Most of the “costume ribbons” are just that…costume. They don’t correspond to any real medal. If the movie is made with the cooperation of the US Govt., then the regs are waived for that movie, and you can wear the real thing. There is also the whole “intent to defraud” thing. If you wear them in a movie, as a character, and aren’t trying to pass yourself off as a real earner of the Purple Heart, I doubt anybody would waste time prosecuting you.
The rest of the posts discuss the ribbons themselves. I’d only like to note that in Russia, I often saw men wearing their medals on civilian jackets. This is apparently allowed and quite common. You wouldn’t wear them normally, but on a dress occasion, and the practice is a lot more common with WWII vets. If I’d fought on the Russian side in WWII and survived it, you better believe I’d wear my medals every chance I got!
Something that I’ve wondered about for quite a while is how the heck do you put all of those on there? For example, here’s one of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Did the guy pin all those ribbons on (I count 17) individually or are there ways to connect the ribbons in a larger block?
Date of Rank is a part of the mix. Someone who is of the same rank as you, but had significantly more awards would like be senior by virture of their Date of Rank.
There are many places on and off line (such as this one), that sell medals.
Many retired military personnel and their family might want to either get new medals or, for display purposes, purchase new ones. And while it might be an expensive hollween costume, it would certainly work.
They’re all one big block, usually. The ribbons are actually on little metal frames that, when viewed from the side, look kinda like this [ but with the top and bottom pinched in. You get a bigger metal frame (called a Rack) that the ribbons slide onto, and that gets pinned onto your uniform. The racks come in different sizes based on how many ribbons you need to put on.
The ribbons slide on to ribbon bars, which come in various sizes depending on how many you have. If you were to look at a ribbon from the side, you’d see that it is shaped somewhat like this: /___\
For medals and decorations, you could pin them on individually if you had a few, but once you get more than 3 or so, it’s wise to just have them professionally mounted by company that specializes in that. Medals are worn up to 5 to a row, so you need to overlap them to fit in the space allowed (the width of the breat pocket)
Sadly, it is becoming more and more rare to see someone wearing one. The last two given out were posthumous (Mogadishu, Somalia), and before that you have to go back to those awarded for service in Viet Nam.
Every American should be able to recognize it, so that if you happen to see someone wearing it, you can approach him and say something appropriate.
Earlier this year, the Medal of Honor was awarded posthumously to 1st Sgt. Paul R. Smith for his service in Iraq.
BTW, what might C. Everett Koop’s “fruit salad” mean:
That article just notes:
Koop had no military record - he just got to wear an admiral’s uniform when he was appointed surgeon general. No time to do anything to get medals for (He might have deserved a few. Koop’s tenure as surgeon general was memorable.). Or has that particular set of medals been accumulated by the office rather than the individual office holders?
The current surgeon general seems to have a significantly larger set, but he’s a combat decorated Vietnam vet, and I suppose is entitled to wear those:
http://www.hhs.gov/surgeongeneral/news/photos/0305.html
So, why don’t we let the attorney general wear an army uniform?
At the very least, say “Thank You” and shake his hand.
The Medal is easy to recognize, and it always sits all alone on top of all the others.
It appears he’s wearing: (in order)
Public Health Service Distinguished Service Award
Public Health Service Meritorious Service Medal
Public Health Service Outstanding Unit Citation
Public Health Service Foreign Duty Service Award
Public Health Service Citation
Marine Corps Security Guard Ribbon (???)
Public Health Service Regular Corps Service Ribbon
PHS Commissioned Corps Training Ribbon
Thanks. Curious - he’s including Public Health Service awards on an “armyawards” page, when PHS uniforms and traditions are closer to the navy.
(It’s actually a separate uniformed service. There are seven - the five armed services, the US Public Health Service and NOAA Corps (formerly US Coast and Geodetic Survey). The latter also wear naval uniforms and use naval rank.)
As mentioned by others, those are USPHS awards.
“Awards” are not necessarily for extraordinary achievement – as mentioned, some are earned pretty much for being there and doing your job well: my Army Service Ribbon (aka Rainbow) means I completed my training up to MOS qualification satisfactorily, not that I did anything exceptional.
In the peculiar case of the USPHS, service as a nominal civilian in various posts associated with the work the PHS does could earn you some of those awards.
Cecil did that line long ago, though he used the Postmaster General as counterexample: Why does the U.S. surgeon general wear a uniform?
BTW, USPHS healthcare providers can be posted as Medical Officers to US Coast Guard commands (in which case they switch uniform to USCG blues except they keep the USPHS insignia in place of the CG shields).
Actually, from what I’ve noticed recently, it appears to me that Hollywood, more often than not, is making an effort to have characters portrayed with real awards that actually make sense. If you’re going to dress an actor up in a uniform, I don’t think there’s any more danger in running afoul of the law by using appropriate decorations. As mentioned above, so long as there’s no intent to defraud, they should be in the clear.
Note that these are not official awards authorized for active-duty wear. I received a bunch of ribbons as an NROTC midshipman in college (e.g. drill team ribbon, color guard ribbon, etc.). None of them transferred over to active duty.
Nope.
You can assume that any active duty member is likely wearing his awards in correct order of precedence, or someone would correct them pretty soon. Also, a servicemember who transfers from one service to another does not get a second set of awards. Most U.S. military awards are transferrable from one service to another. Here is a link (for the U.S. Army) that lists the order of precedence for all awards authorized for wear on an Army uniform. Note that many awards from other services are included (e.g. Navy Unit Commendation). The order of precedence is based on the prestige of each award. The prior service awards do not necessarily go at the bottom.
Also, within the U.S. military, it is common knowledge that there are dramatic differences between the various branches in how they handle awards.
Basically, from most generous to most parsimonious, it goes:
U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps.
(i.e. the USAF gives out awards like candy.) 
For example, I’ve seen first hand how the Army gives out awards, growing up as an Army dependent. My stepfather received three Army Commendation Medals as a 2nd Lieutenant (O-1) and 1st Lieutenant (O-2). It’s fairly unusual for a Navy officer to receive even one Navy Commendation Medal prior to the rank of Lieutenant (O-3). They would typically be awarded Navy Achievement Medals (a less prestigious award) instead.
There are also dramatic differences between the U.S. military and other countries. Britain’s Royal Navy, for example, gives out medals for action in combat, and that’s about it. We had a Lieutenant Commander of the Royal Navy as an exchange officer at my submarine squadron, and he had exactly two awards, both for action in the Falklands. A typical LCDR in the USN would have something like 8-10 individual and unit awards even without ever seeing combat.
List of US military ranks (for your information)