What's a ribbon? What's a medal?

What's the difference? Where does this controversy go from here?

These are things that George W Bush didn't see during his brief time in the military.

available in Alabama in 1972?

....about "Red Necks, White Socks and Blue Ribbon Beer". Yes, PBR was available............

and very few repuke politicians have. I am talking about the shrub gang and not Hagel or McCain, who are obviously not in lock step with shrub.

kerry hates america and the military. bullshit. the balls of rove to make kerry's military service an issue! mindboggling that it actually works on the brain dead

it's not a 'non-issue'...he lied...about a significant issue...if he didn't say he threw his own medals, his opponents are lying

his opponents are notorious liars. John Kerry is very clear that he threw someone else's medals.

and judging from his differing statements at different times and in different forums, I'm not sure he does...

but at the least he allowed people to think he'd thrown his own...

what and whose he was tossing. And he was tossing medals that other vietnam vets had given him (plus some of his own medals/ribbons) to toss.

Kerry was in D.C. and his home (where the rest of his medals were) was in Boston.

they paint a different picture...

But they assumed wrong. His medals are still at his house in Boston. Many people have seen them there. When people express concern over him throwing medals, he takes them to his house and shows it to them.

How can Kerry let this even be an issue.
Let's put the records side by side and see what one ,with a clear mind would think..LOL

It is a Wrong Wing Trick, they are such bullies!

these noises and they will retain the message: Kerry lies and flip-flops. We are falling for it by repeating it.

and nobody seems to call him out on that. :wtf:

TIME had an interesting article on this flip flop business and how Kerry gets attacked unfairly while the chimp gets a free pass.

And two bucks will buy one a beer. In my experience medals are only of importance to the person receiving them. Others do not give a shit, they really don't.

180

a medal as awarded by the military consists of a metal pendant of some sort (the medal itself), suspended from a ribbon with a distinctive pattern of stripes. The actual medal is not worn on the ordinary dress uniform, but a small bar of the ribbon is worn above the left breast pocket instead. All that "salad" you see on career officers' dress uniforms is made up of various ribbons awarded for various things.

Here are a Purple Heart medal and a Silver Star.

A ribbon is what you wear in place of the medals. They are sort of a marker just to show what medals you have.

and also have a corresponding ribbon to wear when not in full dress uniform. Ribbons are given for unit citations and special deployments and/or campaigns. There are charts for the positioning and order of importance for their placement. When you see a soldier in ordinary workday uniform (not battle fatigues) he will have his ribbon bar over his left chest. This ribbon bar will have any ribbons that also correspond to any medals he/she has. When in full dress uniform, any medals are displayed over the left chest while the remaining non-medal ribbons are presented on the right chest.

totems. trinkets. baubles. objects. but also symbols. kerry made a symbolic gesture against the viet nam war, which he signed up for TWICE, which gives him the right to say any damn thing he wants about it. we know how many times fuckhead went.

ribbons are the pieces of cloth warn on a uniform that represent medals, commendations, and theaters of battle that you were awarded.

medals are the cloth suspending a medallion that either sit in desk drawers, boxes in the garage, or in display cases.

I sort of disagree with some of the definitions here. Yes, it is true that many ribbons are are representations of medals received. However, you can receive ribbons that are NOT representations of medals. At least, that is my recollection.

-P

As an enlisted common human you would NEVER have a chance to ever wear the MEDALS, which would only be worn for full dress formal occasions, like if you were being awarded something in a ceremony, or, if an officer, like at formal balls.

The ribbons you wear on the uniforms you use to go on "liberty" (going out and getting drunk), or if you work in a desk job, on your semi-dress uniform. If you are a common sailor who chips paint you wear a work uniform that does not use ribbons (much less medals).

Btw, this has shocked some non-military types, but these things can be BOUGHT by ANYBODY. When you earn them, the first set is issued free by the service, but any replacements after that are BOUGHT. You see, the ribbons get dirty in bars and brothels.

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http://www.usmedals.com/aboutMilitaryMedals2.html

There are 4 official forms of a military medal ... the 3 basic methods for wearing medals are Full Size, Miniature Medals on formal dress and Ribbon Bars. An Enamel Lapel Pin is worn on civilian suits and many Veterans use the enamel hat pin on their hats.


http://www.usmedals.com/aboutMilitaryMedals3.html

UNIT AWARDS & RIBBONS WITHOUT MEDALS
This is a special class of honors that comes as a ribbon only award since there is no medal associated with it. The first such awards were the Presidential Unit Citations established by the Army and Navy in World War II as a reward to units/ships cited for collective battle honors and as visual recognition to the individuals serving in these units or ships. All the services now have several ribbon-only awards for specific purposes (i.e., Recruiting Duty, etc.).


And they are for sale, here, among thousands of places: http://www.usmedals.com/medals.html?pagenum=1

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