34 years service and all I got was a Falkland medal (with bar, of course) that was well earned I promise. My American counterpart will be staggering under the weight of medals after that amount of service, AND as has already been mentioned often on this thread, as a veteran, he is treated a whole lot better than I.
Recently I had occasion to sort out something for a fancy dress party. I've aquired a red coat (ex some silver band uniform I think) and decided to go along as some sort of hybrid victorian soldier. To finish off the rig I needed a chestful of medals. My one would have looked silly and I couldn't bring myself to wear the large selection of medals inherited from my father (deceased) who fought his arse off for every one in WW2 - it felt disrespectful somehow, and though I know he would not have minded, the fact is that I do.
I then spent many hours on the internet trying to source fake medals. I thought Theatrical suppliers etc would sell them by the yard. Wrong. I could not find ANY.
Back to the drawing board. I decided to try to buy a few (of any nationality) via the internet. And now the surprise. We the (ex) military may not value our medals very highly, but the collectors/spotters do. If you don't want that tarnished old AFC or LSGC exchange it for beer vouchers!!!!!!
Or, you could always post it to me for my fancy dress!!
