District 1 Southern Region

Auxiliary Air Station Caldwell

Introduction

Ribbons. Little pieces of material stretched on a metal frame. What are they? What are they for? Why wear them? How do I wear them? These are questions that many people who have never seen military service, or even many who did find themselves asking.

Have you ever wondered what to do with the little colorful things that come with some of your awards, qualifications or certifications? Well, I hope to answer your questions here.

What are they?

The ribbons you receive are — in most cases — representative of a medal, which is representative of an award, citation, or qualification. In the Active Duty and Reserve Coast Guard, medals come in two sizes, full-size and miniature. They represent the same thing, but are worn on different uniforms. The full-size medal is suspended on a ribbon which is just under one and a half inches wide. This is, not coincidentally, the same width as the ribbons we wear. So, the ribbon is actually made of the same material as the full-size medal would be suspended from.

The Auxiliary is not authorized to wear either of the uniforms which would require the full-size medals (i.e. Full Dress Blue and Full Dress White), so as a result, Auxiliary-only awards do not have a full size medal, only the miniature medal.

However, since the Auxliary is authorized to wear uniforms that require the wearing of service ribbons, the ribbons must be made to match up with any other ribbons that the wearer may have earned on active duty in one of the US services.

What are they for?

Taken individually, ribbons simply repersent an individual achievement, or event.

Taken as a group, they form a shorthand “service resume”. Another member of the Auxiliary can see that a member is an instructor, participates in the Operations program, has passed a specialty course, and has been a member for five or more years.

If one knows what to look for, one can see if the wearer has recieved the Silver or Bronze star, the Purple Heart or Navy Cross, served in Kuwait, Vietnam or Korea, received one or more Good Conduct medals, qualified with a pistol or rifle (in certain services), or was part of a unit that was cited for action. Certain foreign government awards are eligible to be worn with the US ribbons as well.

Why wear them?

Many members are justifiably proud of the ribbons they wear, be they from the Military service they served with, or the Auxiliary. Wearing your ribbons shows that they are important to you, and thus, that you recognize that ribbons worn by others are important as well.

Ribbons are also officially part of the uniform. When the uniform description in the AUXMAN says “Ribbons are worn”, it is not saying that you may wear them, but that you must, if you have any.

How do I wear them?

This is the question most people are asking. You've received a couple awards, tossed the ribbons (and medals) into a drawer, and they haven't seen the light of day since. Time to get them out of the drawer and onto that uniform!

First thing to do is to pull out all of those ribbons, and any awards you recieved in the service. If you are not sure of the service awards you are entitled to, the DoD and USCG have programs whereby you may find out what awards you are eligible for, and receive them from the Government if you have not already. You will need your DD-214 (Discharge papers) to complete the online application.

Next, we need to know what order they are worn in. The order, or precedence, is very important. It is improper to put awards where they do not belong relative to other awards. Also, ribbons earned on active service do not automatically have higher precedence than Auxiliary awards. In fact, should you have an Auxiliary award and a military award that have the same precedence, the Auxiliary award should be worn in the place of honor (higher and/or closer to the wearer's heart), as the Auxiliary is your parent service at this time.

In order to make it easy for people to figure out, the Chief Director has established a Ribbon Checker. Once you go to this page, you can check off the decorations you have received, and the checker will then display the proper way they should be worn on your uniform.

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Every member should take the time to make sure they are wearing their ribbons properly.

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Site designed by: Larry West, FSO-CS

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