Terminal Lance “Mostly Tricks”

I’ve said it before: NAM’s are often handed out like candy.

For whatever reason it seems to be especially true outside of the infantry. It’s actually pretty rare to see a NAM (Navy Achievement Medal) on a grunt’s chest. A NAM can be awarded for just about anything your command wants to put you up for. I’ve seen it awarded for anything from administering medical attention to someone who just got their hand nearly cut off by a mortar fin (legit), to having exceptional organizational skills at their desk (lame).

The NAM is very subjective, but either way, grunts rarely see them. The awarding of medals and awards is always a dubious process in the infantry. What is a legitimate reason? The infantry job description is so ambiguous, it is hard to pinpoint worthy causes, more often than not. It’s easy to pick out a tangible product from a POG, “This Marine did an exceptional job at this particular thing!” It’s never that simple with the grunts, because the job is often very intangible and unable to be gauged in such a base fashion.

Either way, I really just wanted to do a Halloween comic and found a way to tie it to a previous strip.

Happy Halloween!