User talk:Necrothesp/Archive 12/Notability criteria for recipients of honours

missing US awards

If you are including the Legion of Merit (LoM) as a 2nd level service award then the Defense Superior Service Medal (DSSM) should also be included as it is a half-step higher awarded for joint operations. Though, per below, you might want to make them both 3rd level.

Likewise if you inculde the Soldier's Medal & Navy and Marine Corps Medal as 4th level awards then the Airman's Medal & Coast Guard Medal ought to be included as they are the equivalent award for those branch's (they are all Medals for non-combat heroism).

The Defense Meritorious Service Medal (DMSM) & Meritorious Service Medal (MSM) should be added as 4th level awards as they rank between the Bronze Star Medal (BSM), Purple Heart & the Air Medal, which you have all listed as 4th level awards. Also the MSM is basically the non-combat zone version of the BSM.

If you have the Bronze Star as a 4th level award along with the MSM & DMSM, I would be tempted to make the LoM & DSSM as 3rd level service awards, leaving the branch DSMs as 2nd level Service awards. Then perhaps make the Defense Distinguished Service Medal (DDSM) as a 1st level service award (maybe the Homeland Security DSM as well). However, I can also see argument's for keeping the DDSM & HSDSM as 2nd level awards alongside the branch DSM's.

Another thing to consider is some of the higher unit awards. The Presidential Unit Citations (PUC) are gallantry awards based on the service cross's. If the service cross's are 2nd level gallantry awards, then the PUC's could be considered 3rd level Gallantry awards.

The Joint Meritorious Unit Award (JMUA) is based on the DSSM. If you make the DSSM a 3rd level service award, and the PUC's as 3rd level gallantry awards, as I suggest, then the JMUA could be a 4th level award. Of course then the Valorous Unit Award, Navy Unit Commendation, & Gallant Unit Citation are all based on the Silver Star (a 3rd level award in your scheme) and/or the LoM (a 2nd or 3rd level award, per above) - and the JMUA is only a half-step higher than these 3 - so then these awards might also be 4th level awards?

Obviously all these unit awards are only for cases of permanent wear. Gecko G (talk) 05:23, 9 January 2016 (UTC)

my full pyramid draft

my full pyramid for the US military awards would be something like this:

• 1st level Gallantry award
  • Medal of Honor
• 2nd level Gallantry awards
  • the service Cross's
  • Certificate of Merit Medal (obsolete, I would of said 3rd but it is equated with the army service cross)
  • Marine Corps Brevet Medal (obsolete, basically the same concept as the Certificate of Merit Medal)
• 2nd level service award
  • Defense Distinguished Service Medal (or perhaps 1st level)
  • the service DSMs
• 3rd level Gallantry
  • Silver Star
  • Presidential Unit Citations
• 3rd level service
  • DSSM
  • LoM
• 4th level: Gallantry &/or Service
  • DFC
  • non-combat heroism medals
  • BSM
  • PH
  • DMSM
  • MSM
  • AM
  • JMUA
  • Valorous Unit Award / Navy Unit Commendation /Gallant Unit Citation
  • Army Wound Ribbon (obsolete)
  • Wound Chevrons (obsolete)
• 5th level
  • Commendation Medals
  • CG Unit Commendation? (based on the MSM)
  • Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation? (based on the BSM)
  • Army & Air Force Meritorious Unit Commendation's ? (while based on the LoM they are lower than the VUA/GUC and are supposed to be comprable to the NMUC)
  • PoW Medal (If the Purple Heart is 4th level then this should be somewhere between 4th & 6th level)
  • Specially Meritorious Service Medal (obsolete)
  • Aerial Achievement Medal
• 6th level
  • Achievement Medals (asides from the Aerial Achievement Medal, which is 5th level)
  • Commandant's Letter of Commendation (or perhaps 5th)
  • Combat Badges/Combat Action Ribbons/AF Combat Action Medal (Personally I would put these higher, but that's where it's placement in the order results in it being)
  • CRM/OAofYR/AFRR/CGEPotYR (I could see an argument for some of these even being anywhere from 5th to 7th level)
• the structure really starts breaking down at this point, especially with the Coast Guard, but I'll continue with my listings:
• 7th level
  • CGMUC (could be 6th level, but is based on the CG Achievement Medal)
  • Army SUA/AFOUA (not based on any individual award, but quite lower than the MUC/AFMUA. however, if 6th level, then the CG unit awards are even more out of balance, so I'd put them at 7th level)
  • CG MTC (based on the CLoC included as a 6th level above)
  • Good Conduct Medals
  • Reserve Medals
  • Expeditionary/Occupation Medals
  • Reserve Special Commendation Ribbon (obsolete)
  • Expert Infantryman Badge / Expert Field Medical Badge
• 8th level
  • Unit Efficiency Awards
  • General Service Medals
  • pilot wings (or perhaps 7th)
  • Command insignia
  • Overseas Service Bars
• 9th level
  • Special Service Medals (some of these could be 8th level)
  • Campaign Medals
  • Army special skill badges & tabs / Navy Qualification badges / other Aircrew & Aeronautical rating badges / AF occupational badges (or perhaps all of these could be split between 8th & 9th levels depending on the specific badge or tab)
  • service stripes
• 10th level
  • Service & training awards
  • special service ID badges / Duty Badges
  • Marksmanship awards
• 11th level (basically automatic awards for completing BMT)
  • Army Service Ribbon / Air Force Training Ribbon

obviously only 4th level and higher is relevant for your page, but I think a fuller explanation could be helpful for determining guideline on what to include in the infobox military person awards line. Gecko G (talk) 06:08, 9 January 2016 (UTC)