Ribbon Rack?

[James Shaw]

I am curious about the opinion of the members of this forum about ribbons and badges? I recently attended a state level function and saw a cadet from a distance who looked like General Patton as he walked by. It was further brought to my attention by a cadet I was talking to who wanted to know how he could "get some of those" The Ribbon Rack was pretty impressive for a C/Capt. During the same event I saw a retired AF Major who was in CAP and his collection of AD and CAP ribbons on the uniform...the ribbon rack again was pretty impressive. So here comes the questions!

What is the respectable amount of Awards worn on the uniform?

Do you wear all of them to make it more impressive or a few to keep it clean?

Do you mix AD and CAP or wear one or the other?

What is the max that can or should be worn?

I have looked at other pictures of CAP personnel and see a great mix of wear. Personaly I feel that if you work for them and earn them than you should be proud and wear as much or as little depending on your preference. Of course regulations must be respected and taken into consideration. I have measured my Service Coat with my Observer Wings and Communications Badge from AD and found that you can wear up to 32 ribbons at one time and still be within regs as far as spacing is concerned. You would have to order the rack from a company called LormaLinda but it could be done. I know I am proud of the AD and CAP ribbon rack I have but I dont wear a uniform but maybe 3 times a year. I talked to my boss (National Historian) and he feels that if you earn it than wear it.

So the final question is:

Is it more or less to impress?

[Hawk200]

What is the respectable amount of Awards worn on the uniform?

Do you wear all of them to make it more impressive or a few to keep it clean?

Do you mix AD and CAP or wear one or the other?

What is the max that can or should be worn?

I have looked at other pictures of CAP personnel and see a great mix of wear. Personaly I feel that if you work for them and earn them than you should be proud and wear as much or as little depending on your preference. Of course regulations must be respected and taken into consideration. I have measured my Service Coat with my Observer Wings and Communications Badge from AD and found that you can wear up to 32 ribbons at one time and still be within regs as far as spacing is concerned. You would have to order the rack from a company called LormaLinda but it could be done. I know I am proud of the AD and CAP ribbon rack I have but I dont wear a uniform but maybe 3 times a year. I talked to my boss (National Historian) and he feels that if you earn it than wear it.

So the final question is:

Is it more or less to impress?

In some cases to impress, others it's about earning it. Although some non-prior service members have issues with military personnel wearing a large rack.

On blue shirts, I'll wear just military ribbons, since I just came back in, and haven't built a CAP rack yet. On Service Dress, I intend to put everything on, as there I can wear a rack four wide. The limitation of only three wide, and no higher than the collar tip is why I would only wear my military ones on shirts.

There are miniature ribbons (not the enamel lapel pins, actual ribbons) available for the Air Force. I've seen them, but don't know where to get them. I think CAP should consider this, it would allow wear of a large amount of ribbons in a smaller space.

[Hawk200]

Out of curiousity, you mentioned a "LormLinda" company. Do they produce ribbons, racks, or mounted decorations? Tried a web search, but nothing I got back seemed to fit.

[lordmonar]

What is the respectable amount of Awards worn on the uniform?

All that you earn.

Do you wear all of them to make it more impressive or a few to keep it clean?

On my service coat I wear all both USAF and CAP.  On my blues shirt I wear only my CAP ribbons

Do you mix AD and CAP or wear one or the other?

See above.

What is the max that can or should be worn?

Until there is no more room...remember you can go 4 across.

I have looked at other pictures of CAP personnel and see a great mix of wear. Personaly I feel that if you work for them and earn them than you should be proud and wear as much or as little depending on your preference. Of course regulations must be respected and taken into consideration. I have measured my Service Coat with my Observer Wings and Communications Badge from AD and found that you can wear up to 32 ribbons at one time and still be within regs as far as spacing is concerned. You would have to order the rack from a company called LormaLinda but it could be done. I know I am proud of the AD and CAP ribbon rack I have but I dont wear a uniform but maybe 3 times a year. I talked to my boss (National Historian) and he feels that if you earn it than wear it.

Good Advice...and I agree.

Is it more or less to impress?

Yes.

[Monty]

I've personally been a bit biased towards the AF officer practice of keeping ribbons off of service uniform shirts and instead, keeping only wings and/or badges on shirts.  Of course, there's no debate about their inclusion upon service dress uniforms.

Then again, I'm also of the school where ribbons are awards to ME and not to others therefore; I don't need to show them to others to make ME love ME any more (or have others like or hate me more because of my fruit salad.)

Before I went into AFROTC, I didn't wear them unless ordered to (which when I was an AF Recruiter and an NCO, we were ordered to wear them.  Then again, officers serving in recruiting squadrons were ordered to wear them also....)

[Hawk200]

Then again, I'm also of the school where ribbons are awards to ME and not to others therefore; I don't need to show them to others to make ME love ME any more (or have others like or hate me more because of my fruit salad.)

Agreed. Which is why I make a point to avoid that as a consideration. My wear is pretty much limited by the real estate available. I'm an average size guy, so I can wear only so many before the shirt collar/service coat notch limitation comes in.

Although, just to keep people observant, I may swap back and forth between a CAP and military rack on shirts.

[MIKE]

I've personally been a bit biased towards the AF officer practice of keeping ribbons off of service uniform shirts and instead, keeping only wings and/or badges on shirts.  Of course, there's no debate about their inclusion upon service dress uniforms.

Ditto... I only wear my Ground Team badge on the shirts.  On service dress I wear all my junk.  I used to wear everything on the shirts WIWAC, including a service cap... but I grew up.    The shirts look much better with just badges IMO.

I don't wear any ribbons on my Trops either, since I don't rate any yet.  I like the top 3 rule though.  IIRC they aren't optional in the CGAux like they are in CAP.

[Al Sayre]

I've switched to just my wings and commanders pin on the blue shirt for meetings etc., it's just easier not to mess with the rest of it.
 
I wear both my Navy and CAP ribbons, and all my other bling on my Dress Uniform.

On occasion I will wear all the (allowable) bling on the SS shirt with the specific intention of impressing a given audience, such as speaking at the local school.  It generates interest and gets some of the potential cadets to come talk to you.  YMMV

[Hawk200]

I like the top 3 rule though.  IIRC they aren't optional in the CGAux like they are in CAP.

Out of curiousity, I looked up the CG Aux manual on that. There's is top three, all, or any nine. I think it's a practical policy.

Right now, I couldn't wear all my ribbons with any badge on shirts.

[Pylon]

In keeping with the many others here that have already piped in, I do not wear my ribbon rack on my blues shirt.  Just wings.  I had in the past, but don't really care for the look anymore.

Since I don't own service dress, about the only time I'll be wearing decorations will be in mess dress.  Otherwise, the ribbons make for a nice something to stick in a shadowbox or whatever.  My achievements (if I have any) will be reflected in the quality of my work.

[DNall]

I've personally been a bit biased towards the AF officer practice of keeping ribbons off of service uniform shirts and instead, keeping only wings and/or badges on shirts.  Of course, there's no debate about their inclusion upon service dress uniforms.

I really like the AF Officer practice. It's a hassle to wear them on blues shirt for day to day. Stick to badges & only two up on that. I make cadet officers follow it too (with the below logic on exceptions).

If i were a fresh 2Lt trying to establish himself in command of a unit with NCOs that have 20 years service, then no I absolutely don't want to put my two ribbons on anything & show that's all I got. They know I'd have little experience, but no need to fly that flag. (thankfully the Army gives you a short stack to start now days anyway, plus how often you see a WO in service dress). In the other hand, if I were prior-enlisted just became an officer & have a four high stack I'd sure as hell wear that, at least initially.

When you get more experienced, it's just convenient & looks sharp to keep it minimized unless it's a special occation. Actually, the times I'd wear a blues shirt w/ ribbons in CAP, if that were the AF I'd wear service coat (which is much more convenient), but since no one hardly has one. That's teh bg thing

On service coat I lay it all on for now. I don't know what 32 ribbons would look like, kind of crazy I'd think, but when the combined rack starts looking unweildy then I'll taks some CAP stuff off... like just highest PD, don't need a recruiter ribbon, only reason I'd keep the SaR & Find ribbons on is cause the SaR ribbon is they're boths stacked in clasps. Just keep it reasonablly good looking.

The general overall rule though is it's reflective of your experience & level of general accomplishment. One expects that to be reflective of your grade & position. If it isn't, be it in one direction or the other, then people want to know why (even civilians that don't have any idea what they're looking at), and that can be good or bad - cause again if it reflects your prior-service or an extensive experience level or something then that's good, if you wear one line & you're Sq CC then people are going to think you're incompetent, or at leat that's going to be the assumption before they talk to you.

Generally I think it looks stupid to ever wear less than three. Doesn't look good unless you have at least two full lines, and by the point you do you should be over it & just using it to make an impression or decorate the wallpaper (you) for special occations.

[freeflight]

On the service coat I wear all my decorations, the highest professional development, highest aerospace, highest service and all activities ribbons.  I have several badges and wings that I could wear but I only wear my highest set of wings. I keep the service coat as clean as I can.

[JohnKachenmeister]

I wear all of them on my service coat, and usually just my mini wings on the shirt.  I plan on buying a mini GTL badge, just as soon as I have enough other stuff to order from Vanguard to make the shipping cost worthwhile.

On occasion I will wear the ribbons on the shirt, if the event is something calling for a bit more formality than normal office attire, but not enough for the service coat.  The last time I did that was the day we posed for our class picture at IG school.

I rate 20 ribbons, plus pilot and GTL badges.  At the Officers' Club a barmaid remarked about them, and asked if I had every medal possible.  I gave her the Famous Kachenmeister Grin, and said:  "Every one except Good Conduct, sweetie!" 

And went home alone again!    

[Hawk200]

I rate 20 ribbons, plus pilot and GTL badges. 

I would have thought you had a rack you could sleep on. (at your age and all..... )

At the Officers' Club a barmaid remarked about them, and asked if I had every medal possible.  I gave her the Famous Kachenmeister Grin, and said:  "Every one except Good Conduct, sweetie!" 

And went home alone again!    

And are you really wondering why? 

You know I'm just kidding....Right?

[Camas]

Although some non-prior service members have issues with military personnel wearing a large rack.

I can see their point though it might be nothing more than intimidation.  For my part I wear my military ribbons with pride

My wear is pretty much limited by the real estate available. I'm an average size guy, so I can wear only so many before the shirt collar/service coat notch limitation comes in.

I wear a size 50L service coat (I'm 6'4") so I don't have a problem

On my service coat I wear all both USAF and CAP.  On my blues shirt I wear only my CAP ribbons

I'm with you though I try to avoid wearing ribbons on shirts at all.  But there've been times when I've had to such as cadet encampment formations and the like.

I rate 20 ribbons - -

I have 15 and I don't see anymore in the immediate future other than the Garber and the Wilson if and when I even finish up Level IV and V.

[DNall]

At the Officers' Club a barmaid remarked about them, and asked if I had every medal possible.  I gave her the Famous Kachenmeister Grin, and said:  "Every one except Good Conduct, sweetie!" 

And went home alone again!    

And are you really wondering why? 

I thought that was pretty snappy actually. I'm stealin the hell outta that one.

I got one of the mini-GT badges couple days ago. I don't know if I like it or not yet. I haven't put it on the shirt yet. It'd look good on mess dress, or you could even pull it off on a lapel, but jury's still out. I'll scan it w/ some scale objects so you can see. The more detail bit is it's flat rather than rounded like the full-size badge & raised a bit more than you'd expect. Does make it look sharper. 3.50 for master badge from Vangold I mean Vanguard. I'm still of the opinion the full size badge looks small (narrow) next to full-size AF badges

[afgeo4]

My mileage is different... I'm a recruiter.  Just like AF recruiters, I am compelled to wear all my CAP ribbons (5). I used to wear my USAFR ribbons (also 5) with CAP ribbons when I was in cadet programs, but since I've become a recruiter I changed to just CAP ribbons. Although I wear them on all the blues combinations.

[DNall]

Right, that's the excepton to policy. You should dress it up a bit for recruiting duty. Same for certan PAO duties, just like when you present at outside orgs.

[Monty]

Right, that's the excepton to policy. You should dress it up a bit for recruiting duty. Same for certan PAO duties, just like when you present at outside orgs.

Yuppers...precisely why I didn't whine about it when in AFRS, they told us they were mandatory.  (Sidenote: while ribbons were mandatory for AF recruiters, the unofficial expectation of getting them at Ultrathin got to be expensive...especially when the entire AFRS had to immediately start wearing that new AF recruiter ribbon all at the same time on account of the USAF's "all or none" requirement.)

If I showed a picture of 'ole Monty in his service dress, you'd see that the only time those puppies get worn is on that service dress...and dang, it's an expensive deal getting 'em made.  (Yup, I still make orders through Ultrathin even for CAP.)

Sigh.....I'll probably regret this, but.....here y'all go.  Hope you had your coffee already because it's probably WAY too early in the AM to see this crap: 

[Al Sayre]

ARRGGHH!  My eyes!   I've been blinded by the bling!