Monday, October 1, 2012

Decoration Inflation

Cartoon from HERE.
Back in the old days, when I was Army instead of Ex-Army, I remember the medals.  Ribbons, really, which stand in for medals on most occasions.  I got one for finishing basic training, as did everybody else, and I forget what it was called.  Then I got what they called a good conduct medal after I was in for a couple of years, and that just meant I'd done that much time without getting into any serious trouble. And then I got an Arcom, or Army Commendation Medal, which was kind of an Attaboy medal at the time, and you got it for doing well at whatever your job was.  In my case, an intelligence analyst.  And that's what I ended up with after three years of service.  One attaboy and two that didn't mean anything much. Which was about right for the service I'd done. Since that time, I understand, they've started handing out more and more medals for less and less.  Kind of like the Tae Kwon Do tournaments where all the kids get a trophy for just showing up.  Anyhow, Steve Sailer is blogging about this very phenomenon over HERE.  Do read it, and admire General Patraeus's picture, and, very important, read the many comments from his readers. Several of them have served in the military since I did, and they have a lot to contribute.

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