"Young marines" -massive ribbon bar?!

[Tretov]

Gentlemen, I am aware this is not a Soviet question, but since there are many U.S. members with military knowledge, I would like to ask about the attached photo. In the pic are some young boys from the U.S. "Young Marines". They are hardly more than 12 years old. Still, they have large ribbon bars for medals and awards. Now, what could these youngsters possibly have done to receive all those medals at their mere age? I mean, look - they have as many ribbons as the C-I-C of the Finnish armed forces and more ribbons than the King of Sweden!

Are those state awards or just organizational awards just like the boy scouts have badges of distinction (at least they have it here)?

[Esteban_cool]

As far as I know there are pre-military Federal organizations sponsored by the US armed forces known as JROTCs (Junior Reserve Officers´Training Corps), for high school students, and they have their own awards. I used to own a Navy JROTC fruit salad with 10 awards. Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Tretov]

Ok, but what happens when they enter the regular army? Is the wear of such awards authorized in the army? What about the rank they've aquired?

[medals73]

Originally Posted by Tretov

Ok, but what happens when they enter the regular army? Is the wear of such awards authorized in the army? What about the rank they've aquired?

Awards = garbage

Ranks = garbage

After 4 years of JROTC you can come in as a corporal (=~ ефре́йтор, or at least that used to be the rule, way back during Vietnam, that got a lot of JROTC ефре́йтор guys I knew with their names onto a big wall in DC).

[EricFG]

Originally Posted by Tretov

Ok, but what happens when they enter the regular army? Is the wear of such awards authorized in the army? What about the rank they've aquired?

I think the JROTC* is a semi-official type of military pre-training. Completing that course would give a kid a head start going into ROTC just like that would give them a head start when joining the real army.
But I'd sincerely doubt the JROTC (or ROTC) awards could be worn once into the real armed forces.
Your analogy of Boy Scout awards is pretty accurate I'd say. The JROTCers would probably get a ribbon for each course successfully completed or something along those lines.

And I doubt the JROTCers consider their awards as garbage. They should be proud of their successes.

Wikipedia may explain this better than I can.


*JROTC = Junior Reserve Officer Training Course?

[Esteban_cool]

Originally Posted by EricFG

*JROTC = Junior Reserve Officer Training Course?

Corps

[ekclete]

I think this organization is like the Civil Air Patrol for the Air Force. And you get ribbons pretty easily.

You might get one for passing a test for a promotion, you might get one for recruiting other new members, for participating in some event, for efficiency, for good conduct and so on.

These awards do not transfer to any military service that I know of but they give out ribbons for lots of stuff. I was in the Civil Air Patrol for about three years and had a rack of about 15 ribbons. One for each promotion, one for search and rescue, one for a big encampment and some I dont remember. All pretty much fluff as real military goes but important if you are 11 years old! Thanks Clete