Combat Action Requirements

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For all these years I never thought that I had received the CAR until about a month ago. I was going through some of my old records and found where the DAV had put me in for it back in 1996 when they helped me with my disability and I was awarded the CAR retroactive back to 1968. They didn't have the CAR back then but the award made it available back to 61 for VN.

Though I always knew I rated the CAR I never would have put myself in for it, that's just me, but I'm thankful the DAV did it for me.

Think of all the Marines from 61-68 who never received the CAR but were in combat.

[kaelobo]

Friday 13 sounds like fun. iam waiting for wife daughter to wake up, iam bored ran across this post,i was to young to have a driver licence,after nam but i had a car.could not find it in my 214, dav show it to me , but i thought incoming/and receiving small arms fire , was normal back at the lz. this is no sh*t about size of a quarter piece of shrapnel hit my forearm i scratch it of my arm, still have a scare. sometimes i cant remember which arm it was, my point them nam vets sure new how how suck it up. not my bo bo but some marines walk aROUND with wounds ..... anyhow CAR give everyone one , give the vet thats crying cause he is gun shy to save his own ass,with one boot on other stuck in the mud, well i better stop. i hear daughter getting up and we are going to have a good day s/f

[byoung54]

I got mine from single handedly holding back 3 waves of hostile Iraqi children, armed only with a sling shot and a pack of charms.

But if your curious about a C.A.R there is a manpower reserve website that you can enter your ssn to see if you got one. It also shows the dates of when you were involved in combat.

[andre5]

First you have to find out if your unit is authorized to wear the CAR.

The CAR is not a unit award. It is a personal award

[Riven37]

Anyone can write to this address I believe it is still a working address.

Navy/Marine Corps/Coast Guard
Bureau of Naval Personnel Liaison Office
Room 5409
9700 Page Avenue
St. Louis, MO 63132-5100


Where to Write for Problems/Appeals:


Or you can use SF180 and send it to the proper address after requesting the SF 180 from National Archives here.

http://www.archives.gov/veterans/index.html

[jerryk]

this is funny as hell you want one cause your vic.hit a wire. how about getting hit on a positan by 1200 rds of arty from nvn and 3 companys of nva regs. around you on the wire trying to get in.haha

[HST]

im so sick of people like you trying to get a CAR on a technicality. it cheapens the award for the people that really earn it. i had to fight my way out of Marjah to get my CAR. you want one because you had to duck?

General Metzer got a bronze with a combat V for leaving his 20' deep air conditioned bunker in Dong Ha, getting into his waxed huey with his starched sucks and coming out to the trace AFTER all the sh*t was over on Buffalo, July 67....so what if a truck driver wants a CAR, those guys drove us up to Con Thien when the arty was so heavy the choppers wouldn't fly. Give the dude a break, Right now driving or riding in one seems to be the most dangerous job in the Corps.

[hussaf]

The CAR is not a unit award. It is a personal award

Wow. So the "blanket unit CAR" is so common now some people just kind of expect that's how its divied out. That's too bad, but this is the same mentality for pretty muc hall awards. Per the last guys post, the Vietnam Veteran, it seems things have been this way for awhile.

[hussaf]

Can't forget about IDF...but does that mean if Camp Leatherneck take one round that everyone on that b!tch gets a CAR? I fu*king hope not.

They certainly did sir. Literally one or two rounds of IDF in May. I had just gotten back from Sangin District on rest and refit and was like "man, did you here about our PB getting rocketed for 8 hours?" And people on LNK were like "yeah man, we were in the **** too!" Seems like everyone that wanted to tell me about it was jogging 300 yards from where the round hit. *sigh* Whatever, you don't have to justify your existence to me, or yourself. Just work your butt off and be good at whatever it is you do on Leatherneck, since that will make everyone else's job easier (ahem, Admin).

[Riven37]

Marines change Combat Action Ribbon criteria

By Tony Perry
Los Angeles Times


SAN DIEGO — To the outside world, it may seem but a bit of brightly colored ribbon. But to U.S. Marines, the Combat Action Ribbon is greatly prized as proof they were in the fight, rather than in the rear with the gear.

"It's a badge of honor," said attorney Paul Geitner, a former Marine. "A Marine can wear it on his chest, and he doesn't have to say a thing. The ribbon says it all."

The rules for awarding the ribbon, which also may be given to sailors and Coast Guard personnel, were written in an era when war meant firefights — unlike the Iraqi insurgency, which employs roadside bombs and mortars and hides among civilians.

So the commandant of the Marine Corps has changed the standards for awarding the Combat Action Ribbon. Troops who "render satisfactory performance under enemy fire" can receive the ribbon, even if no shots are fired in response.

"Iraq, Afghanistan and the global war on terror represent a new type of battlefield," said Lt. Gen. John Sattler, commanding general of the Camp Pendleton-based 1st Marine Expeditionary Force.

Changing the criteria, he said, gives the Combat Action Ribbon "greater relevance for the type of combat in which Marines are currently engaged."

Sattler, who commanded Marines during the battle for Fallujah in late 2004, had asked Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Michael Hagee to review the Combat Action Ribbon.

"Marines were leaving (Iraq) after having participated in combat action and were not eligible because the criteria did not recognize the type of the threats we're seeing," said Lt. Col. Jim Taylor, leader of the Marine Corps' military awards section.

The first notice of the change came in March. Officers have until Jan. 1 to request that the ribbon be awarded to their troops retroactively.

So far, 85 Marines who previously had been rejected have received the Combat Action Ribbon under the new rules. The 85 were selected from 3,400 cases first submitted prior to the rule change.

The Combat Action Ribbon — with its gold, blue and red stripes — was created in 1969, during the Vietnam War. In 1999 the award was made retroactive, extended to personnel who served in World War II and Korea. Coast Guard personnel are eligible when working under Navy direction.

In a message to Marines, the commandant said that while the criteria for the Combat Action Ribbon have changed, the aggressive virtues it is meant to recognize have not.

[Sgt Leprechaun]

Interesting. What's the date on that article, if you have it?

[Riven37]

Posted on: Monday, August 14, 2006

Interesting. What's the date on that article, if you have it?

[tripledog]

I fought off three DIs , determined to do bodily harm to my body. Do I rate one?

This whole post shows the difference in today Marine Corps, and My Marine Corps.

[HST]

I fought off three DIs , determined to do bodily harm to my body. Do I rate one?

This whole post shows the difference in today Marine Corps, and My Marine Corps.

OK you asked for it. You rate one....I'm holding up my hand, fingers extended.....you rate the one in the center....sit on it.

[Hotel4341]

I fought off three DIs , determined to do bodily harm to my body. Do I rate one?

This whole post shows the difference in today Marine Corps, and My Marine Corps.

Cause there were no ribbon chasers in your day? Or cause the first two Marines to call out the OP earned their CAR in Marjah?

Sheesh, speaking of posts that show the difference in today's Marine Corps and the Corps of yesterday. I could never compare anything my drill instructors did to me to the **** I did in Afghanistan, and I didn't even see ****!

Since we're on the subject of the CAR, a buddy of mine had a weird situation that could have potentially been one of the biggest head scratchers you've ever seen in a ribbon stack. Is it possible to rate a ribbon with combat v (so an award for valor under fire) but not rate the CAR?