This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Infobox military award template.
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edit · changes

Contents 1 Awarding Agency 2 Streamer 3 Award Date 4 'Awarded by', change to 'Awarded to'? 5 Order of Precedence 6 Requested move 6.1 Survey 6.2 Discussion 7 added "motto" in info box

[edit] Awarding Agency

Allow me to suggest that people use the "Awarded by the" line to indicate specificly who issues the award. For example the Navy Cross would be awarded by the United States Navy, the Joint Meritorious Service Medal is awarded by the United States Department of Defense, the Medal of Freedom is awarded by the President of the United States, etc.

It is by specifying more than just country of origin on this line, that we can indicate what branch or department issues the award without having to add another line to the info box. Even non-military awards can be specified this way, for example the Sewing Merit Badge (or whatever) from the Boy Scouts of America.

However, we still need a line to indicate who is eligible for the award. For example, the Purple Heart can only be givin to military personel but other military awards can go to civilians. (Atfyfe 19:10, 23 June 2006 (UTC))

Yes, Grafikm fr mentioned that a field for military/civilian eligibility needs to be added. Hopefully I'll have time to add it (and perhaps the order of precedence) sometime today. Kirill Lokshin 19:13, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

I've made all the change you suggested. Any other ideas would be very welcome! Kirill Lokshin 00:59, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Streamer

I put the template in place on the Valorous Unit Award entry to begin testing the template in real use. It stikes me that all the U.S. Army unit awards have streamers in addition to a ribbon, and it might make sense to have a second photo box at the bottom of the info box for the unit award streamers. I don't think the streamers are as important to be included in the main photo box, but I also don't want to relegate the streamers to somewhere else in the article. Take a look at the valorous unit award entry and let me know what you think should be done with unit award streamers. Right now I have it as a thumbnail photo just below the info box. (Atfyfe 19:47, 26 June 2006 (UTC))

We can probably add another picture field at the bottom without too much difficulty; I'll see what I can do. Kirill Lokshin 19:59, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

Okay, I've added "image2" and "caption2" parameters that will place the image at the very bottom of the box. Does that work? Kirill Lokshin 20:08, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

That works perfectly. Probably will have other uses too! Thanks for the work KL. (Atfyfe 20:14, 26 June 2006 (UTC))

Just to let you know, not all US Awards have their Streamer Equivalents, and some have more than one. DoD GEN-40A, which consolidates DA Pam 672-6, NAVEDTRA 46408A, AFP 900-82, NAVMC 2897, and COMDTPUB P1650.30, all of which have/had the name Armed Forces Decorations and Awards, is the singular source for the United States. As such, there is a general order of precedence throughout the US Government, and a separate order of precedence for each service, including the Coast Guard, the various Intelligence Services, and the US Public Health Service. Fortunately, the US Army Institute of Heraldry has charge of all of these, and has been expanding their website to include the other services they have responsibility for. In addition, the Campaign Streamers are generic, meaning that all of the streamers for a specific War, or in the case of World War Two, for a specific Theater, will be the same Colors, but will be inscribed specifically for each Campaign. Given the multiple awards that took place, you may need to add additional lines that can be labeled as necessary. The US has awarded over 200 Streamers over the years, for everything from the campaigns of the Revolution to the current War On Terror, and there are two sets alone for the Civil War (One each for the Union and the Confederacy.), and there are units that are consolidations of units that date from the Union AND the Confederacy. - SSG Cornelius Seon (Retired) (talk) 14:44, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Award Date

Adding a "Established" line to provide when the award was created. This will differ from "First Awarded" date because many awards are retroactive. (Atfyfe 02:40, 4 July 2006 (UTC))

I've made the line optional, since many awards (particularly older ones) won't have this information available. Kirill Lokshin 02:45, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] 'Awarded by', change to 'Awarded to'?

I've recently begun to add this infobox to a number of Commonwealth decorations (eg Military Cross). The more I look at the infobox (excellent work, by the way) the more I think that the 'awarded by' line should be replaced by 'awarded to'. This means that the distinction could be noted in the case of those decorations awarded solely to officers or solely to enlisted men. Therefore in the case of a medal such as the Military Medal the line would read: 'Awarded to: Enlisted men of the British Army' (or something along those lines).

I realise that making this change might affect some of the award pages that currently use this infobox, so I thought I'd run it past you all for comments first.

Xdamr^talk 12:39, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Mmm, isn't that what the "eligibility" parameter is for? The "Awarded by" line is obviously quite necessary, as there's nothing else in the infobox to indicate the award's country of origin. Kirill Lokshin 12:53, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Ah, quite right - I don't know how I came to miss it.

Xdamr^talk 23:04, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Order of Precedence

I believe there is some confusion in the description of the 'higher', 'same' and 'lower' fields. The current description states:

• higher – optional – for awards granted by countries or other bodies that maintain an order of precedence for decorations, the next highest award, if any.
• same – optional – for awards granted by countries or other bodies that maintain an order of precedence for decorations, any awards with the same precedence as the one being discussed.
• lower – optional – for awards granted by countries or other bodies that maintain an order of precedence for decorations, the next lowest award, if any.

The problem being "what is the "order of precedence" being referred to. Is it in fact the "Order of Wear" which most countries produce, or is it meant to indicate some way of navigating 'types' of award within a certain category? Eg - should it be the the next highest gallantry award? Should it be the next highest 'current' award, or should it include historical awards no longer issued? I will expand more on this this afternoon after work. PalawanOz (talk) 20:30, 3 February 2009 (UTC)

In the case of the United States, Order Of Wear and Order of Precedence are one and the same. In ALL cases, Awards and Decorations are worn in Precedence order. That is, the order they were originally created, or - in the case of Campaign Streamers - the order of the date(s) of the specific Campaign. The order in which they are awarded to specific units or individuals does not matter. - SSG Cornelius Seon (Retired) (talk) 15:09, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

The infoboxes for Astronaut, EOD, Aviator, Flight Surgeon, Aircrew, and Parachutist badges has been changed to "Awarded by United States Armed Forces" (it used to say "Awarded by United States Army"). This is creating some confusion because the infoboxes were intentionally for US Army info. The order of precedence is from AR670-1 Army Uniform Regulations; THE OTHER SERVICES DO NOT OBSERVE THIS ORDER OF PRECEDENCE. It really bothers me when people edit without verifying; I even had to edit out some state national guard badges that aren't recognized by the US Army. So what is the solution? Are we going to keep a unified infobox and change "Precedence" to "Army Precedence", or should we create separate infoboxes for each service? Jigen III (talk) 01:05, 6 October 2009 (UTC)

Well, if the precedence is listed wrong, then that needs to be fixed at the individual article level; but that's a side issue. I've added a precedence_label= field that can be used to override the label on the precedence section if needed. Kirill ^[talk] [pf] 03:25, 6 October 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Requested move

[edit] added "motto" in info box

i added the parameter "motto" to the infobox, believing this would not step on any ones toes or cause any problems, as "motto" will be invisible if not used. i found i needed this parameter to fully describe the "order of the black eagle" medal.--diremarc (talk) 01:26, 5 June 2009 (UTC)

Looks good to me. Kirill ^[talk] [pf] 04:20, 5 June 2009 (UTC)