Question about ribbons/awards

[Arwen]

When my son got out of the Navy his DD214 indicated that he had earned a number of ribbons that he did not actually own. I plan on surprising him with his full ribbon set, and want to make sure I get it right.

When I went to the online Navy award checker, it said that his unit (ship) earned the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal for continued operations in an area where there is pirate and terrorist activity, from 2001 to the current date.

However, that award is not noted on his DD214. I can't tell if he should have it or not.

Any help is appreciated.

[sailorwifenmom]

If it's not on his DD214 then there's a chance it hadn't been awarded before he got out. (This is common, because they have to process the unit award and people transfer or get discharged who were there when it was earned but not when it became official...)

So there is a very good chance he IS entitled to it, but unfortunately, what with the privacy laws and stuff, this is something he would have to contact them about and get it updated.

Are you buying the ribbons on a ribbon bar, or are you having them mounted like with Ultra Thin? If you're ordering them individually and having them on the ribbon bar, you can always give him the ones on his DD214, then when you give them to him, explain it to him and once it's fixed, buy the extra ribbon and a new bar (the ribbon bars are pretty cheap). If you're ordering them mounted (which is kind of a misnomer, as it wounds like they're on a plaque or something, when really they're just all taken off their individual casings and put on one big one - it's lighter and nicer looking, but much harder to add a new one to). But, anyway, if you get them mounted, you can still do that - give them to him, then when the new one is entered, send the set back to the company, and for a fee, they will remount them and add the new one to it.

Good luck - sounds like a very sweet gift!

[Angie]

Sailors are told, over and over, before they get out to check their DD214...as if it isn't on their legally they are not entitled to it.  He technically entitled to only what is on his DD214, if he feels there is an error on the DD214, it is written on there how to correct it. 

[Arwen]

I don't think he knew about the unit award, so he wouldn't have known to look for it on his DD-214.

We've found a lot of unexpected information in his paperwork that neither he nor we knew about. Such as that he broke his leg at A-school - and they never told him. All they told him was to take care of the surface/soft injuries and put him on light duty. It was never mentioned to him that he had a fracture!