What do the ribbons mean?

[Acorn]

the 125 was a give me medal i think, you did not have to do anything special to earn or to wear it.   you were picked by   your unit and you got it.   i read the story   in the local paper I live near Petawawa.. MPs were giving away   that medal to anyone who was around who they felt deserved it, usually people who worked for the party or did something to help with the election ( give money).

There are some medals that   given out , I did not mean to insult your CD award or anyone elses.   My grand father has one medal he was entitled to wear because he was serving at the time of the 100th Birthday of Canada.   He did nothing to earn it, he never had it mounted like the rest of his service awards. He was just there and got the medal. That is is a give me medal.

CD you earn the hard way, you serve for 12 years,   i left 5 years too soon to get mine.  
please forgive me if you flet insulted over your CD, you earned it, you did the time. Congrats

All non-merit medals are "give me" medals by your criteria. We volunteered for service, and go where we are told. Sometimes we get a gong for it. The way you describe it every medal I have other than the CD is a "gimme" since all I did to "earn" them was be in the right place at the right time in the proper order of dress (and DAG green).

Acorn

 

[geo]

The Centenial and 125th medals were, allegedly "gimmie" medals were alloted to units: X per unit. Usually CO & RSM got the 1st cut and then they would merit list the Offrs and NCOs to determine who would get the balance of medals.

The latest Jubilee medal is another animal altogether....
While the people at the top wanted to be fair in their distribution, they let computer generated lists make the decisions for them. End result; you had some sad sack individuals who picked em up... even if he was the least deserving soldier in the unit... and the unit CO & RSM had no say in it.
Some individuals who got em refused to wear em because of who else got em
Some unit COs tried to send back every last one of them.....
Some individuals just asked their MPs for em... (yup; even the Bloc MPs had some to give)
T'was, from my perspective, a real boondogle...
Got mine sitting in a drawer somewhere............ never to see the light of day.

 

[Haggis]

The latest Jubilee medal is another animal altogether....

The awarding of the QGJM within the CF was by no means arbitrary, nor was it the best method.  In a nutshell, here's how it went:

-CF members who received the QGJM were selected randomly based on a pre-determined criteria, with the bulk of the medals awarded to the Cpl/LS and Capt/Lt(N) ranks. 
-The random selection was overseen by a Project Officer at DHH.  The nominee names were then provided to the units for vetting by the C of C.
-Then those vetted lists were sent back to DHH for a final "once over" by the Project Officer before the medals were awarded.
-To ensure no bias of any type was inserted into the selection process outside the C of C, the Project Officer, her trade and branch of service were all ineligible for the medal.

 

[1feral1]

1. So medals are just give mes.

2. There was a time when most of the enlisted men wearing the most ribbons and medals were combat engineers.  

Response to para 1 - bad, very bad choice of words, and quite frankly, I am proud of my two Cdn (as you put it) 'give mes', and the ADM I am about to receive, plus those I have inherited from my relatives who served in two world wars.

Response to para 2 -  I am speechless, and I hope yo are just kidding.

Wes

 

[geo]

Haggis,
You will have your view on the QGJM and I will have mine.
Everyone is entitled to his/her opinion.

Chimo!

 

[Haggis]

Haggis,
You will have your view on the QGJM and I will have mine.
Everyone is entitled to his/her opinion.

Geo:

It's not a "view", it simply a description of how the system worked, warts and all.  The CF's selection process took so long that medals were awarded to members who had died, released or been convicted of Service offences between the time they were vetted by the C of C and the time the medals were awarded.

Boondoggle?  No, that's the Gun Registry. ;D  Clusterf*ck?  Quite probably, despite the best efforts of the Project Officer and her extremely limited staff.  Hey, you get what you pay for, right?

I got one from my local MP, presented in front of the unit.  I'm certain I was nominated by someone outside the C of C.  I'm too damned opinionated towards the C of C!

 

[geo]

shoulda done like they did for the Brit army.... if you were in the service - you got one....
or like the Aussie Army...no one got one.

 

[redleafjumper]

I nominated two people (civilians) for the Queen's Golden Jubilee medal and included a citation regarding the tremendous amount of community service that these people had put over many years, they received their medals in a formal ceremony at city hall. They probably deserved something more, but they were proud to be recognized in this fashion and they wear their medal proudly, just like anyone else who received one should.  The medal is itself recognition of service during the Golden Jubilee of HRH Elizabeth II.  Certainly giving all who were serving at that time one would have been a better solution, but unfortunately that didn't happen.  I respect Geo's principled stand of not wearing his, but I do think that he should put it up.