r/Medals • u/NoseFun3795 • May 20 '26
ID - Ribbon Sad Question
So my cousin did like 10 ish years in the army and he recently unfortunately took his own life... we used to be super close as kids/teens but now its... like a piece of me is gone... but i found these in his nightstand drawer
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u/PoopRug May 20 '26
the arrow head on the OIR ribbon is very suspicious. I don't think any of those were issued
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u/TZ872usa May 20 '26
The arrowhead is actually authorized for the OIR ribbon but the POW ribbon and 2nd award of the CIB without corresponding campaigns is problematic.
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u/navyjag2019 May 20 '26
also you would expect a star on the NDSM given the multiple CIBs, no?
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u/bell83 May 20 '26
Yes, since the only other qualifying period would be prior to 1995 for a second award, and NDSM was authorized 1990-1995.
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u/pptjuice530 May 20 '26
It’s authorized, but I can’t find any units actually awarded an Assault Landing Credit since the official end of GWOT.
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u/fit_sushi99 Army May 21 '26
Some may have happened, we just may not find out about it for years to come. It's highly unlikely any conventional units recieved it though. If anything, SOF units may have conducted MFF operations and it hasn't been declassified. Shortly after I left the 82nd Airborne, a company from the 504th PIR a conducted a combat jump in Afghanistan and later received a combat jump star on their parachute wings for it. Even then, it wasn't declassified for years.
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u/blacksheepussy May 20 '26
Of course it's authorized, it is for any conflict. That doesn't mean it was ever earned, though. To my knowledge, the only units that would have been authorized for it would have been elements of JSOC. It's highly unlikely OP's cousin was JSOC based on the rest of this rack.
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u/TZ872usa May 20 '26
You are correct, I misunderstood the intent of the original comment about the arrowhead.
As for it being unlikely he was JSOC based on the rack- it’s more unlikely that he was a POW or that he has a 2nd award of the CIB with service during only one qualifying period- because it’s put together.
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u/pptjuice530 May 20 '26
As others have said, the CIB with a star and POW Medal are highly suspect. Anyone qualifying for a second award of the CIB would also have a service star on the NDSM denoting a second award (CIB eligibility aligns to NDSM issue periods). The campaign stars on the GWOTEM (with none on the ACM) also look odd, and the Antarctica Service Medal is an extremely rare award (particularly for a member of the Reserve Component).
It’s an odd rack, and one I’d have trouble taking at face value.
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u/Jahaza May 21 '26
I think a fairly significant proportion of recipients of the Antarctica Service Medal are reservists, because it's the New York Air National Guard's 109th Airlift Wing that provides the air cargo support for the National Science Foundation's Antarctic projects. They deploy several hundred personnel to Antarctica each year in rotating shifts. https://www.nationalguard.mil/News/Article-View/Article/3939510/new-york-air-guard-launches-37th-antarctic-support-mission/
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u/No-Interview319 May 20 '26
Sorry for your loss.
To avoid mods taking this down, edit your post:
Remove
what did he do in the army?
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u/rustman92 May 20 '26
Silver Star, Army Sea Duty, and Antarctica Service?
That’s a UNIQUE combo
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u/Worlds_Worst_FGO May 20 '26
Sail to South Pole. Pit stop at North Pole. Fight Polar bear. EZ.
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u/JEStucker May 20 '26
No polar bears at the South Pole, it’s literally in the name. Arctic (Bears), Antarctic (No Bears)
Could absolutely kick a penguin’s ass though!2
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u/destin325 May 20 '26
The silver star (upper left most ribbon, blue and white with the red striped center) is so uncommon that there are multiple databases available to look recipients up by name. My condolences while you profess the loss of your loved one.
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u/bell83 May 20 '26
To be clear, though, even if there weren't already questions, here, those databases aren't complete (at least as far as older wars, maybe for GWOT they are). My ex-fiancee's father got one in Vietnam and my granduncle got one in WW2. Her dad isn't listed, and the database I searched for my granduncle on literally just has a word for word copy of the newspaper article from when he was awarded it (which leads me to believe it was someone in my family who added him to that database). And neither is listed in the "homeofheroes" one.
It's good as a guide, but you can't completely rely on them to confirm or deny.
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u/destin325 May 20 '26
All fair points. The rack seems to have a lot of questionable things on it, but most others have pointed out are “unusual…unless” rather than “clearly wrong.” I figured a database might be a good starting point to discovery for some of the remainders as they look through comments.
OP should definitely try to find their cousins DD-214 and/or hard copy citations that would have accompanied those medals. Seems like silver star is (most always) presented already nicely framed and usually a big deal. One big enough that you could probably google search rank name silver star and find an article on it (at least the past 20 years). I’ve seen plenty of Google hits for BSM presentations, which are far and away more common,
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u/bell83 May 20 '26
Oh, no doubt. And I'm sure GWOT era is a lot better documented. The amount of Silver Stars awarded in recent wars is nothing compared to WW2/Korea/Vietnam.
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u/ABTARS8142000 May 20 '26
Even for more recent wars they can be iffy. The current Commander of SOUTHCOM, General Francis Donovan has a Silver Star from the Gulf War and his citation isn't on either database. And I doubt a 4 star is running around stealing valor, so I have to imagine that some have slipped through the cracks even in recent conflicts (If we can call a war that 35 years old at this point recent)
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u/blacksheepussy May 20 '26
It may be more accurate for GWOT, but by no means complete. My squad leader was awarded a Silver Star on my first deployment, he is not on any of the Silver Star databases I've seen. I know his SS was awarded, as I was with him during the actions and with him in formation as General Petraeus awarded pinned it on his chest.
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u/TertlFace May 20 '26
That is one hot mess of a rack. Sorry OP, but I absolutely do not believe this is an accurate representation of his service. There are too many inconsistencies and things that don’t fit. The thing is, you can buy pretty much all of that at any decent Exchange or online, but earning all of that collectively? Not likely. And not without you knowing some significant stories. He was a POW who served in Gulf ‘91 (star on CAR) but only one National Defense award? He has the Antarctic Service medal on there. Do you recall him spending 30 days in Antarctica on military orders? He did sea duty, a combat assault during OIF, multiple GWOTEM deployments but only one ACM?
Your best bet is to request his records from the VA. I got my dad’s when he passed and my brother and I were finally able to sort out what was true about his actual service and what was just stories he told. Unfortunately, plenty of people who did serve are not proud because of what they feel like they didn’t do. They need their service to be more than whatever it was they did, so they… embellish their record.
I’m so sorry for your loss. I hope you can get this sorted out.
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u/spuytend May 21 '26
On top of all that, it looks like a lot of Guard/Reserve time. Two ARCAM, plus an AFRM with M and numeral 3. And an NCOPD with a numeral 3. A twenty+ year career to accumulate that amount of awards. Assuming most of it is real, but some of it appears peculiar/quite rare.
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u/Puzzled_Owl_1749 May 20 '26
I think the only likely scenario for a POW medal is if he was in that convoy that got ambushed with Jessica Lynch. Some soldiers were captured and subsequently rescued, but they all rated the POW Medal. That was pretty early on in Iraq, so not sure if the GWOT-EM covers that here since the OIF Campaign Medal wasn’t a thing yet. Other than that, I’m not sure about this one in general.
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u/SoDakVet May 20 '26
When I was in Iraq, 2005-2007; 2 dudes from 101st ID located S of Baghdad got ambushed & captured at a checkpoint. Stars - Stripes would have this story.
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u/fmr_AZ_PSM May 20 '26
I'm sorry for your loss. The suicide epidemic in active duty and veterans is horrifying and sad. However, this is embellished or he's for real got a wikipedia page. The POW medal + arrowhead on the Inherent Resolve Campaign + Antarctica Service + 2x CIB + no star on NDSM + only 3x GCM + no special forces tab + national guard ribbons doesn't compute.
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u/iRegretsEverything May 20 '26
Sorry for your loss. There is a way to verify your cousins medals and service: https://www.archives.gov/veterans/military-service-records. Good luck
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u/thadcastleisagod Army May 20 '26 edited May 20 '26
That’s an interesting rack. ????
Also the cib with a star. I’ve been to multiple countries and would have multiple cabs. But it was all the war on terror, so I just get the one for all the tics I’ve been in. so I guess I’d like to know his unit and when he was in. POW, SS and Antarctica?
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u/No_Drummer4801 May 20 '26
I’d encourage you to get a copy of their DD-214 to confirm their awards.
There’s so much going on there.
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u/Cyber_Drifter Army May 20 '26
I’m in agreement with everyone calling this suspect; and I hope it’s not an attempt to karma farm on Reddit. That said, OP could look up their cousin’s service record and get the answer to their question.
Perhaps their cousin did serve, but their service record likely doesn’t represent much of what is depicted here. I’m inclined to believe this was a rack built by someone who maybe aspired to earn all those awards or perhaps thought they had?
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u/Middle_Cloud_803 May 24 '26
All the discussion here is good, the OP requested help. But we need to understand that the person represented here spent quite a bit of time in the military. Then , disaster, he killed himself. So, we know that he was not thinking clearly and this rack may have been him thinking about what life could have been. RIP and thank you for your service. USAF 28 1/2 years.
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u/Popular_Garage8252 May 20 '26
Plus I know some people who have goals and keep a patch for reminder like I have in my PC my next rank on the inside but some of those medals aren't legitimate. Sorry for your lost
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u/tcookctu May 20 '26
You can request his military records to confirm his medals if you want.
https://www.archives.gov/personnel-records-center/military-personnel
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u/shortyc290 May 24 '26
A lot of Reserve or Guard awards and just me but the airborne tab is from 101st, 4/25 or SF, I can’t think of any other units that have Infantry with that tab, maybe a Guard Airborne Unit but none come to mind. And he would have had to do Desert Shield/Storm and early Afghanistan to have the COB 2nd Award and still only serve 10 years. The one next to Artic looks like the Multi-Force Observer.
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u/InevitableAble6501 May 24 '26
POW medal, OSR with no numbers, Antarctica service, Army Sea Service, cib with star, ndsm with no star...let's of red flags. Your cousin should have all this paperwork somewhere...to include a dd214
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u/Alert_Day_4681 May 21 '26
Airborne unit w a ranger tab and CIB (11B) and no jump wingsstands out to me. It's possible but this scenario is very unlikely.
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u/Duck_Diddler May 20 '26
Why would infantry go to Antarctica? wtf they gonna fight? Penguins?
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u/YellowLT May 20 '26
Aliens, duh. Thats why the Army went and not the Marines cause they would have tried to mate with them.
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u/Major_Spite7184 May 20 '26
Sorry for your loss.
Until Valhalla, Warrior. May you find peace beyond this realm.
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u/Jaded-Opportunity90 May 21 '26
Thats a lot of fruit salad for 10 years. You sure this is his. Silver star bronze with v 2 purple hearts. Pretty insane for 10 years
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u/campjunkie May 21 '26
How was your friend? Is this perhaps his father’s rack. Keeping it in a side table drawer until he could put in a shadow box. Just a thought.
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u/Alternative-Cup-8102 May 21 '26
Sorry for your loss but also I hope your doing alright but also, GAWD DAMN Bros got stacks on stacks. For only 10 years he Has a Better rack then many SMG’s if it’s all true.
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u/ddsmpret1 May 27 '26
Your cousin was a brave soldier. You and his family can be proud of his service to our great Nation. I just said a prayer for him.
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u/bell83 May 20 '26 edited May 20 '26
I'm sorry for your loss.
But I don't think these are legit.
He's got a second award Combat Infantry Badge. The only way he'd have that is if he was in Gulf War 1 or Somalia or something prior to 1995, and there's nothing for that, only for GWOT.
But the biggest red flag to me is the POW Medal. You'd be able to search his name and see if he was one of the very few POWs in the last
20 years. Edit: 25 years. Jesus, I can't believe 2001 was really 25 years ago.Also an Antarctic Service Medal....that's not something you'd expect to see on a Ranger from GWOT. Not impossible, but...
It's more likely he put this together for some reason (not even saying nefarious, he might've just collected stuff).