Chief Chaos described this pretty well. When you see a US military man (person, I should say) with rows of colored things above his left breast pocket, you are looking at ribbons. This display is sometimes called "fruit salad," because of how colorful it is. Some ribbons have a corresponding medal that goes with them -- the Purple Heart, Silver Star, and Bronze Star all do, as do the Good Conduct, Expert Rifle and Pistol, and various others. Some decorations come in ribbon form only. The medals (with the hanging "coin") are rarely worn, because they only go with the dress uniform, which is roughly analagous to a tuxedo in civilian wear. When wearing the undress uniform (roughly analogous to a civilian business suit), one only wears ribbons.

Symbolically, I can see no real difference between throwing a ribbon over the fence and throwing a medal over the fence. They are just two different forms of the same decoration, which co with different uniforms. A person who is wounded in combat gets a Purple Heart medal and ribbon, and both mean the same thing.

Kim, I don't see any inconsistency in Kerry's pride in his service, even though he ended up publicly challenging the justification for, and conduct of, the war in Vietnam. Can't a person perform honorably, and even heroically, in combat, but still be troubled by the decisions of those who sent him and his comrades into harm's way? Regardless of whether you are for or against Kerry for President, I think it only makes sense to honor both his service while in uniform, and his principled stand against the war. In my opinion Kerry and others who served there knew better than most what the war was about, and they did the country a service by publicly challenging the wisdom of fighting in Vietnam.