5 awesome foreign awards US troops are allowed to wear
You may be looking fresh with that stack of awards and badges, but cool flashy medals are reserved for the most prestigious of US military awards.
But how do you stand out at your next unit ball or dress inspection? Rock some foreign ones, that’s how.
Everything on this list is subjective and doesn’t cover every single foreign award authorized for troops.
Even if you do, regulations dictate you’re only authorized to wear one foreign badge with other decorations in order of presentation. The award also falls under the original nation’s regulations and some badges are purely honorary awards (meaning you can’t wear them).
Kuwait Liberation Medal (Kuwait) and Kuwait Liberation Medal (Saudi Arabia)
Ever wondered what was at the bottom right of the medals of your salty senior non-commissioned officer who has been in since the Persian Gulf War? Technically these two are the same medal and technically they’re foreign awards.
The Kuwait Liberation Medal was given by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to members of the armed forces who served in Operation Desert Storm between Jan. 17 and Feb. 28, 1991. It still holds the condition that the troop must have served 30 consecutive days (which gives you only 17 days of wiggle room), but given instantly if they saw combat
The Government of Kuwait awarded one to all members of the U.S. Armed Forces who deployed in support of Operation Desert Shield or Desert Storm between Aug. 2, 1990 and Aug. 31, 1993.
(U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Jamal D. Sutter)
French Commando Badge
No matter what jokes people say about the French military, their commandos are beasts. This badge is adorned by those bad asses and their foreign graduates, and it’s a rare opportunity for American troops to get accepted into French Commando schools.
The training is a grueling three weeks that tests your survival skills in the field. If you can get in and graduate, the badge is one of the coolest designed badges of all American allies.
(Image via Eaglehorse)
Any foreign jump wings
Foreign jump wings are awarded to U.S. parachutists when they complete training in a foreign country under a foreign commanding officer. In order to qualify, you must already have the U.S. Parachutist Basic Badge. Then it all depends on your unit to do a joint jump between American troops and their military.
A lot of the awards have a similar design to the U.S. badge. Hands down, the coolest design goes to Polish Parachute badge.
First worn by the Cichociemni (WWII Special Operations paratrooper literally called “The Silent Unseen”) the diving eagle has several variations like those worn by Poland’s GROM and other troops.
(U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Brandon Anderson, 13th Public Affairs Detachment)
Fourragères
These ones are more unit citations than personal awards. This has the easy benefit of just being lucky enough to be in a unit that was awarded a fourragère in the past but it also means that you won’t stand out against anyone who’s also in your unit. These are decorative cords with golden aglets (tips).
Awarded to units that served gallantly in the eyes of French, Belgian, Portuguese, and South Vietnamese armies (Luxembourg also has fourragères but they never authorized foreign units to wear one), the color denotes mentions and honors. Just like with normal unit citations, if you are in the unit when it was awarded, you keep it for life.
Don’t expect to see anyone wearing one outside of a designated unit, though, because these were last given in 1944. Related: This is why some Marines wear the ‘French Fourragere,’ and some don’t
(Photo by Sgt. Jon Haugen, North Dakota National Guard Public Affairs)
German Armed Forces Badge of Marksmanship
I didn’t want to make this in a ranking order, but the Schützenschnur (Sharpshooter Rope) is by far the coolest and most sought after. I managed to earn one in gold when I was stationed in Baumholder, Germany.
In order to earn one, you need to perform a marksmanship qualification with German weapons. Round One is pistol, round two is rifle, and round three is heavy weapons. I was given the P8, G36, and MG3 for my qualification.
At the end, you are awarded the badge in bronze, silver, or gold. If you shoot gold with the pistol and rifle but botched the machine gun in bronze, you earn a bronze “Schütz”. You are awarded according to your lowest score. I pulled off gold in all of them.
I will openly admit that I have no idea how I made gold with the MG3 but hey! I’ll take it.
(Screen grab of video by Cpl. Clay Beyersdorfer)
(Bonus) Order of St. Gregory the Great
This one isn’t authorized to wear on a U.S. Military uniform because it goes with an entirely new uniform that comes with it.
The Order of St. Gregory the Great is bestowed upon a soldier by the Vatican and the Pope himself. You are knighted and given the title of Gonfalonier (Standard-bearer) of the Church.
A famous U.S. soldier to have been knighted by the pope was Brevet Lt. Col. Myles Keogh, when he rallied to the defense of Pope Pius IX against the Kingdom of Sardinia. Keogh held his own until his capture.
After release, he was awarded the Pro Petro Sede Medal and admitted into the Order.
Lieutenants never get much respect. What do you expect, though? You send a 22-year-old new college grad to officer candidates…
Lieutenants never get much respect. What do you expect, though? You send a 22-year-old new college grad to officer candidates school for a few weeks and expect him to be in charge of a platoon of grizzled combat veterans… What could possibly go wrong? It’s the brain-damaged leading the blind. Every rank has some major archetypes, and lieutenants are no different. Here are six types you’re probably already familiar with.
1. Lt. Clueless
Quote: “If that’s not how we’re supposed to use a compass, then why did they teach it at The Basic School?”
The conventional view is that ALL lieutenants are clueless, but that can’t really be the case, or else the service would be even more screwed than it already is. All LTs take a while to get up to speed, but Lt. Clueless seems to be coming more undone every day, not less.
He’s smart enough to graduate college in basket weaving, phys ed, criminal justice, or some similar bullshit degree, but not smart enough to keep track of his own rifle. The upside of that is that stealing his firing pin will be easier.
Everyone under Clueless is counting the hours until the company commander finally figures out that one of his platoon commanders spends his free time chewing crayons. They just hope it comes before deployment, when some of them might have to patrol with him.
2. Lt. Tacticool
Quote: “I got this kickass rig online at Brigade Quartermaster. Yeah, it’s Kydex.”
One of the best things about the military is that it lets you play with cool toys. Don’t tell Lt. Tacticool that the the gear he’s issued is really all he needs, because that’s not the point. The point is to be just a little better equipped than anyone else. He spends his entire paycheck shopping online for the same gear used by Delta Force. Lt. Tacticool works in admin or in logistics or as a pilot. That doesn’t stop him from needing dumbass items like a drop holster that can’t be worn on a walk longer than 100 meters but looks absolutely badass.
If the gun doesn’t work, though, he’s got three concealed punch knives as backup. Don’t worry. He’ll make up for all the extra weight with $200 custom gel boot inserts.
That isn’t to say that there aren’t Tacticools in the infantry, but the laughter of their fellow lieutenants usually shames them into relative normalcy before too many enlisted grunts join in on the ribbing. These LTs live in closeted gear-queerness, wasting their paychecks in more subtle ways, like snatching up $1,000 GPS altimeter watches.
3. Lt. Beast
Quote: “I can’t believe they pay me to do this shit! HELLS YEAH!”
The Beast, on the other hand, does reside disproportionately in the combat arms. It’s just as well, because if he was in logistics, all his troops would be hiding under their desks by the end of the day. Everyone else groans when a unit hump is announced. The Beast adds extra weight to his pack. He says “If it ain’t rainin’, we ain’t trainin’!” unironically.
The Beast honestly can’t figure why others don’t enjoy it when things suck. He thinks “embrace the suck” is a religion, not a sarcastic comment. He’s into Crossfit, because of course he is. He’s also signed up for Tough Mudder, Spartan Race, and some obscure event involving dragging one’s testicles through broken glass for 26.2 miles in the Sierra Nevadas.
The Beast is absolutely the perfect individual to have around in the middle of a close-quarters battle. Unfortunately, he’s also the last individual you want anywhere that isn’t in the middle of an active firefight.
4. Lt. Nerd
Quote: “My paper on military organization based on fractal principles is getting published in Joint Forces Quarterly next month!”
Lt. Nerd is, on paper, the perfect military officer. He went to a good school and was near the top of his class in all of his training. He’s read the Professional Military Education reading list through colonel. He’s working on his master’s degree. He’s even starting a new podcast next week, called Tactics Talk, so he can share his hard-earned wisdom with upwards of half a dozen people.
He is doing great, at least in his own mind. Unfortunately, the military is basically high school. The jocks run the school. Even though he has bars on his collar, the nerd gets no respect.
5. Lt. Mustang
Quote: “Gunny, really? What. The. Fuck.”
The prior-enlisted officer or “mustang” is definitely a little different than the typical lieutenant, not least because he’s nearly a decade years older than most of his peers. He has a few more tattoos than them, too.
Knowing the ropes is his superpower. PT, usually not so much. He’s gained a few pounds and and lost a few steps compared to his new young friends in the officer corps.
Most of the enlisted think it’s great that their lieutenant was once one of them. The platoon sergeant isn’t necessarily so thrilled. He’s pleased to get a lieutenant that he doesn’t need to hide sharp objects from. On the other hand, he can’t get rid of his lieutenant for a whole day by asking him to pick up a box of grid squares.
6. Lt. Niedermeyer
Quote: “Is THAT a wrinkle…ON YOUR UNIFORM!”
Military life naturally attracts those with attention to detail and a desire for order. Unfortunately, there can always be too much of a good thing.
You can generally find Lt. Niedermeyer in the parking lot, trolling for salutes — or, rather, for those missing salutes — so he can joyfully berate them. Of course, a true Niedermeyer counsels like a drill instructor — loudly, yet sans profanity, because profanity would be contrary to regulations. Doggone it, devildog!
The good thing about Niedermeyer is that he always follows the rules. The bad thing about Niedermeyer is that he always follows the rules. The worst thing is that if you want to know who your commanding general will be in 20 years or so, look no further, because Niedermeyer is going places.
One of my all time favorite Movies – Zulu, which tell the story of the Defense of Rourke’s Drift during the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879.
If you are in the military, this can be a great primer also. If one wants to learn how to hold a position against great odds.
Plus it shows how great leadership is a force multiplier. For example Lt. Chard & Bromhead with the stout aid of Colour Sgt.Frank Edward Bourne . (Who later on rose to the rank of Lt. Colonel!!)
That and it shows a lot of the Martini Rifle and what it can do with a good man behind it. Which frankly is a lot!
Anyways – If you have not see the film. I most highly recommend either seeing it or get the DVD. Its just a real pity that you will not be able to see it on the Movie Screen. Since it is probably considered very UN-PC & Racist to boot. Pity!
If they start talking about this & or start filling one out for you. Then you are officially FUBAR*! I myself was lucky and never had the experience! Grumpy
*FUBAR stands for: F***ed Up Beyond All/Any Reason/Recognition/Repair.
In 1979 Barry Sadler published the first of a series of 53 historical fantasy books orbiting around Casca Rufio Longinus, the Roman legionary who purportedly pierced the side of Christ with the Holy Lance. Barry Sadler was a Vietnam-era US Special Forces veteran best known for his hit song, “The Ballad of the Green Berets.” This book series was titled, “Casca, The Eternal Mercenary.”
Sadler penned the first 22 books, while other writers continued the series. The titular central character is the aforementioned Roman legionary. As Christ hangs dying on the cross some of his blood wipes across Casca’s lips. At that moment by the power of the Son of God Casca is made immortal, cursed to wander the earth a soldier until the Second Coming. While much of the writing is fairly vapid, that was an incredibly cool plot device.
Each book explores Casca’s experience fighting during some different historical era. By the time he has lived a century or two Casca gets very, very good at the art of soldiering. If I could have carte blanc to craft any work of fiction it would be to retire behind my MacBook and resurrect the tale of Casca in a modern context. Spinning that story in Information Age trappings would be such fun. It would also make a simply fantastic movie.
So why all this talk of a 1980’s-era pulpy men’s fiction series mostly forgotten by the modern world? Because Lauri Allan Torni was a decent approximation of a real-live modern-day Casca. He was the eternal soldier.
Origin Story
Born in 1919 in Viipuri Province in Finland, Lauri Torni fought the Soviets beginning with the battles around Lake Ladoga in December of 1939. Torni was commissioned a Vanrikki, or 2LT, in the Finnish Army. While fighting the Soviets during the Continuation War Torni developed a reputation for audacity and inspirational leadership. In 1943 he took command of his eponymous Detachment Torni, a deep penetration special operations unit that took the fight to the Russians deep in their rear areas, cut off and alone. The future President of Finland, Mauno Koivisto, served under his command. The unit adopted a distinctive unit insignia that featured a prominent “T” in reference to their dashing young commander.
Torni’s marauders caused such consternation among Soviet combat formations that they put a bounty of three million Finnish marks on his head. Torni was the only Finnish officer so recognized. In 1942 Torni skied across an antipersonnel mine and was badly wounded. On July 9, 1944, Lauri Torni was awarded the Mannerheim Cross for exceptional bravery while fighting the Soviets. The Mannerheim Cross is the Finnish equivalent of the US Medal of Honor.
Political alliances in the 1940s were complicated, and when arrayed against the Russian bear the Finns found themselves fighting alongside the Germans. During the course of World War 2, the Germans accepted volunteers from across Europe and the occupied territories for the SS. Torni trained with the Waffen SS starting in 1941 and was eventually promoted to Untersturmfuhrer.
Like most of Europe, Finland had a tough time of it during the war. Their war with the Soviets waxed and waned through 1944 until it formally ended with the Moscow Armistice. Convinced that Communism represented an existential threat to the Finnish way of life, Torni traveled to Germany and trained in sabotage and unconventional warfare with the SS. In early 1945 he fell in with German units fighting the Soviets near Schwerin until he was captured by the British. Remanded to a POW camp in Lubeck, Torni ultimately escaped and made his way back to Finland soon after VE Day.
Finland had been caught between two desperate evils and was anxious to cleanse itself of the Nazi taint. As a result, despite his holding the Mannerheim Cross Torni was arrested and sentenced to six years in prison. He escaped and was rearrested a time or two before evading into Sweden. In 1950 Torni signed on as crew aboard the Swedish cargo ship MS Skagen bound for the Gulf of Mexico. Once within sight of the American coast, he dove overboard and swam into Mobile, Alabama.
Equipped with nothing but his wits Lauri Torni made his way to New York City and established himself in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park among the Finnish diaspora there. He supported himself working as a carpenter and cleaner. In 1954 Torni enlisted in the US Army as one of around 200 foreigners accepted under the provisions of the Lodge-Philbin Act to fight the Soviets. Upon his enlistment, he adopted the name, Larry Thorne.
Fighting Under a Third Banner
Larry Thorne was a warrior’s warrior, so he naturally gravitated toward the US Special Forces. He was 36 years old when he attended Airborne school. While an SF soldier, he instructed survival, skiing, mountaineering, and guerilla tactics. In 1957 he was granted US citizenship and commissioned a 2d Lieutenant in the Signal Corps. From 1958 through 1962 Thorne served with the 10th Special Forces Group in Bad Tolz, West Germany. While with 10th Group he led a successful covert mission into Iran to recover sensitive equipment and bodies from a downed USAF C130 cargo plane.
Thorne first deployed to Vietnam in November of 1963. As part of Special Forces Detachment A-734 Thorne worked with the Civilian Irregular Defense Groups. During one particularly intense attack on CIDG forces at Tjnh Bien he earned a Bronze Star for Valor. With two Purple Hearts to his credit and his first tour complete, Thorne rotated home to the US.
CPT Larry Thorne deployed on his second combat tour in Vietnam in February 1965 with the 5thSpecial Forces Group. He was assigned to the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam—Studies and Observations Group (MACV-SOG). On October 18, 1965, CPT Thorne launched aboard a South Vietnamese H34 helicopter from Kham Duc Special Forces Camp on a mission to locate Viet Cong nodes along the Ho Chi Minh trail for attention with airstrikes.
The air component of this operation consisted of a pair of RVNAF (Republic of Vietnam Air Force) H34s as well as a USAF O-1 Bird Dog Forward Air Controller aircraft. While operating in the Quang Nam Province some 25 miles from Da Nang the three aircraft encountered unexpectedly foul weather. The second H34 dropped through a hole in the clouds to insert a six-man surveillance team. When they climbed back above the cloud cover both Thorne’s H34 and the Bird Dog were gone.
The Guns
During his Finnish service, Laurie Torni carried a Suomi KP/-31 9mm submachine gun. Suomi KP/-31 is short for Suomi-konepistooli or “Finland Submachine Gun.” One of the most successful SMG designs of WW2, the Suomi KP was a rugged machined steel open-bolt weapon that fed from either 36-round stick magazines or 71-round drums. The drum magazine of the KP was later aped by the Soviets for their PPD and PPSh SMGs.
The Suomi KP weighed 10.14 pounds and cycled at between 750 and 900 rounds per minute. Some 80,000 copies were produced between 1931 and 1953. The KP saw service all the way through the Israeli War for Independence and the Korean War. Unlike similar weapons, the Suomi KP featured an easily exchanged barrel. Finnish operators were issued with a spare barrel to use when the first overheated.
Photographic evidence of Torni’s service with the Waffen SS is scant. However, late in the war, SS formations would have been armed predominantly with the MP40 SMG, the Kar 98k bolt-action rifle, and the MP44 assault rifle. The MP40 was an evolutionary development of the previous MP38. The MP38 was built around a machined steel receiver, while that of the MP40 was pressed from sheet stock. The MP40 was the first mass-produced infantry combat weapon to eschew wooden furniture and be designed specifically for mass production.
At the time he went missing CPT Thorne was armed with a Swedish Carl Gustav m/45 submachine gun. This weapon was formally designated the Kulsprutepistol m/45. US forces called it the Swedish K or K Rifle.
The Swedish K saw extensive service with US Navy SEALs who favored the weapon-based upon its fast handling and capacity to fire when coming straight out of the surf (“Over the Beach”). Army Special Forces and CIA operators used the weapon as well. Many of the K Rifles used in Vietnam were sanitized without serial numbers. A few included a superb sound suppressor.
The Swedish K was an open-bolt full auto-only design of a fairly conventional layout. It fed on 36-round stick magazines and cycled at a sedate 600 rounds per minute. When Sweden forbade further exports to the US in protest to the war in Vietnam the government tasked Smith and Wesson with contriving a replacement. The subsequent M76 saw very limited use in the latter stages of the war.
The Rest of the Story
CPT Thorne was listed as missing and was subsequently promoted to Major. Rumors swirled that this indestructible warrior had survived the crash of his aircraft and was either actively fighting against the communists or languishing in some secret POW camp. However, in 1999 a Joint Task Force-Full Accounting team along with Finnish personnel located his crash site. Major Thorne’s remains were finally definitively identified in 2003, and he and his teammates were repatriated to the US. Major Larry Thorne was buried at Arlington National Cemetery on June 26, 2003. He is the only veteran of the Waffen SS interred in this hallowed space.
While there must be thousands of stories, I’ll give you one.
This was John Singleton Mosby- the “Gray Ghost” Commander of the 43rd Virginia- Mosby’s Rangers. American Civil War, In HIGHLY unconventional war, used a numerically MUCH smaller force to raise hell with the Union Army, Never captured, never surrendered. As an old man, he spent time as a honored guest of friends in Virginia.
They had another guest- a young boy that was the son of some other friends. He loved to visit, and talk with the Colonel about battles during the war, and sketch out military actions and tactics.
Cute little boy, huh? Folks had quite a laugh with the 6 year old talking tactics with the 60 year old veteran. They were SO serious about it. When the little boy grew up, he decided he wanted to be a soldier. He was quite a fencer, and a pistol shot.