Well,
If you really want your first ribbon...
1 Switch on pc,
2 Log in on a 32 or bigger sized ranked server (preferably one with not to many people, especially one with not the many high ranked people, because they tend to get pissed of for the following, and honestly I can't blame them). Take any map except Karkland (Strike at Karkand) or Sharky Pen-insult-ya (Sharqi Peninsula),
3 Spawn at any airport, look for a plane, and wait a while...
4 If nobody comes along that knows how to use it (this is actually the most important part, otherwise you will, again, possibly and rightly, meet some angry people), jump into the plane.
5 Press W (on a qwerty keyboard) and just keep pressing it. Once your airborne, pull your mouse backwards until the nose of your plane aims at that bright yellow spot in the sky, a.k.a. the sun, and go go go Ikarus.
6 When you reach to certain altitude where your plane starts to do the boogie woogie, and dances all around, let the W button go and press E, for eject. Subsequently hammer your 9 button until that green veil suddenly appears above your head, a.k.a. parachute.
Now go with the flow, and prey that
a) by performing previous procedure you did not leave the battlefield
b) while you are peacefully returning to earth, no other object will visit you on your return and end it untimely.
If all went as described above, listen to your first announcement:
...You've been recommended for an award...
It's without discussion the easiest award in the game, that easy that I wonder, why bother? But then again you wanted an award...
For more technicalities:
http://ubar.bf2s.com/ as B.Schuss already pointed out.
Cheers…
Ps.: Honestly, it was one of the first I got, and my strategic approach was not that different of the one described above, everybody has to start somewhere…