Probably a slightly contentious view and I don't want to appear like one of those "sneering tossers", but I have never understood the fascination by these baubles and bling. Half the time, they aren't even particularly nice to look at - more cheese than a pack of cheesy Wotsits. What I find particularly confusing is when you look at the Old Boys parading on Remembrance Sunday, lots seemingly thinking their chestful of genuine, hard earned campaign medals aren't quite enough, so they add one of these underneath. Frankly, their campaign medals alone, even where it is a solitary Defence Medal or War Medal say far far more than an entire collection of purchased bling ever could.
But this brings me on to my point, medals are an emotive issue. And as has been said, it is often down to the luck of the draw and being on the right unit, in the right place at the right time that dictates things. Given the way that all 3 Services have been called upon to support the nation (on ops and increasingly at home) in recent years, and indeed during the Cold War, combined with the fact that this as an issue clearly isn't going to go away, why can't they just re-issue the old Defence Medal?
If memory serves, that was issued on a graduated timescale according to the risk and rigour associated with where you were posted; so spend your war sipping G+T in the Savoy and dodging the odd V1 / 2 post Blitz and that would rightly need a longer period of service than if you were in an operational area under the threat of regular air attack. I'm fairly sure that such graduated criteria would fit quite nicely with the concept of those spending much of their service in Germany whilst those posted to other areas might have a different qualification period. Also, rather than the War Medal which had a blanket 28 days under Colours and you get the medal, which would mean people potentially failing training but still getting a medal, the Defence Medal criteria could help ensure that you had to do a reasonable amount of time to make sure you had earned it.
Now I'm not a Muttley in any sense; I probably have the only 3 medals I am likely to get, am happy with them and don't feel the need to buy any others. But for the sake of a little harmony and to put these discussions to bed once and for all, as well as stopping these cheap baubles being put up for sale by "Del Boy Medals Plc", it has to be at least worth considering. Of course, this would depend on us not being skint and being able to afford it!