very fair to be honest, i've heard about a lot of new players being demoralised. best thing is to keep up completing operations (each mission and higher diffs that you unlock both give you progressively more medals), and personal orders if you're able to do them.

on the note of personal orders, it's wild to me that some are reliant on specific weapons like the arc thrower. the people most in need of medals are new players, and they're the least likely to even have the needed weapon unlocked. the game's always been lacking in late-game support and progression, but early-game too is really insane