What is the flag medals that generals have?

Depends on the nation, service and era. The ribbons tend to represent types and places of service. For example, the Navy Marine Corps Overseas Service Ribbon .

Here is a chart of current US military ribbons and medals .

^^ Is there any order in which these ribbons are placed? Must be high ranked first I guess.

I’m not sure what you are referring to, RDG. How about linking to a photography and identifying which country the uniform belongs to.

As to @imrainmaker‘s queston above,

There is an order as to placement on the uniform and in the rank and collumn of ribbons worn—and it is strictly held to. There are penalties for not adhering to this order, it is considered to be out of uniform, and to wear a medal unearned is a felony both in and out of the service. One of the ways of identifying an impostor is that their medals or ribbons are often either out of order, or worn in the wrong place or on the wrong uniform. For example, ribbons and awards are never worn on fatigues and other utility uniforms.

Each ribbon comes with a mini-medal that can be worn on the formal high-dress uniform at formal societal functions, whereas ribbons are worn in regular dress. When you receive your medal and ribbon, specific instructions are given as to exactly where on the uniform and in the rank and file in the ribbon rack it is to be worn.

Once a member of the armed services receives a medal, they not only know the order and precedence that one particular medal is assigned, but where it should be on other service member’s uniforms.

The U.S. Department of Defense Manual of Military Decorations and Awards: DOD-Wide Personal Performance and Valor Decorations covers every detail of this tradition. This manual is three volumes long. Here’s a taste of Vol. III

I don’t think many members of the armed services actually know where each and every citation, medal or ribbon goes on each unitform in each service, not even the generals.

But there is a strange breed of individual who I would bet do know. They are not officers, or military lawyers. They are non-coms. They are called Command Chief Petty Officers on the water and Sergeant Majors everywhere else: They are feared and respected equally by both officers and men throughout all the services—the incomparable E-9.

I thought they were Master Chief Petty Officers, with a rank of E-9.

@imrainmaker Go the the *.mil (assuming USA) web site for the service (e.g. Army, Navy, USAF, Marine Corps, Coast Guard) and look for something listing what’s termed the “Order of Precedence” for ribbons and medals. For example, for the US Army, there’s this .

You can also find documents on every detail of how they insist servicefolk dress and cut and wear their hair and so on, in documents like this one .