How Do You Identify Military Ribbon Bars?
If you’ve run across your grandfather’s military medals in a box of family mementos or wondered about all those ribbons the military chiefs of staff wear, you’ve probably wondered about the stories behind those awards. Reading those ribbons can tell you where our military personnel have served and what they have accomplished in their careers. Ask a soldier. If you know someone who serves in our military forces, he will be able to help you identify many of those ribbons that are worn on uniforms. Start by asking about the ones she has earned. Use colored pencils to sketch the ribbons you cannot identify, or use a digital camera to take pictures of the ribbons. Many ribbons will be similar in color, but slight differences exist in the size of the colored bars and stripes. Don’t trust your memory to identify the ribbons. Compare your sketches or digital images to the images you can find on the Grunt website or in a book such as the Department of Defense’s “21st Century U.S. Military: Mili
