Admiral General Aladeen Ribbon Bar

[John F.]

Most probably have seen the preview of the the comedy film “The Dictator” starring Sacha Baron Cohen as the oppressive dictator Admiral General Aladeen. Adm Gen Aladeen like most dictators is highly decorated but in this case he is highly decorated with many obsolete and multinational ribbons. I was able to identify most of the US ribbons on his bar but was hoping that others my be able to help fill in the gaps of the missing ribbons. Are the breast stars that he is wearing real decorations?

As answers come in I will plug them into their correct spot in blue.


01. Civil War Campaign 02. Army Mexican Svc 03. Mexican Boarder Svc 04. American Campaign Medal
05. Asiatic-Pacific Campaign 06. European-African-Middel Eastern Campaign 07. WWII Occupation 08. Humane Action Medal - Berlin Airlift
09. Antarctica Service 10.Kosovo Campaign 11. Korea Defense Service 12.Humanitarian Service
13. unidentified 14. unidentified 15. unidentified 16. unidentified;
17. Philippine Defense 18. Philippine Liberation 19. French Croix De Guerre 20. Belgium Croix De Guerre
21. Rep of Vietnam Staff Svc 1cl 22. unidentified 23. Multinational Force and Observers 24. Inter-American Defense Board Medal
25. Kuwait Liberation Medal (Kuwait) 26. USAF Small Arms Expert Marksmanship 27. unidentified 28. unidentified
29. unidentified 30. unidentified. 31. unidienified 40. unidentified
41. Texas Federal Service 42. unidentified 43. unidentified 44. Texas Desert Shield/Desert Storm Campaign
45. unidentified 46. unidentified 47. unidentified 48. unidentified
49. unidentified 50. Texas Desert Shield/Desert Storm Campaign 51. unidentified 52. French Wound
53. WWI French Croix de Guerre 54. unidentified 55.unidentified 56. unidentified
57. unidentified 58. unidentified 59. unidentified 60. unidentified
61. unidentified 62. unidentified 63. unidentified 64. unidentified
65. unidentified 66. unidentified 67. unidentified 68. Pakistan Independence

[John_Allgood]

#68 appears to be a Pakistan Independence Medal.

John

[Felix]

On the #53, stripes seem blacks and not red, could be the french Vichy 1939-40 war cross.
#59, Texas NG Purple heart

I'm sure a lot of the others are National Guards or commemorative medals.

[John F.]

Felix,

Good catch on the TXNG Purple Heart! If the National Guard Assocaition of Texas finds out that I didn't identify that ribbon they might revoke my membership.

[rapidtransient]

Hi there, I've created a page for cataloging the Admiral General's Awards. I'm only missing 10!

http://www.rapidtransient.com/2012/07/03/admiral-general-aladeens-ribbon-rack-identifying-ribbons/

[Drain]

When I first saw photos of the rack on line, I thought they must of raided an army-navy story. Of course some of the guards use the same ribbon.
Here a stab at the missing. Please bar with me because, I am not at home with my ref material handy.
Using the site:
Row 1, 1st ribbon: Dept. of Transportation Guardian Medal
Row 6, 2nd ribbon: Training Service Medal 1st Class – (Republic of Vietnam)
Row 9, 4th ribbon: Order of the Serpent Membership Medal / Spanish-American War American Society Medal (US Society)
Row 10 1st ribbon: Arnold Air Society Area Plaque (AFROTC), Medal of Merit (California National Guard)
Row 12, 1st ribbon: Orders of Founders and Patriots of America
Row 14, 1st ribbon: ◦WWII Croix de Guere – (France - Vichy)-Correction
Row 16, 3rd ribbon: Commendation Medal (Oregon National Guard)
Others I will have to research when I get home.

ROW9, 4th ribbon: Service Medal (West Virginia National Guard)

[MrRackBuilder]

Looks like you found our handiwork! Us at EZ Rack Builder put this thin ribbon rack together for them a few months before the shooting of the movie started. We actually had to make 7 identical racks, which wasn't the easiest process in the world, as you can see they don't really fall into any sort of precedence. All of the awards are official US awards, mostly National Guard awards with a few extras thrown in for flavor. In order from the ones that you couldn't identify they are:

Row 1: DOT Award for Superior Achievement
6: RVN Training Service 1st Class
9: West Virginia NG Service (21st award even)
10: California NG Medal of Merit & Colorado NG Meritorious Service Medal
11: Florida NG Service Medal & Georgia NG Humanitarian Service Medal
12: Georgia NG Service medal & Hawaii NG Commendation medal
15: Nevada NG Emergency/Humanitarian Service medal
16: Oregon NG Commendation medal

All of the awards were ordered using our rack builder on http://www.ezrackbuilder.com

Please let me know if you have any other questions about the rack. We do a lot of work for films and TV, so I'd be happy to answer any questions you have!

Thank you

MrRackBuilder

[megan]

Fascinating. Did your discussions with the film company ever reveal if there was anything more than 'looking pretty' in their selections?

Film companies often make some horrendous mistakes with medals, which leads me to wonder how much is wrong about the things I don't know about! There was even an episode of a UK TV drama Judge John Deed in which an army officer was not only wearing inappropriate ribbons, but he was quizzed by the judge on his receipt of a particular medal which he... wasn't even wearing!

In the US show JAG, the US ribbons were generally correct but when a member of a foreign service turned up I had a good laugh. An Australian exchange officer arrived with a most strange 'rack' which was corrected for the second series in which he appeared. (My husband is convinced it was my irate e-mail to the production company that sorted them out!)

Megan
http://www.medals.org.uk/

[MrRackBuilder]

Fascinating. Did your discussions with the film company ever reveal if there was anything more than 'looking pretty' in their selections?

Film companies often make some horrendous mistakes with medals, which leads me to wonder how much is wrong about the things I don't know about! There was even an episode of a UK TV drama Judge John Deed in which an army officer was not only wearing inappropriate ribbons, but he was quizzed by the judge on his receipt of a particular medal which he... wasn't even wearing!

In the US show JAG, the US ribbons were generally correct but when a member of a foreign service turned up I had a good laugh. An Australian exchange officer arrived with a most strange 'rack' which was corrected for the second series in which he appeared. (My husband is convinced it was my irate e-mail to the production company that sorted them out!)

Megan
http://www.medals.org.uk/

For the Dictator they were specifically looking for ribbons that would be harder to identify and might not upset anyone if they could. We specifically stayed away from more common ribbons and those which represent acts of particular valor, which is why you wont see any Service Crosses or Silver Stars. I still feel that it would have been fun to throw on a whole bunch of devices/attachments that wouldn't have belonged, but in order to keep things uniform, we went with just a whole lot of ribbons.

As for other representations of awards in media, yes, things can often be a JOKE! Even the simplest glance can often show obvious ribbons missing, out of order, or mounted horribly. One show that did get it right more often than not is JAG. JAG creator Donald Bellisario is a USMC veteran and takes great pride in making sure the awards, and the uniform as a whole, are being worn correctly. I am nearly positive that your letter about foreign awards was taken to heart which is why more effort was put into the second time around.

Thank you

MrRackBuilder
http://www.ezrackbuilder.com

[megan]

Thanks for your reply.

I once 'dressed' a Modern Major General - as in Gilbert and Sullivan's Pirates of Penzance and had great fun putting together a set of totally unlikely medals for him - from several different countries but all fairly obscure. There was also a German play about King Arthur (a local university production) where King Arthur was loaned a German Pour le Merite - quite delighted them when I explained what it was. To add to the fun, the ushers all wore German army greatcoats and instead of asking for tickets demanded "Ihre Papieren bitte" of the audience!

I frequently get enquires from movie companies about what particular characters ought to be wearing, which can be quite amusing.

Megan
http://www.medals.org.uk/