JonErik

Thanks for all the comments guys it means alot to me. I updated my first post with a history of my dad's military service maybe some of you will find it interesting and a new photo of the finished shadowbox hanging on my wall 2 feet away from me. Fixed all the crooked medals and changed some things around and add'd a picture of my dad above the ribbonbar's. I still have minor things to add like a Germany Bar for the occupation medal, and a number 3 and 2 for the NCO ribbon and overseas ribbon, and i need to add Rocketlauncher, Grenade, machinegun to the Qualification Marksmen Badge. After re-reading my story i made alot grammar error's lol but i cant edit the post, you guys can still read it im sure sorry

Aparently based off what my mom said, back sometime in 1983 or near that, while my dad and mom were crossing the East/West boader in Germany my dad exchanged shoulder pads and other stuff with the Russian soldiers at the gate. I have 3, 1 pair and 1 other i have no clue what rank or whatever they are can anyone help me out ?

Ok thanks doc so in otherwords i should add Machinegun Rocket launcher Grenade To the Qualification badge i have in the picture up top right ?

Well the pictures i have on him during his officer times he didnt have this badge on i belive. He was with military Intelingence for the better part of 17 years he wasnt a Grunt, these were just qualification badges i belive when he was a Paratrooper for a short time. So anyway maximum of 3 4 5 i dont care i want to put them all on to reflect everything he earned in my shadow box, which ones do i need to buy based off what i said up top becasue i cant find bar's saying M60,M72,M79,H/G, M16. I have no idea what these guns are besides the M16 and Handgrenade. If he has Rifle, then i assume he would Machine Gun aka M60, Hand Grenade, Grenade Launcher M79?, M16/M72 Rifle ? I am right in assuming they go on the little badge in my picture up top right ? The paper does list them under his awards, but they also only give MKM or marksmen to the M16, the rest i dunno what the abreviations say but they are under awards givin

Hey guys i have another question for you. Iv been digging through my dads old records from when he first enlisted back in 1970, and i have a form called DA Form 20, and on the back it says (Awards and Decorations) and under neeth i see his "PRCHT BDGE" or Parachute Badge. There are also M60 Badge W/BAR, M72 Badge W/BAR, M79 Badge W/BAR, H/G or H/6 "im not sure if its g or 6) W/BAR, M16 Badge W/BAR. Now i have his Expert Qualification Badge and on it has only 1 bar that says Rifle. Should there be more on this then just Rifle? Like the M60, M72, M79, H/G, M16 ? I assume M72 would be Grenade Launcher, H/G is Hand Grenade and so forth ? Or am i mistaken ?

My dad got a bunch of those coins when he was in the army. They were mainly giving by Generals and Colonel's, alot of these coins are giving out in place of Medals for Civilians. After my dad retired and was hired by a company called Task or ASPO the Army space program office he got some from that company. Here are the ones i have the big one on the right was givin by a 3 star general, the one next to it i got from one of his friends in the Army that was at his funeral when we buried him, and the one next to it was from the TASK/ASPO thing, and then next to that i belive he got sometime in Military Inteligence.

The only patchs i have are the green ones and 1 color one, thanks for the comments :)

Yea about medal engravings, the 4 medals i still have from him not the ones i had to get replaced dont even have his name engraved on the back i find that redicules that in these old pictures from 30 years ago of them pinning them on his jacket that they didnt even engrave them. Im gonna have to go to a Trophy store or something and have them engrave his name on the back of them. As for a picture i looked all over the place but i dont have any "recent" pictures with him in his uniform when he was CW3 just him when he was CW2 but i think its a good picture. What do you guys think The cold war medal is something i was reading about of course when they come up with that i will add to his ribbon rack and medal line, i thought about buying the commemortive cold war medal but im not sure if that would be prudent. My dad wasnt stationed anywhere in the middleeast, he was with military intel working in the base's with the spy satalites giving the guys on ground intel during the war, so i still think he deserves something. Why should they award people sitting in ships off the coast something, when people giving Inteligence on enemy positions get nothing ? I think this is where the Star comes in on the Defense service Medal, 1 for Vietname another for Desertstorm, he contributed but wasnt actually there. Number 4 on your description Doc says be serving for 30-60 days on Duty, does this mean anywhere on Duty or what ? Like i said before he even has his gravstone with desertstorm ect but no medal

Hah no sorry, i thought you were implying putting medals on there to make it look better or something. Na he isnt that old 40's would be my grandpa he served in WW2 he was a PT Boat LT or captain or something like that, im sure he has the WW2 Medal and others. Im not sure tho it would be cool to get that information but since im not the next of kin i doubt the national Archives would give me that information.

This collection is what he earned, im not putting medals on that he didnt get. This isnt a collection that i simply bought to make my wall look shiny, its actually what my dad earned while in the army. The WW2 Victory medal was only givin out to people during WW2 in the 40's heh, My dad has the WW2 Occupation medal which is giving to people stationed in Germany after the war the WW2 Occupation medal is the Red and Black one on the right. You are right tho its a really nice collection, besides the wartime Bronze/Silver/Gold star and the Better Defense Meritorious medals he has some of the higher awards givin out during peace time. He was in the army from the early 70's to the early 90's he retired in 93. One thing that i dont get is he didnt get the Southwest Asia Medal, the requirments for it are Contribution to the Desert storm war back when the first bush helped Kuwait when Saddam Invaided, even tho he wasnt actually stationed in Iraq/Kuwait and the other countries he provided Intel for the people over there being in Military Intel, i specificly remember him telling me about him in the War, he even has the DesertStorm War engraved on his gravestorm but they never gave him the medal because he wasnt actually stationed over there i guess thats what the National Defense Medal was for tho, 1 Star being awarded it twice 1 for Veitnam and another for Desertstorm

Ok i went the military base right by my house and picked up the medals and Ribbonrack and other stuff that my dad was buried with that i didnt have because all i have were 2 medals and no ribbons and i made a shadowbox out of them. Tell me what you think? I think it looks amazing he was CW3 22 years in the Army, 82nd Airborne and then Military Intel i decited to put his highest Enlisted rank E-7 on it also before he went to Warrent Officer Its not 100% finished yet but i layed it all out to what i want it to look like when im done, i decited to put his unit badges and where he was stationed at throughout the years on the outside, the only things im missing is the Big Warrent Officer Pin that goes on the hat they didnt have them, and the 2 small warrent officer pins that go on the neck of the dress uniform not the CW3 pin i mean the Gold eagle that officer/enlisted wear, they also didnt have the Number 3 and 2 for the NCO ribbon and the other ribbon on the far bottom right. My Dad joined the Army in 1970 when he was 18 years old. He did basic and training at FT. Leonard Wood, Arkansass. Later he was stationed in FT Folk in LA where he went through Advanced Infantry training and earned his parachute wings. After that he was Promoted to the rank of E-3 and was in the 508th Infrantry Brigade stationed in Ft. Bragg NC where he was a light truck driver for 2 years. Atfer his 2 he decited to leave the army only tyo find himself going from job to job for 3 years. Later he re-enlisted in the Army in 1975 and went into the 82nd Airborne Division im not sure how many years he was there as the records i currently have dont show it. A few year later the army which tests all its soldiers decited to pull him outa airborne because he possesed a unique Intellect. He was in training/school's for years and eventually made it into Military Intelligence. He was promoted every 1-2 years E-4 then E-5 then E-6 where he met my mom while stationed in Germany and of course a few years later i was born. I have letters from Colonels and and LTC saying that he possesed extremely high technical and leadership ship skills that someone of a much higher rank should posses. He was in charge of alot of people and stuff that higher ranking people shoulda been in charge off which is a good thing . Later he was promoted to E-7 sometime in 86-87 the year i was born in. By this time he had top secrete clearance, and was helping devolope some of the latest at the time spy and other tech that todays tech is based off which gives information to troops on the ground and keeps them safe from harm. He was stationed from germany to Arizona FT Huachuca Sierra Vista where he started more Intense leadership and technical training which was needed to get promoted to Warrent Officer. I was 1 year old and still in germany with my mom who's Immigration was expedited over everyone else to the United states because of his clearance level. Once he was done with his training he was skipped ahead from the usuall Promotion of W1 ( Warrent Officer 1) to CW2 (Chief Warrent Officer 2) in 1987-88. He was promoted so fast and so often and skipping ranks over other people i have papers of the yearly grade's that the army gives people and outa 1-40 points he was always 40 which means promote now over other people. He was a CW2 for 2 years and in 1990 was promoted to CW3, and in 1993 he was offerd CW4 but declined due to his words (Tired of the Army, Sick of the way it was changing) he often referd to this as being sick of the 2nd LT's from westpoint. You can imagine how some 19 year old kid from westpoint who was clueless at best being a higher rank and in charge over someone 20+ years experiance in the army, i actually have been hearing this quiet often from older Veterans. Anyway from CW2-CW3 he was the OIC ( Officer in charge) of his own men im not sure how many people it was but letters im reading were over 40 people with his specific thing he was doing. I wish i knew what all the top secrete stuff was that they were working on but i know it was with satalites, spying on russions, and other stuff. When he retired in 93 he worked with a company called TASK which worked with the government on the same he was with in the army TENCAP Tactical Exploitation of National Capabilities. He passed away in 1998 from liver cancer which he got from Hepatitus C. I was only 11 years old and my brother was 5. Its hard to remember him what he was like in person. Being 11 and him being TDY alot i only remember the last like 5 years from 93-98 before that and its really sketchy so all i have to go on is what my mom says and what his papers say. Anyway this is my story and this is my shadowbox i made to Honor him

oh i didnt know that about the unit thing, but his rifle marksmen thing isnt on his dd214 form neither is the defense meritorious service medal. How do iget them to properly reflect this and the koreon defense medal, and the upcomming cold war medal if it goes through? As you said you didnt see the Unit Ribbons on the DD214 form, this whole form is screwd up its missing so many awards. Im reading on google that alot of people 's DD214 forms are missing some medals they should or did get. I guess i have to go to war with the government now or something ..

Hey guys i hope you can help me iv been searching online alot but i still dont have the exact answers i need. My dad was in the Army for 22 years, he joined in 69 left in 72 and reinlisted in 75 i belive. Im not 100% sure on this anyway he was E-7 until about 1983 or somewhere around there as you can tell by the time he got promoted really fast, he later became a Chief Warrent Officer skipping 1 right away and promoted to CW2 when he finished the officer school stuff, later on he went onto CW3 and right before he retired they offerd him CW4 but he declined due to being sick of the way the army was changing in his words. He was in Military Intel and in the early years a Paratrooper with the 82nd airborne eventually retired in 93 I have his DD214 form which he told me before he died wasnt properly updated to what he earned in the Military. Its been 11 years now since he died in 98 from cancer and i want to make some kind of Shadow Box with all his Medals and rank and ribbons ect. Im very proud of my dad and what he accomplished being in the Army he was a very smart guy i have papers from all the class's he took in the army all the stuff he was in charge with in Military Intel letters of recomendations and acheivements from the Secretary of defense and Generals and Colonels. Sadly this is all i have he was buried with his Uniform his Ribbons and stuff and when i was a little kid i used to play with his medals outside losing them ect so all i have are 4 of them. Sorry for the long description i just wanted everyone to know a breif history. As i said before his DD214 form and it doesnt show what he was awarded based off pictures and what i have. Im looking at old pictures from when he was a E6-E7 i cant find any from his Warrent officer days cept the last one my mom took of his uniform she put together for him to be buried with and i can name 4 things that arent on his records. Defense Meritorious Service Medal, i have 2 of the Unit Ribbons that go on the oposite side of the uniform one is solid red another is red with green in the middle, another his is Marksmen award with rifle hanging under it. None of these are on the DD214 i have. I orderd a copy of his records from the National Archive a few days ago so i will see what the "Updated" i hope one says. If this one doesnt have these awards on it what do i need to do to get them put on ? Another Medal i know he should have is the Korean Defense Service Medal. Something newer Bush in 2002 made that all service members from 1954 to now who served 30 days or more in Korea should have. He was in Korea for over a year its where he broke his ankles so that needs to be on the recored also. How do i go about getting these medals and Ribbons for my shadow box? I found website selling as they say "Authentic" medals but i dont trust them im going into the army base today to see if i can get them there but if not id like to know what you guys think in the meantime. Here is a picture of his Uniform "Please note the 2 Unit award ribbons and Marksmen thingy arent on this my mom didnt relise that goes on it " but as you can see the first ribbon is the Defense meritorious service ribbon but this isnt on the dd214 Here are the awards that werent on that uniform but that are on pictures that i have and of course i have them in person, these arent on the DD214 form and i want to know why Here is a picture of the decoration part of the DD214 form that i have