stingerwooten Posted April 28, 2009 Share #1 Posted April 28, 2009 Does anyone out there know whom manufactures National Guard Medals (both full size and miniature)? And where one could purchase them? I have a vested interest as I volunteered and served in Louisiana during Hurricane Katrina and was awarded the Louisiana Emergency Service Medal, but due to some erroneous logistics, my state National Guard HQ (WA State), didn't receive enough to distribute out to those that had volunteered to serve. Needless to say, here it is almost 4 years later and still no LAESM. Myself and many former National Guard soldiers are having a difficult time trying to track some of these various NG medals for our own personnel collections. Thanks! Any help would be greatly appreciated! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hawkdriver Posted April 28, 2009 Share #2 Posted April 28, 2009 Write or email the state USP&FO, they should be able to send you some. If that doesn't work, email the state SGM. All guard medals are made by the same company that makes the AD ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cabbell2006 Posted June 8, 2009 Share #3 Posted June 8, 2009 Hi Stingerwooten, There is a ebay dealer that has one i know of ,his name is timojohnson. You might want to try there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
148thSoldier Posted June 8, 2009 Share #4 Posted June 8, 2009 here is a link to a site that sells national guard state ribbons. the one your looking for is in there. http://www.usamilitarymedals.com/us-army-n...689b9f76a5b7282 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
101CH47 Posted June 8, 2009 Share #5 Posted June 8, 2009 Does anyone out there know whom manufactures National Guard Medals (both full size and miniature)? And where one could purchase them? I have a vested interest as I volunteered and served in Louisiana during Hurricane Katrina and was awarded the Louisiana Emergency Service Medal, but due to some erroneous logistics, my state National Guard HQ (WA State), didn't receive enough to distribute out to those that had volunteered to serve. Needless to say, here it is almost 4 years later and still no LAESM. Myself and many former National Guard soldiers are having a difficult time trying to track some of these various NG medals for our own personnel collections. Thanks! Any help would be greatly appreciated! When the Guard in my state came up short on medals, with varying excuses, I wrote my US senator and in no time the NGHQ managed to find a source for them. Funny how that works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gsmilligan Posted June 8, 2009 Share #6 Posted June 8, 2009 Before you re-rack your uniform, make sure Washington lets you wear LA medals. Most states don't authorize the wear of other states' medals. This one might be (and SHOULD be, imo) an exception to the rule. But you definitely should have one! State medals are notorious for being easy to get awarded, hard to actually get. Congratulations, I wish I had been able to help with that mission myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Francis Marion Posted June 9, 2009 Share #7 Posted June 9, 2009 Before you re-rack your uniform, make sure Washington lets you wear LA medals. Most states don't authorize the wear of other states' medals. This one might be (and SHOULD be, imo) an exception to the rule. But you definitely should have one! State medals are notorious for being easy to get awarded, hard to actually get. Congratulations, I wish I had been able to help with that mission myself. Check with your state. I was awarded this medal and was presented it with state orders authorizing its wear like any other state NG medals. So, it's a local state issue and not a Dept of the Army thing. State medals are authorized for wear in the NG but not in the Regular Army. With this in mind, I don't know anyone who wears the state medals except for our state CSM. They are much harder to acquire and harder to identify the proper order of precedent, so most don't bother with them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USMCR79 Posted June 9, 2009 Share #8 Posted June 9, 2009 Graco (Tomball Texas) used to make a lot of NG medals Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stingerwooten Posted June 9, 2009 Author Share #9 Posted June 9, 2009 Hi everyone, Thanks for your help and your positive reponses! This mission definitely made an impact on me, as it was probably one of my most memorable deployments I had the privelage to participate in. I performed on-site security, roving patrols (both on foot & mounted) as well as helping random people clean up some of their damaged homes. Mostly I worked down in the 7th Ward, 9th Ward, and St. Bernard Parrish-some of the most heavy hit areas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J_Andrews Posted June 9, 2009 Share #10 Posted June 9, 2009 ONE problem with State medals is that not being procured with FEDERAL funds, they are not part of the USP&FO inventory and stock system. So there is no, single, standard, point of contact to query to get them -- after the fact of the award. With no one -- a person or an office/section -- responsible for stocking, safeguarding and issuing them, it's always a crapshoot (getting them). A few years ago -- long after my retirement -- I tracked down the ones I needed from Maryland. But only through happenstance: the full-time Programs Manager for Awards (which included money bonuses for civil service people) turned out to have "two footlockers full" of them, which he had inherited when the HQ was rehabilitating the old STARC HQ supply room. These came to him un-inventoried and unaccountable; being a Fine Fellow, he just took custody and socked them away. Otherwise, it would have been into the dumpster. State medals have, on again and off again, been de-emphasized over the years, depending on STATE budget (no Fed money used for these) and preference of the AG (or maybe the G-1 or maybe the Command Sgt Maj). GENERALLY, if a Federal award is do-able, it gets the nod -- because there is NO COST TO THE STATE (BUDGET, PROPERTY BOOK, etc.). Hence, a US Commendation or Achievement Medal is more commonly awarded than a State Commendation or Achievement Medal. However, many State awards have no Federal counterpart, so they still have a place. But something like the Louisiana Katrina Kross may be stacked up behind some full-timer's desk, so just try to track them down with phonecalls to STARC HQ. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ctink1863 Posted June 20, 2009 Share #11 Posted June 20, 2009 Along the same lines, does anyone have a source of supply for State Guard medals and ribbons. I am particularly interested in New York Guard items. Clyde Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Francis Marion Posted June 20, 2009 Share #12 Posted June 20, 2009 I'm not sure if you have acquired your medal yet so, now that I'm home, here's all the info I can provide: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laury Allison Posted June 22, 2009 Share #13 Posted June 22, 2009 I have 3 (I think?) National Guard ribbons. One of them was the Alabama Commendation Medal. I was asked if I wanted an awards ceremony and thought about having one for about 15 minutes. I changed my mind and decided I didn't need a ceremony for this one. I have 21 different ribbons and medals and only ever had two of them pinned on me. As soon as I said I didn't really want a ceremony for the Alabama Commendation Medal, the full size medal that was going to be pinned on me was taken away. I was kind of ticked off by this....later a guy I knew in Personnel gave me a medal for the one I didn't get from my unit. I also later found out that they were supposed to give me a flag (they didn't). I have one from when I left HQ Pacific Air Forces that flew over the USS Arizona that is special to me. I also found that I could have gotten a letter from the Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force and would have liked to have had that. I had requested one of those for a former boss of mine who was a Command Chief Master Sergeant. I knew about that, but at the time thought it was just a Chief Master Sergeant thing. I later found out that all enlisted Air Force personnel can request that. The thing I wanted most was the Minuteman Statue. They are given as awards and can be requested by a unit at the time of a member's retirement. My unit was too damned lazy to do this for me. I was the oddball (like many others in my squadron). I initially served over a decade on active duty in the US Air Force. I then went to the Army National Guard for six years, then went to the Air National Guard. I didn't got to high school with these people, wasn't married to anybody's sister in the unit, wasn't related to anybody in the unit, etc., etc., etc. Those things often seemed to affect promotions as to who got promoted and who didn't. The person that came from active duty and earned their NCO stripes the hard way were very often penalized when it came to getting promoted in the National Guard. I lost 14 years time in grade when I went to the Air National Guard from the Army National Guard. Because I had came from the Army NG, my date of rank was set as the day I came in the Air NG. I had been promoted to Staff Sergeant (E-5) on 1 May 1986...to me, that was my date of rank....even the Army NG had that as my date of rank. I got into a huge argument with a female Chief Master Sergeant over it....I still don't think she was reading the regulation correctly and as it turned out....she wasn't. The "Good Old Boy" System was alive and well when I retired in 2005, and I'm sure it still thriving today. I was eventually promoted to E-6, after a lot of regulation digging and proving I was qualified for the promotion. It wasn't easy, but persistance paid off. The thing that bothers me about it is that I could have been promoted at least 4 years earlier and that was a lot of money lost considering the ammount of active duty time I served with that unit. But....I wasn't anybody's cousin. brother-in-law, etc. So I guess I have to live with what I got........ Laury Laury Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hawkuh60 Posted November 21, 2012 Share #14 Posted November 21, 2012 Stinger Do you have any orders awarding the LA medal? My buddy was down there from the MD guard for almost a month but never knew LA gave a medal. I would like to get orders for him. Can you help? [email protected] John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmerc20 Posted November 22, 2012 Share #15 Posted November 22, 2012 PM me and remind me and I will get you the contact info when I get back to work on Monday. I was working with the LA awards person 6 months ago or so when I was building a state issued medal display for the VFW. I know EXACTLY who you can email to get the medals you were awarded. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hawkuh60 Posted November 22, 2012 Share #16 Posted November 22, 2012 thanks my friend! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hawkuh60 Posted November 27, 2012 Share #17 Posted November 27, 2012 mmerc20 Sending you the reminder thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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