Thank you for your service and here are your awards and medals. Your family will thank you even more when you die and they hawk your medals at my pawn shop for a few extra bucks of inheritance.

My father in law used to run flea markets on the side. Used to say that in the service he worked hard as hell and never got a medal of honor, but working the flea markets he had a jar full of them. Nobody gives a shit about service.

[–] Maggoty@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I mean... Medals are like candy in the military. There's 4 medals that make people pay attention. A purple heart, a silver star, a service cross, and the congressional medal of honor. Most people won't be awarded any of them, and of those who are awarded, they will likely not receive more than one their entire career.

There's like 20 other medals that you'll receive more than once and amount to, "I was on active duty at X time and didn't get in trouble". So a lot of soldiers don't really care about their own medals.