Posted on Feb 16, 2015
I will be fair and impartial when recommending both rewards and punishment. Am I wrong in my way of deciding awards?
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I will be fair and impartial when recommending both rewards and punishment. I live by the NCO creed, and I have always highly valued my ability to adhere to this sentence in the creed. As our Africa deployment comes to a close, the awards have been written and processed. The highest award allowed for our deployment is an ARCOM.
I am the Platoon Sergeant, and I am now getting arguments from my Sergeants complaining about not getting an ARCOM when one NCO out of six got one, and five Soldiers out of twenty received an ARCOM. I was told by the Sergeants that I am not being fair and impartial. Here is how I figure out awards: I look at all of the Sergeants and gauge their accomplishments. What have they done to stand out above the rest, how do they measure up against the Total Soldier Concept, and are their leadership abilities sound. Once measured up against each other, I make my recommendations and run them by the 1SG. Once approved, I write up the awards.
For the Soldiers, the Sergeants make their recommendations and run them by me for my blessing, and then they write up the awards. I measure the Soldiers against each other (E-4 and below) and not against the Sergeants. It would not be fair to measure someone with little to no leadership responsibility against someone with a lot of leadership responsibility. I measure the Soldiers against what they have done to stand out above the rest, accomplishments, and Total Soldier Concept.
I will not go into detail with all the issues I had throughout the deployment with the NCO's who received several counseling statements who in the end did NOT receive an ARCOM, but I will say some were lucky to get AAM. These problem NCO's enraged with getting a lower award are now taking the issue up to our 1SG.
My question is am I wrong in my way of deciding awards, and what advice do you all have for dealing with this situation. I am at the mercy of the masses on Rally Point.
I am the Platoon Sergeant, and I am now getting arguments from my Sergeants complaining about not getting an ARCOM when one NCO out of six got one, and five Soldiers out of twenty received an ARCOM. I was told by the Sergeants that I am not being fair and impartial. Here is how I figure out awards: I look at all of the Sergeants and gauge their accomplishments. What have they done to stand out above the rest, how do they measure up against the Total Soldier Concept, and are their leadership abilities sound. Once measured up against each other, I make my recommendations and run them by the 1SG. Once approved, I write up the awards.
For the Soldiers, the Sergeants make their recommendations and run them by me for my blessing, and then they write up the awards. I measure the Soldiers against each other (E-4 and below) and not against the Sergeants. It would not be fair to measure someone with little to no leadership responsibility against someone with a lot of leadership responsibility. I measure the Soldiers against what they have done to stand out above the rest, accomplishments, and Total Soldier Concept.
I will not go into detail with all the issues I had throughout the deployment with the NCO's who received several counseling statements who in the end did NOT receive an ARCOM, but I will say some were lucky to get AAM. These problem NCO's enraged with getting a lower award are now taking the issue up to our 1SG.
My question is am I wrong in my way of deciding awards, and what advice do you all have for dealing with this situation. I am at the mercy of the masses on Rally Point.
Posted in these groups: 
Awards
Punishment
Awards Punishment
Edited 9 y ago
Posted 9 y ago
Responses: 18
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SSG (Join to see)
I think you handled it extremely well and I applaud you for your diligence. The Army award system is in a mess and there have been plenty of discussions here on RP about it.
I am assuming you received an ARCOM if that was the highest award authorized? If that is true ask your Sergeants if they had as much responsibility as you did during the deployment.
I would definitely suggest a NCOPD on awards. I would make the Sergeants give it to the Soldiers and I would facilitate. Seems like it's "all about me" these days.
Good luck!
I think you handled it extremely well and I applaud you for your diligence. The Army award system is in a mess and there have been plenty of discussions here on RP about it.
I am assuming you received an ARCOM if that was the highest award authorized? If that is true ask your Sergeants if they had as much responsibility as you did during the deployment.
I would definitely suggest a NCOPD on awards. I would make the Sergeants give it to the Soldiers and I would facilitate. Seems like it's "all about me" these days.
Good luck!
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SFC William Swartz Jr
Very well said CSM, short and sweet and really lays out how our NCOs need to teach the subordinates so that they understand how best to gauge and evaluate who deserves what on a fair basis.
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In some aspects I think you are wrong.
1. the whole thing of setting the highest award that is going to be given as an ARCOM is wrong but that's above your head.
2. You should not judge the merits of an award against other people. An award should stand on the strength of the write up and nothing else. Comparing people against each other implies that someone told you that they are only giving out a certain number of ARCOMS, which is wrong.
3. If a sergeant is writing an award for their soldier they should not need your blessing on what award they are writing up for their soldier. You are not the approving authority and really its not your call. Now you do have a responsibility to review it and tell that Sergeant if something needs to be fixed, or give them pointers on writing styles to make the narrative stronger or more coherent. They may have left out something that the soldier did that should have been captured in the award.
1. the whole thing of setting the highest award that is going to be given as an ARCOM is wrong but that's above your head.
2. You should not judge the merits of an award against other people. An award should stand on the strength of the write up and nothing else. Comparing people against each other implies that someone told you that they are only giving out a certain number of ARCOMS, which is wrong.
3. If a sergeant is writing an award for their soldier they should not need your blessing on what award they are writing up for their soldier. You are not the approving authority and really its not your call. Now you do have a responsibility to review it and tell that Sergeant if something needs to be fixed, or give them pointers on writing styles to make the narrative stronger or more coherent. They may have left out something that the soldier did that should have been captured in the award.
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Excellent post SSG Boucher.
The regulation (AR 600-8-22) says that awards are NOT to be rank-based. However, in reality, we all know that there is an "unwritten rule" about that too. Congrats on putting the extra effort into making the process more personalized and realistic.
The regulation (AR 600-8-22) says that awards are NOT to be rank-based. However, in reality, we all know that there is an "unwritten rule" about that too. Congrats on putting the extra effort into making the process more personalized and realistic.
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