They changed the regulations on ribbons a few years ago. The regulations used to say you had to attach "all, some, or none' or your ribbons. so you could choose to show off just a few, or not bother with them at all. The new regulation is 'all', and considering you can graduate basic training with more ribbons than our amazing general there is wearing I don't think it is a totally fair comparison. The guy on the right is required to wear a ribbon for every event anyone under his command participates in, ribbons for anytime he had a group of troops who 'did a good job' and earned a merit, and his time of service awards and regional awards for any region he was involved with.