Baden Guy said:I remember when it was for such distinguished activities as running the base Little League for a summer.
When I was in the reserves way back when, about 15 Golden Jubilee medals were awarded at my unit, we were informed it was purely by computer lottery....the pattern of the pers receiving them was pretty clear in the sense of favouritism....Officers who barely did anything probably nominated each other, and I know of one guy who had 2 DUI charges pending withing 18 months of each other. More deserving people were never considered.
In the UK (wild guess of course) every serving military member who is in at the time the medal is released (terminology probably wrong) gets one. Once again, this sentence is based on hearsay....... clarification please from those who are well versed in this subject...