Military Photo Medal
Gold plating US military medals?
Recently while looking through some online photos of US military medals I noted that in some cases the recipient seems to have had them gold plated and/or silver plated. At least they certainly look much more shiny then they normally appear in other photos. Is it common, or allowable, for this to be done?
If you are looking at brass like the US insignia or branch insignia, then they are probably Sta-brite or gold plated.
Some soldiers polish their qualification badges to a high reflective shine. (Rifle marksmanship badges, jump badges etc.)
From AR 670-1,"Wear of commercial, mirror-like finish combat and special skill badges is authorized. However, soldiers may not
mix these badges with combat and special skill badges that do not have the mirror-like finish."