There have always those who would wear anything they could hang on a uniform. Most wear what they're supposed to; many will do that only when it seems to be the right thing to do and otherwise wear nothing or a bare minimum (I did learn that not wearing one's paracaidista wings in the 82d was more trouble than it was worth. So much for reverse elitism...).
I suspect some of those field grades at Leavenworth with no right arm patch haven't deployed to either theater, most through no fault of their own -- I'll also bet many of them have deployed and simply do not feel a need to advertise.
Had a good friend once upon a time who refused to wear a right arm patch on the rationale that he'd been in three good units and didn't want to slight any of them by wearing another patch. Know a guy with a CIB who didn't wear it because he didn't think he'd earned it. Know another guy with a DSC -- that's all he ever wore aside from his brass...
It is indeed all about what you do.
Today.
Bookmarks