Sir, I need to see your license

"No person is free who is not master of himself." - Epictetus

My wife is a great gal.  I used to keep all this stuff in a box.  She decided it needed to be on display, and went to the effort to frame and mount it.  At one time I had a license to operate two different reactors.  I was pretty proud of that at the time - not many people get licensed to operate a nuclear reactor, fewer still are licensed to operate two of them.  The licenses were for the TRIGA MK 1 and MK IV reactors.  I think there was only one MK IV built, so that was a pretty small group of license holders.

I blanked out the identifying information.  Some knucklehead might decide they dislike my opinions and then pay me a visit.  They could probably locate my unimportant self if they really wanted to, but there is no need to make it easy.  Anything that might end in tears, I'd rather avoid if possible.

Then there was this:

The Honorable Discharge certificate is simply an acknowledgement that I was able to persist for six years.  Persist in spite of relentless deprivation - Sunlight, Freedom, Women, decent pay and food, Social isolation, etc, etc, etc.

Lastly, there is this:

The dog tags have my name, social security number, blood type, and religion stamped there.  The internet doesn't need to know these things, so I blanked them out. 

At the the top right are pewter "dolphins", indicating Submarine Warfare Qualification.  It was a chore to get these, but not as big a chore or as heavy a burden as Shutdown Reactor Operator or Engineering Watch Supervisor.  There are no awards or acknowledgements for the burdens that really take a toll on you.

Underneath the dolphins is the ribbon bar, and their associated medals.  Considering the unpleasantness of submarining, the ribbons are pretty sparse, aren't they?  Yes they are.  A Marine just completing boot camp will have more ribbons than this. 

The left ribbon is the "Sea Service Deployment", and it does not come with an associated medal.  This is awarded when the ship is forward-deployed for over 90 days.  You add a star for each time you get sent out again.  

The middle ribbon (and medal) is the "Navy Expeditionary Medal".  How I ended up with this one is a little awkward to explain, so I'll just quote Wikipedia and underline the appropriate parts:

"The General Orders of the Department of the Navy which established the medal states, "The medal will be awarded, to the officers and enlisted men of the Navy who shall have actually landed on foreign territory and engaged in operations against armed opposition, or operated under circumstances which, after full consideration, shall be deemed to merit special recognition and for which service no campaign medal has been awarded."

And:

"Under the “deemed to merit special recognition and for which service no campaign medal has been awarded“ clause, both the Marine Corps Expeditionary Medal (MCEM) and Navy Expeditionary Medal (NEM) have been awarded for classified operations with proper adjudication by the Secretary of the Navy Special Awards Board. The MCEM and NEM "can be authorized and awarded to individuals or units who have participated in classified operations not necessarily in connection with larger operations in which the public is aware.” The SECNAV INSTRUCTION 1650.1H - NAVY AND MARINE CORPS AWARDS MANUAL details the process via the Special Awards Board for issuing classified awards. Anecdotal reports from former service members cite a wide variety of classified operations for which the MCEM and NEM have reportedly been awarded, ranging from Marine Corps units clandestinely deployed in Africa, to helicopter gun-crews or force protection units assisting SEAL-DEVGRU or Delta Force teams worldwide, and even classified submarine operations during the Cold War.

In cases where the Marine Corps Expeditionary Medal or Navy Expeditionary Medal has been awarded for classified operations, the name of the operation is omitted from public documentation including from the individual service member’s DD214 personnel record with only the name of the award and issue date provided."

The solid burgundy-colored ribbon (and medal) on the right side is the "Good Conduct Medal" - what we called the "never got caught" medal.  Basically, if you got through four years without having a Non-judicial punishment (AKA Captain's Mast), you were rewarded with a good doggy medal.  No biggie to me, other than it meant I was 2/3 of the way done with my enlistment. 

Below is a handy chart for those who had more distinguished Navy careers than my own.  I think maybe the expeditionary ribbon is supposed to be to the left of the sea service ribbon.  This chart seems to rank them in order of merit so maybe I've had it wrong for a few decades, LOL.  Somebody who knows should clue me in!