Canadian Forces Decorations You Might Not Have Heard Of

I once heard a Canadian general say that one of the problems with the military is that we are obssessed with the "Three Ms" - Me, Money, and Medals. Typically soldiers are modest about their decorations (sometimes called gongs). My father, for example, was very self-deprecating about the Military Cross he won in Korea, implying that it was a PR effort for an obscure war when in fact "my CO chased me up the hill, the Chinese chased me back down, and my men followed me out of curiousity". Even so, soldiers are conscious of who wears what - medals say what you've done and where you've been. A collection of medals is known as a "rack" and male soldiers, as you can imagine, like to look at a nice rack.

Here's a collection of CF medals that don't exist but probably should. I can't take credit for it - if you've been in for a while, you'll have seen it around.