U.S. Air Force eliminates the Good Conduct Medal. Opinions wanted.

For an upcoming (military) class that I’m attending, I need to write a short paper. The paper is nothing more than an exercise in improving writing and communication skills. The specific assignment is to identify some issue or problem, either at the unit level or service wide, and make recommendations to change or improve it.

I’ve decided to recommend, based on the Air Force’s recent decision to eliminate the Good Conduct Medal, that we do the same in our service.

Link to story.

I happen to completely agree with their decision, specifically these thoughts:

As a 15 year enlisted sailor, I must say that I couldn’t agree more.

Long gone are the days of the uneducated and/or unemployable draftee who is almost expected to screw up. Today’s enlisted personnel are smarter and better educated than ever before and the Good Conduct is, IMHO, condescending and insulting. I realize, however, that my opinion may be a minority one.

So, what say you, millions? Is the Good Conduct Medal something you think should stick around? What is your opinion of the USAF’s decision?
*For those unaware - the Good Conduct Medal is awarded to enlisted personnel for 3 years of service without any non-judicial punishments, disciplinary infractions, or court martial offenses.

When I was in the Navy, we referred to the medal as an award for four years of undetected crime. But I agree with you - it’s probably outlived its usefulness.

It’s pretty much a fluff piece. Still, at least it indicated something which puts it well above things like the basic training ribbon and PME graduation ribbons. Actually, change that a little; those ribbons serve to indicate certain “landmark” so they’re not entirely pointless.

However, graduating basic or ALS and getting a ribbon? What is the point in that. You’re here so obviously you went through basic. You’re a Staff Sergeant so obviously you attended PME.

The good conduct ribbon is generally only notable in its absense; you didn’t get caught. Still, it’s not like it counts for promotion points and it is notable in its absense though that may or may not be a good thing.

On second thought, given that the only purpose it holds is to be a walking advertisement that someone screwed up at some point my perception of it is shifting from neutral to negative; we don’t need it, it’s not something to be particularly proud of as it’s pretty much automatic and the only cases where it’s notable is when it carries negative connotations.

Ditch it. Ditch the basic training ribbon as well. The ALS PME ribbon can go too but I’m not too worked up about that one.

I agree with you/them that the GCM is an insult to our sailors. In the days when press gangs were more than a distant memory it was a useful tool, but now it’s an implication that enlisted people are, on average, something other than professionals. It’s a particularly important issue for the Navy where I think the once real and now imaginary “class” difference between officers and enlisted folks is still disgustingly overemphasized. (I’m optimistic that the new uniforms may help, some? I would integrate the mess decks and the eating function of the wardroom, too, though.)

On the other hand I think the service stripes on the sleeve are a rightful source of pride and should definitely be kept, and maybe included in some fashion on working uniforms as well. I tried to maintain an appropriate ammount of humility as a young J.O., but on the rare occasion when I verged on feeling a little too good about myself, I’d see the gold-stiffened forearm of a chief go by and immediately feel extremely chastened.

However in the Coast Guard it does count for promotion points. Coast Guard enlisted promotion points max out at 10 points cumulative throughout your career. GCM’s are worth one point each. For a service that is not as forthcoming as other services with awards of any kind for the enlisted folks, losing that one, two or possibly three points throughout one’s career could hurt advancement opportunities.

Get rid of it! Also we can do without:
The Army Service Ribbon. the universal black beret, the “gimmie” CIBs and CABs, camoflauge in the office, maternity BDUs/ACUs (WTF!?), PCS Awards, The Army of One slogan, … I’m sure I’ll think of more.

Oh… but bring back Branch Insignia. Christ!!

Let it all out, Bear- I get the sense you’re holding something back. :wink:

Screaming Inner-Monologue, if you wouldn’t mind, expand on your point some. Are you saying we should keep it for the advancement points? Also, are you in the CG? Because I always thought the CG was too forthcoming with awards.

US merchant ships are starting to do just that. The new ones built nowadays have common messing and recreation areas. In addition, some smaller CG cutters have a single mess deck for all hands, but I suspect that much of that is due to space availability.

Yeah, get rid of it. It’s virtually meaningless to those who are serving and utterly so to everyone else (my mother just laughed at me when I told her I got one).

Of course, I knew a surprising number of people who got Article 15s, sent to court or drummed out, but the Army sure isn’t so bad we need an “I Didn’t Fuck Up Ribbon.”

The “I didn’t get arrested” medal. I hated the standing around in my dress blues during the award ceremony. It wasn’t as if I ‘earned’ it - not getting arrested shouldn’t be difficult. As with most things in the military, it outlived its usefulness decades ago, but only now is it finally being taken out back and shot.

As for BDUs in the office, I will admit I got lazy a few times. I was on a rotating schedule, and I tried to keep to blues during the days (8a-4p), mix during the swings (4p-12a), and BDUs during the mids (12a-8a). I was in the minority. There were quite a few who never wore any blues unless they were getting a not-arrested medal.

I think I agree with the idea that while getting rid of the GCM is fair, I don’t want to get rid of the differentiation of gold/red hash marks. <shrug> Now, talking about ribbons for getting out of boot camp is something else entirely. I never could take that seriously.

Damn damn damn, I killing my brain trying to remember what school I was at where the Command Master Chief had red stripes. That was freaking because it was so odd.

I always called mine the “I didn’t get caught medal”

It should be pointed out that the mere fact that we have an all volunteer force does not mean our military is completely devoid of screw-ups and losers. I worked with several of them. Perhaps the good conduct ribbon means nothing more than that the recipient showed up on time and sober for three years, but that’s still worth noting.

Mr. Goob, at the other end of the scale were the minority of chiefs I knew who wore the red stripes because they’d made E-7 before they served twelve years. Another odd sight, but laudable in this case.