Interesting thread. I think the answer is yes. Since mid-50's, some 56 years, I have been"at it",
I arrived in the Nav too late, for the Korean era GeDunk Award (National Defense), the cutoff being a few weeks before I arrived. Think the NAM arrived on the scene early 1960's, maybe 1961. My first medal was the Good Conduct at 4 years. It was peacetime, and medals did not flow freely. As I recall, I was a Senior Chief with nine years active service when I received my second medal, the GeeDunk ribbon, soon thereafter the Vietnam Cross Of Galantry (or some such) and thereafter a host of VietNam era medals, several "unit" awards and four other personal awards, one them the including now infamous NAM, Reflecting, I was Expert Marksman in both rifle and pistol, never had a ribbon, not sure nor care why.
In that first 8 years, I spent most of my time on numerous, almost constant special operations detachments. Received 4.0 performance evals across the board, too many commendation/appreciation letters to count. I loved what I was doing and the Navy loved how I was doing it. No medals nor ribbons, save that tattered and frayed GCM. I do remember some of the SpecOps missions our OIC spend a huge amount of time writing up his recommendation for medals (Legion of Merit) seemed to be the norm for the Officer Corps, swift kick in the behind for the enlisted pukes.
In the final anslysis, who really cares. Medals served Sen John Kerry well, on several occasions, but they were not a game changer.:icon_tong
I salute your extensive service. And I both understand and agree with your perspective on medals. It was not only a lack of awards for the "enlisted pukes." If you were a wingman, and not a flight lead, you didn't see many either. And even our flight leads back in the day didn't get that many either.
Our airwing on an 11-month cruise logged the most days in combat over Vietnam ever. Much of that time was over North Vietnam, and 'downtown'. But our CAG believed that was the job we were paid to do – earning our $60 monthly combat pay – and rarely deserved a medal.
Flying against the most heavily defended targets – Than Hoa, Vinh, Haiphong, and Hanoi – our entire squadron only received 2 DFCs. Compare that to the Air Force who handed out DFCs to everyone, as an end-of-tour kiss goodbye.
While downing a MiG was still an automatic Silver Star, other medals were scarce. While a flight lead could get an individual action Air Medal occasionally for something unusual, a wingman could usually hope for no more than points toward a Strike/Flight Air Medal. A successful strike on Hanoi, with SAMS, AAA, and taking some airwing losses might get you an NCM w/V.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, I had a friend from HAL-3 who had more chest candy as a LT than anyone I ever knew. (All earned, too.) But he refused to wear them, thinking they were overkill. Sometimes, he would only wear the top row... all with stars, but that was rare.
But like you Chief, who really cares in the final analysis. Medals and 25 cents (now $3 at Starbucks) will get you a cup of coffee. Nevertheless, those who served together will always know and remember. BZ