t wear two of the same–2nd, 3rd, etc. awards of the same thing get a little metal thingy that pins onto the ribbon.
They signify campaigns, awards for good conduct and such, and you get one just for being in the military. There’s also one to go along with each award medal, i.e. Purple Heart or Congressional Medal of Honor, that you wear when you’re not wearing the actual medal.
Trust me. I know these things. I can present my credentials upon request.
(Laugh)
They’re MEDALS.
If you look at a military medal, it has a metallic part (the Medal of Honor is a star, f’rinstance) but has a ribbon above it by which it is pinned to the uniform.
Since wearing all your medals would look ostentatious, and in the case of someone with a lot of medals would practically make you fall over, it’s customary for a soldier to wear the top part of the ribbon, a little rectangle pinned on by the back, in the manner you have described. Every medal in a given armed force is unique so you can tell what they are. You only wear the actual medals on very special dress occasions.
As Gunslinger points out, they can include every imaginable kind of medal, from simple tour-of-duty jobs to the Victoria Cross or whatever. IF you look at the ones on Samuel L. Jackson’s chest, you will also see the extra pins Gunslinger mentions on some of them.
OK, got it. So is there any particular protocol for the order in which you stick them on, or do you just slap 'em on there in the order you get them?
There’s a definite order. Basically, the most important first, least important last. Here’s a site with the order of precedence for Air Force medals and here’s one for Navy medals.
A quick search turned up this site. If you scroll down the left hand side to “ribbons” you’ll have a guide to more than you care to know.
Nope, there is an established order of precedence for all of them. The Medal of Honor would go on the top row closest to the center of your chest. Whatever ribbons you might have follow down the line from inside to outside and down.
If, you’ve got Acrobat Reader, this link will show you the whole selection of Navy and Marine Corps ribbons in order.
