NOW, something to consider, since we award medals for the Muster, that I believe have been authorized to wear with devices, than if we have a Muster Medal, do we still rate The Star of Merit, or would they be considered redundant awards?
An excellent question and one that I have pondered a satisfactory answer to for some time.
When the GAF first started, no one envisioned having a need to wear more than the GAF organizational medal, thus any awards earned were to be represented by stars, oak leaves or the veteran's "V".
That concept worked pretty well until you came up with the idea of presenting medals to winners at the Muster, which are also authorized to be worn on the uniform. I like the idea, as you know, so no complaints from me, even though it did complicate the GAF award system a bit. In fact, I requested Kayleen continue the tradition at this year's muster but she hasn't informed me that she will do so.
These Muster award medals are equivilent to a Star of Merit (winning a match in your category, winning the uniform competition, etc), thus potentially duplicating a Star of Merit award on the GAF medal.
I see two options open to us (and I recognize that there are several more possibilities). Bear in mind that one of the things we want to avoid is too many medals being worn on our uniform and thus looking like a Russian general.
The first is that medals awarded at the Musters are treated as separate awards, but which will not be duplicated by a star on the GAF Medal. In other words, if someone wins a medal at the Musters, they wear that medal in addition to the GAF Medal, but do not place a new star on the GAF medal. This would require that only blue (1st place), red (2nd place) and white (3rd place) ribboned medals be given out at the Musters. Subsequent Muster awards would be displayed on these medals.
For example, at the first Muster I received 1st place in the uniform competion and at the second Muster I received 3rd place in my shooting category. I would wear a blue ribboned medal and white ribboned medal in addition to my GAF medal. If I were to win a 1st place at another Muster, I could place a star on my blue ribboned medal. If I were to win 2nd place, I could add a red-ribboned medal. I would not add any additional stars to my GAF Medal for awards received at a Muster.
The second option is that the wearer has the option of wearing all Stars of Merit on the GAF medal. This could cause some crowding of devices eventually but would permit wearing just one medal on the uniform to maintain the Victorian-era look where few medals were actually worn.
US Scout
GAF, Commanding