Brain Fertilizer

since you're the military guy...

do you have to *request* medals, or are they just given to you?

Just curious.

You can get awards and decorations a variety of ways.
Usually, someone who thinks you deserve an award will submit a packet for you, which is basically just a form filled out with supporting documentation of why you should receive it. That gets run up the chain of command where different levels can approve or deny it.
If you think you really deserve an award, you can push your immediate commander to put you in for one.
Often, many commanders will make you write your own evaluations or recommendations for awards/classes/positions, because they figure you know what you did that was deserving better than they do...but then they still review it for BS.
However, that applies to non-combat achievement "pat-on-the-back" awards. A Purple Heart award is supposed to be for injuries sustained in combat, and I have no idea what the rules are for that...I do know that there are some awards that all you have to do is bring the supporting documentation (i.e., deployment orders showing how long you were deployed to a combat zone) to get the award based on clear-cut, definitive criteria. Since no one has to necessarily judge how bad the wound was to get the award, I can see that probably all you'd need is a doctor's note...but I have no direct experience with it.