U.S. Military Pins and Ribbons: A Crash Course in Symbolism and Bragging Rights
The look of a soldier is one that practically screams, “In the last 24 hours, I have accomplished more than most do in a year!” It’s not just a garment; the uniform is a near-mythical property in this society. It is a résumé that does the work of justifying the very existence of its wearer and their personality. Each pin, ribbon, and badge tells a story, most of whose morals are shortcuts to justifying what’s on the owner’s back. But none of those stories, whether innocent or not, can serve as a justification for the hoodoo the military has going for it. After all, if you could do no wrong and were so good at what you did that most folks didn’t want to mess with you, you’d be the military.
The Uniform’s Real Estate: Where Everything Goes
To begin with, military uniforms are not a free-for-all. Every item has its proper place because, in the military, even disorder has to be neatly sewn into order. The pin that depicts the flag of the United States is worn on the left lapel, a good prompt to remember the country being served. Just beneath that, the nameplate gives you the hero’s name, in case their valiant acts haven’t made it obvious what their name is.
Each military branch possesses its own distinct insignia. These insignias are displayed on the collar and serve to indicate, without a doubt, whether someone is in the Army, Navy, or Air Force. To the untrained eye, they may appear as merely decorative. But to the members of the armed forces, these little badges might as well be our team jerseys. As for officer rank insignias, they’re found on the shoulders or collar and serve the clear purpose of signaling who’s in charge. “Who’s actually in charge” being the key phrase, since resembling a private too closely can get you in hot water if you’ve recently earned the right to don an eagle.
The left chest pocket is a riot of service ribbons and medals that near scream, “Look what I’ve done!” Above and below the pocket, the vibes are much more chill. But if you know what to look for, the Army’s version of a “Who’s Who” is not-so-casually congregated on the left side of the chest, hanging out in what is pretty much a row of prestigious, if slightly grim, displays of the most dangerous, dirty skills the Army can offer.
The Rank Insignia: A Visual Ladder of Authority
The surest thing in the armed forces is that everyone knows his or her role down to the last person in the command chain. The rank structure among warranted and commissioned officers is so complex and so subdivided that understanding it for the purpose of figure drawing seems easy by comparison.
The military structure has its own ranking signs for warrant officers, the system’s quiet workhorses. From the W-1 silver bar with black squares to the W-5 vertical authority stripes, these badges tell you all you need to know about who is leading the charge in the Pentagon, room by room.
On the other hand, the officers who get commissioned tend to have the more showy symbols of rank. A Second Lieutenant (O-1) wears a simple gold bar, while the commanding General (O-10) might be seen wearing or displaying in some other fashion a hat or other item with five silver stars on it. These officers seem to move from the stage of “grasping the basics of what’s likely to happen next” to that of “fully understanding the basics and being able to predict the next probable steps, even when the events would easily flummox most civilians.”
Badges: Where Skill Meets Swagger
Let us discuss the badges. They are somewhat practical and somewhat just “look what I can do” signs. Presidential Service Badges are more than just nifty things to don. They are life indicators of our trust in the people who wear them. Our badges signify that we trust the people who wear them to work with the president and to work for the president. We trust the people around the president.
What we’re really getting into with this is the matter of combat badges. The Combat Infantryman Badge (CIB) signals that this individual has done what we ask our infantry to do. That’s not just sit behind a desk all day or hang out on a base sipping Gatorade and watching the rain come down. And it’s a pretty good bet that the woman wearing the Combat Medical Badge (CMB) has done what we ask of our medics. Not just in the “really, really” protected spaces where most of us hang out, but out in the dangerous half of the world where doing what she’s done requires doing it in a way that avoids becoming the next “seriously injured” or “dead” person she was supposed to save or protect from being injured or dead.
Next, we have the skill badges, which are even more pinpoint and just as “WOW”-worthy. Take, for instance, the parachutist badges. The people who earn them jump from perfectly good airplanes. Or aviator badges that signify individuals who fly the kinds of contraptions most of us wouldn’t trust unless we were belted in as passengers. And these aren’t just for ordinary achievements; they’re for truly exceptional feats.
Attention should be given to marksmanship badges as well. To earn the Marksman badge, one must simply “hit the target.” To earn the Sharpshooter badge, one must do that and “impress everyone.” To earn the Expert badge, which often is considered the “most impressive of all badges,” one must do what it says and also “make the target weep for the loss of its many unmarked surfaces.”
Ribbons: Proof of Valor and Survival
The service ribbons are a contributing factor to the vice-presidential attire making an impression. The way they hang from the shoulders of the uniformed figures is almost theatrical. They are so prominent in the overall picture that, quite frankly, they cannot be ignored. And yet, ignoring them would not be a good idea even if the opportunity presented itself. The service ribbons symbolize the overall military appearance of body, mind, and spirit. Moreover, they underscore that the service member not only has achieved something individually but that military units in which they have served also have achieved something collectively.
Military units that accomplish missions of exceptional difficulty and danger may be awarded ribbons such as the Presidential Unit Citation. Such honors confer recognition not just on the valor of one or a few individuals, but across whole groups. One might think of the honors as being somewhat analogous to rings given to teams that win a championship in a sport.
Distinctive Unit Insignia: Where Individuality Shines
Each military unit creates its own version of an insignia, and none of them are dull or repetitive. My favorite might be the design used by the 1st Infantry Division. You might know them as “Big Red One.” It’s a simple, clear design on a stark contrast to the muddled identities of many other military divisions. Then there are the “Screaming Eagles” of the 101st Airborne, whose design is a bit more elaborate yet remains legible in a way that maintains some order. Insignias are viewed often enough from the front in a combat setting to give some clear indication of who you’re doing battle alongside.
What It All Means
The uniform that individuals in the U.S. armed forces wear is not just a collection of colors and fabrics, stitched together by laboring hands. It is an assembly of symbols, both on and off the uniform, that communicate narratives of lives lived and various forms of service rendered. And you don’t need a program to figure out what’s being said. Life lived, service rendered, and the stories told by the symbols on a U.S. military uniform pack an emotional wallop. Indeed, no detail is too small to miss when it comes to making a uniform emblematic of the individual wearing it.
The next time you spot a person in a uniform, take a moment to appreciate what you are seeing. It is almost more intimate than seeing a private behind locked doors. You are allowed to witness a tableau in which a public presentation of the self is being made. In this instance, the presentation doubles as a history lesson. The military uniforms worn by these individuals tell stories well beyond the immediate circumstances of each front. Covering the two most basics of basic anatomy that is what uniforms do.
