male CPO is 7 inches long and 3/8 inch wide. The female  CPO’s  service  stripe  is  5  1/4  inches  long and 1/4 inch wide. When you wear more than one service stripe, position them 1/4 inch apart. The color  of  the  service  stripe  differs  with  various uniform  requirements  and  the  years  of  service. CPOs  wear  scarlet  service  stripes  when  they  have less than 12 years’ total military service or have a break in their good conduct eligibility require- ments.   Receiving   the   Navy’s   Good   Conduct Medal,  the  Reserve  Meritorious  Service  Award, or  the  Marine  Corps  Good  Conduct  Medal depends  on  your  conduct,  performance,  and reliability.  Gold  hash  marks  require  that  you  have at  least  three  service  stripes.  To  continue wearing  the  gold  hash  marks  requires  that  you continue   to   meet   the   eligibility   requirements throughout  your  career.  If  you  fail  to  maintain the   eligibility   requirements   for   the   continued wearing of gold, the 12-year eligibility  requirement will be reestablished. A courts-martial conviction also terminates your eligibility to wear gold hash marks. A  person  who  was  authorized  to  wear  gold hash marks upon transfer to the Fleet Reserve may retain this right if recalled to active duty. In this case, Fleet Reserve time is considered neutral time for  determining  additional  service  stripes. Awards An  award  is  a  term  used  to  denote  any decoration,  medal,  badge,  ribbon,  or  attachment given to a person. Personnel wear all awards in a  certain  precedence  or  order  as  part  of  the uniform.  Precedence  indicates  relative  importance of   the   award.   Awards   are   divided   into   the following  five  categories: • • • • • Military  decorations Unit awards Nonmilitary   decorations Campaign  and  service  awards Foreign decorations and non-U. S, service awards PRECEDENCE. —You may wear all awards according to their order of precedence as shown in  chapter  10  of  Uniform  Regs.   Awards   and United  States  decorations  received  from  other services  may  be  worn  below  all  naval  awards. MILITARY   DECORATION.   —A  person receives  this  award  for  an  act  of  exceptional bravery  or  heroism  or  for  particularly  meritorious service. These  awards  receive  the  highest precedence  and  include  the  following  decorations: • Medal of Honor • Navy  Cross • Purple  Heart • Navy Commendation Medal • Navy  Achievement  Medal UNIT AWARDS. —These awards  are similar to  military  decorations.  You  may  receive  these awards  for  a  particular  time  period  specified  in a citation. They are usually worn by all personnel who were attached to a unit or command during a   particular   time   period   specified   in   the citation.   You   may   wear   unit   awards   below military  decorations.  They  include  the  following decorations: Presidential  Unit  Citation  Ribbon Navy  Unit  Commendation  Ribbon Meritorious  Unit  Commendation  Ribbon Navy  E NONMILITARY   DECORATIONS.   —You receive  these  decorations  for  various  personal actions. If you are awarded more than one non- military  decoration,  the  dates  the  awards  are accepted   will   establish   their   precedence.   One exception  to  this  rule  is  when  two  or  more  awards for the same agency are authorized. The rules for precedence  established  within  that  agency  will  then apply. Additionally you may wear a nonmilitary award  on  your  uniform  only  if  you  wear  it with  at  least  one  military  award.  Nonmilitary decorations rank next in line after unit awards in order  of  precedence.  A  partial  listing  of  non- military  decorations  follows: Presidential  Medal  of  Freedom Gold  Lifesaving  Medal Silver  Lifesaving  Medal Medal  of  Merit 7-21