Originally Posted by
heights good
Everybody already does get it. That is unless you are in the single cohort of direct entry officer. If you join in the ranks you get it; if you then commission from the ranks with sufficient time under your belt but less than you need to get it purely in the ranks, you then get it as an officer. If you're a Reservist, of whatever rank, you apparently get it. It seems the only people not to get it are officers coming straight in off the street.
It's always struck me that we have gone too far in the opposite direction to the US, and it seems any medal these days should only be awarded having sacrificed at least 2 internal organs whilst living face down in a muddy ditch for at least a year whilst being force fed rat packs and being made to listen to the speeches of Gordon Brown on endless loops. Even then some would complain it was still too easy.
Whilst my experience of medals is limited, from what I have seen, critics seem to be divided between those who already have medals and don't want to mount another (pull the ladder up Jack as it were), those who don't have any medals and are envious, and collectors who seem to think that medals exist solely to give them a hobby.