Actually, in Starfleet, I don’t think you would even get a physical medal or device. I do not recall anyone in dress uniform from TNG or later actually wearing any medals on their dress uniforms. Considering that Vulcans are a founding member of the Federation, I could see the ‘arguement’ that wearing the medals (for bragging rights) would be illogical. They would, however, still appear on your service record.
That’s a good point. I know they had those triangles in TOS.
Didn’t Sisko get a physical Chistopher Pike Medal of Honor in “Tears of the Prophets” though?
So, rather than wear them on their dress uniforms, they could display them on their desks or walls.
Data keeps his dozen or so medals/awards/commendations in a case in his quarters.
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Does anyone have any artwork, official or otherwise, for any of the Medals/Awards presented in the book?
I would love to be able to print them out as stickers or something to add to my player’s Character Sheets.
@Bluesamurai33 You should specify that you’re speaking US Army…
The US Navy uses stars on some (Navy awards; bronze on ribbons, gold on medals, silver=5), and leaves on a few (Joint service and DOD level awards: DDSM, DSSM, DMSM,JSCM, JSAM, JMUM). Bars on large are replaced by stars on small medals and ribbons. (USN Reg 5316) A few have other devices…
Several nations wear additional ribbons . I’ve seen photos of several USSR officers with two Order of Lenin. Wikipedia shows Podpolkovnik Anatoly Lebed in his awards… worn: 1 Hero of the RF, 1 Order of St George, 3 worn order of courage, 3 worn red stars, 1 Service to the Homeland, 1x20yr, 1x15 year, 1x10 yr
In TNG onward, we don’t see decorations on the dress uniforms anyway; they just go into the file, and into a shadow box for quarters display¹. (Neither TNG dress nor Insurrection dress show anything decoration-like.)
In TOS, however²… the triangular ones it looks like dups get worn. Commodores Stone and Mendez appear to have a dup each.
TOS Movies³, it’s much clearer… They appear to be placed in order earned, rather than rank of award, as several of the admirals have 2 matching lilac-ish ribbons, with one between them.⁴
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¹: TNG: Measure of a Man - Data has his in a shadow-box… but note: 2 of them are TOS-Movie-era admiral’s insignia, 1 screenworn type, 1 appears to be a 3rd party, because it wasn’t on the cards sold in the it’s a wrap auction
²: see https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Starfleet_decorations and note the poor quality of the images leaves it arguable.
³: ibid. Resolution is better on these, too.
⁴: it’s likely that it was simply a costuming error… but so much of Trek capital-C “Canon” is fans overanalyzing rushed work by guys who probably didn’t believe they’d get caught.
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The Disco’s crew was awarded physical medals at the end of season 1.
As an aside, I’ve seen the TOS medal clusters described as “fruit salad”…
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FWIW traditionally, Orders - societies of chivalry evolving from knighthood - are different from Medals/Decorations. So while you may be awarded a medal multiple times, you may only be admitted to an Order once. However, it is sometimes possible to be promoted within the Order. So for instance, Canada’s Order of Military Merit consists of 3 levels, Members, Officers, and Commanders with the level tied to the member’s rank, as a measure of their responsibilities.
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It’s a common term in the US military, too.
(And scrambled eggs for the leaves on field/command grade and flag/general grade officers hat brims.)
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