Special Service Medal - Domestic Operations Bar

[mariomike]

It’s worth noting that the US military honours system it’s a whole beast on its own.

As is the US emergency services system.

The City of New York awards these medals every year to their police officers, firefighters, EMTs and paramedics on "Medal Day".

That is their tradition.
It was never ours.

So, it's pretty hard to miss something you never had.

Not to suggest the Canadian way is better, or worse, than theirs. Just different.

But, I suspect if a Canadian were to suggest their emergency services replace their departmental medal system with one single ESM from the feds after 20 years, like we do, the answer would be, "Thanks, but no thanks."