Medal inflation is a term used by the media particularly in the United States to describe the increase in the number of medals awarded to the armed forces in recent times and a perceived devaluing of medals because of this. It has been discussed since at least 1979 when a book was published relating to the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
. The
War on Terror
The war on terror, officially the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), is an ongoing international counterterrorism military campaign initiated by the United States following the September 11 attacks. The main targets of the campaign are militant ...
and particularly the
2003 Invasion of Iraq
The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including ...
saw a resurgence in coverage, as there was a rapid increase in the number of medals awarded by the American forces. There was, however, a significant reduction in the volume of medals as the war entered the counter-insurgency phase.
United States
![William-Tecumseh-Sherman](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/19/William-Tecumseh-Sherman.jpg)
Various parts of the American media have discussed the perceived problem of medal inflation; most frequently since the start of the
War on Terror
The war on terror, officially the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), is an ongoing international counterterrorism military campaign initiated by the United States following the September 11 attacks. The main targets of the campaign are militant ...
in 2001 including articles in the ''
Huffington Post
''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...
'' (Dorian De Wind), ''
Newsweek
''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...
'' (
Evan Thomas
Evan Welling Thomas III (born April 25, 1951) is an American journalist, historian, and author. He is the author of nine books, including two ''New York Times'' bestsellers.
Early life and career
Thomas was born in Huntington, New York, and r ...
) and the ''
NBC News
NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's var ...
'' (
Michael Moran).
[ It has also been discussed in a 2006 book by Paul Robinson and a 2016 work by Michael P. Kreuzer.][ Earlier treatments of the subject include a 1979 book (''Crisis in Command'') discussing the situation in the ]Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
and a 1996 article in the ''New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
''.[ The question discussed frequently is whether the medals are deserved or being awarded at too high a rate, leading to "devaluation" of the award.][
Historically the US armed forces have relied heavily upon individual commanding officers to apply for and approve medals, leading to significant variability in the criteria required for each award.][ One critic, Colonel Jack Jacobs, who received the Medal of Honor in Vietnam said, in 2004: "it's an age old problem with the Army and Air Force, too. The authority to approve awards is at a very low level, and that has a tendency to increase their frequency. Plus, there's always a political motive, or component, to giving out awards, to keep morale high and create a positive story for the home front".][ A counterpoint is that in the modern US military a serviceman's medals serve as his "resumé" indicating his career achievements, rather than serving to show only the most valorous or meritorious service.][
]
Early history
The United States Army, perhaps conscious of the founding fathers' democratic principles, was sparing with its medals. Some distinguished generals including the Civil War leaders Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union Ar ...
and William Tecumseh Sherman
William Tecumseh Sherman ( ; February 8, 1820February 14, 1891) was an American soldier, businessman, educator, and author. He served as a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War (1861–1865), achieving recognition for his com ...
wore few if any medals on their uniform. Indeed, the US Army had no medal to recognise valor on the battlefield until the Civil War when the Medal of Honor
The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor. ...
was introduced.[ The Medal of Honor was the only such medal until the US involvement in the ]First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
when a number of other medals were introduced.[ Controversy over the number of medals issued dates back to at least the ]Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. During the early US involvement in North Africa two US generals visited the front and issued 60 Legion of Merit
The Legion of Merit (LOM) is a military award of the United States Armed Forces that is given for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements. The decoration is issued to members of the eight ...
medals. These medals criteria should have limited them only to very senior officers and the majority of the 60 issued were outside of the criteria. US President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
disapproved of this action but did not veto the awards.[ The Second World War as a whole saw a significant increase in the number of medals issued to individual servicemen.][
]
Later 20th century
A large number of service awards (for "time served") were introduced following the Second World War, which increased the number of medals servicemen could expect to receive. The Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
brought about the use of military bravery medals as a means of raising force morale.[ Historians Richard A. Gabriel and Paul L. Savage state that "medal packages" were common in which an officer received a set of medals merely for holding a certain rank or appointment; leading to a reduction in the perceived value of these medals.][ Later, US General ]Colin Powell
Colin Luther Powell ( ; April 5, 1937 – October 18, 2021) was an American politician, statesman, diplomat, and United States Army officer who served as the 65th United States Secretary of State from 2001 to 2005. He was the first African ...
described the practice saying that:
Tim O'Brien, who processed awards in Vietnam for his unit, said of the time: "we dispensed awards – Purple Hearts, one and the same for a dead man or a man with a scraped fingernail; Bronze Stars for valor, mostly for officers who knew how to lobby".[
One award singled out as an example of medal inflation is the ]Army Service Ribbon
The Army Service Ribbon (ASR) is a military award of the United States Army that was established by the Secretary of the Army on 10 April 1981 as announced in Department of the Army General Order 15, dated 10 October 1990.
History
Effective 1 A ...
, awarded for completing basic initial training, introduced by the US Army in peacetime in 1981. The 1983 Invasion of Grenada has also been cited as an example: some 8,600 campaign medals were awarded despite only 7,200 troops actually serving in the country. The ''New York Times'' also notes the awarding of combat medals to seamen of the USS ''Vincennes'' who shot down a civilian airliner, Iran Air Flight 655
Iran Air Flight 655 was a scheduled passenger flight from Tehran to Dubai via Bandar Abbas that was shot down on 3July 1988 by two SM-2MR surface-to-air missiles fired by the , a Cruiser#US cruiser development, guided-missile cruiser of the Unit ...
, in 1988 and the issue of a Purple Heart
The Purple Heart (PH) is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those wounded or killed while serving, on or after 5 April 1917, with the U.S. military. With its forerunner, the Badge of Military Merit, w ...
wound medal to a paratrooper who suffered heat stroke during the 1989 United States invasion of Panama
The United States invasion of Panama, codenamed Operation Just Cause, lasted over a month between mid-December 1989 and late January 1990. It occurred during the administration of President George H. W. Bush and ten years after the Torrijos– ...
were controversial. The Gulf War
The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...
of 1990–91 saw almost 3.5 million US service members awarded the National Defense Service Medal
The National Defense Service Medal (NDSM) is a service award of the United States Armed Forces established by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1953. It is awarded to every member of the US Armed Forces who has served during any one of four sp ...
, though the majority remained in the United States during this time.[
A study in 1994 showed that there was some disparity between the services with regards the frequency of awards. The United States Air Force issued 287 decorations per 1,000 service members in that year, the US Navy 148 and the US Marine Corps just 70. At the time there was pressure on the Marine Corps to increase the number of medals issued to "catch up" to the other services.][
]
War on Terror
During the 2003 invasion of Iraq
The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including 26 ...
complaints were made in some parts of the media that the number of medals awarded was out of proportion with the danger experienced by the troops and that bravery awards were more likely to be issued to officers than enlisted personnel. Of the 26 Silver Stars awarded for the 2003 capture of Baghdad 4 were awarded to colonels, 11 to captains and just 11 to NCOs, none went to privates; of the 104 Bronze Stars with valor device, 32 were awarded to officers and 72 to other ranks (only 4 of whom were privates) and of the 274 plain Bronze Stars 149 went to officers, 133 to NCOs and just 3 to privates. The Purple Heart, which is awarded automatically for being wounded and so perhaps is more reflective of the danger individual soldiers experience was awarded 88 times, only 10 times to officers, 36 to NCOs and 42 to privates.[
The ]US Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...
was subject to criticism regarding the number of medals awarded during the invasion: some 69,000 medals were handed out, significantly more than the army (who awarded 40,000) despite that fact that army personnel were, in general, posted to more dangerous locations. The ratio of Bronze Stars awarded per fatality in the US Air Force was 91:1 and in the Army 27:1.[ The ]US Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...
took active steps to limit the number of medals awarded during the invasion and was praised by some at the time for having "kept the inflation in check"; it awarded just three Bronze Stars per fatality suffered. Some critics noted that the Air Force awards, on average, twice the number of medals per service member that the US Navy does.[
A noted critic of medal inflation, Colonel David Hackworth was particularly critical of the Air Force for awarding the Distinguished Flying Cross to a pilot for a mission which missed its target in Baghdad and killed 16 civilians. He compared this to what would have been needed to receive the medal in the Second World War: "in World War II, when I saw a Distinguished Flying Cross, that meant the guy had made 25 or 30 missions over dangerous places like Hamburg or Berlin. Those places sometimes had 50 percent casualty rates. Now, they give medals out to guys who fly bombers invisible to radar whose bombs miss Saddam and kill civilians in a restaurant. It's an outrage".][ There were in fact a relatively large number of Distinguished Flying Crosses awarded for the invasion: between its establishment in 1927 and 2002 only 3,300 of the medals had been awarded but between March 2002 and February 2004 463 were approved.][
Once the war settled down into the counter-insurgency phase the number of medals awarded decreased significantly. Up until 2009 the rate of Medals of Honor awarded was just 0.1 per 100,000 service members, significantly under the ratio in the Korean War (2.3) and the Second World War (2.9). The reasons cited for this were that the technological development of warfare had reduced the number of face-to-face engagements with the enemy; that the shift by the insurgents towards improvised explosive devices, mortars and sniper attacks away from standard infantry tactics had also reduced the number of traditional engagements and that the awards system had been made more rigorous.]
Other countries
The term has also been used in discussions on the awarding of medals to the British armed forces. Prior to the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the British Army had a reputation for rarely awarding gallantry medals, outside of special forces units. The ''Telegraph'' noted in 2009 that there had been a significant rise in the number awarded since 2003. However, the process relies heavily upon the wording of the commanding officer's medal citation which can lead to variability. As an example the 1st battalion of the Princess of Wales' Royal Regiment
Princess is a regal rank and the feminine equivalent of prince (from Latin ''princeps'', meaning principal citizen). Most often, the term has been used for the consort of a prince, or for the daughter of a king or prince.
Princess as a subst ...
was awarded 37 medals (including one Victoria Cross
The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...
, the nation's highest award for gallantry) for a single tour, but similar units engaged in similar tours in 2003 and 2006 received only a single mention in dispatches
To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches, MiD) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face ...
.
In the Canadian Armed Forces, there has been some discontent over the awarding of campaign medals, particularly as there was no means of differentiating between those who served regularly on patrol and those that never left the relative safety of the base. Anne Irwin, a military anthropologist at the University of Calgary's Centre for Strategic and Military Studies, proposed two new awards: a rosette on the campaign medal for those who had been off-base and a combat badge for those who fought. This would be similar to the US Army's practice of awarding the Combat Infantryman Badge, Combat Medical Badge and Combat Action Badge (the latter introduced to solve a similar problem in 2005).
See also
* Grade inflation
Grade inflation (also known as grading leniency) is the awarding of higher grades than students deserve, which yields a higher average grade given to students.
The term is also used to describe the tendency to award progressively higher academic g ...
References
{{Reflist
Military awards and decorations
Medals
Inflation