DA Form 638, How come by the time the award is approved it has another persons information under the recommender (usually an officer's)

SSG Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 26 Mar 2014 09:37:03 -0400

I am tired of recommending awards and spending my time to write awards for people, when by the time it gets past my hands someone else takes it and deletes my name from the recommenders section and slaps theirs in there. This usually ends up being an officer. If I am doing all of the work on the award and I am the one that is truly recommending it, then I believe that the Soldier getting the award should know when he gets that award that his SQD LDR or peer or whoever actually wrote the award is the one who recommended them for it, not the XO every time. I need some thoughts on this

Response by 1SG Mike Case made Mar 26 at 2014 9:43 AM

1SG Mike Case — Wed, 26 Mar 2014 09:43:14 -0400

Usually it is because a change had to be made either grammatical or some type of format issue. Instead of sending the award back, usually they will just delete the recommender's name and add their name so the change can be made right then and there and then signed and then the award can continue up the chain.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 26 at 2014 9:46 AM

SSG Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 26 Mar 2014 09:46:15 -0400

I didn't even know they could do that. Wish doesn't mean I'm correct just never heard of an XO doing that. Just out of curiosity are you sending the recommendations digitally or filing them out, printing them then turning in a hard copy?

I agree I appreciated an award from my chief rather than one from an officer who doesn't even know my first name.

Have you mentioned anything to your platoon sergeant? Maybe he could offer some advice, but on the plus side at least the awards are getting approved. Most cases here in my unit the awards to recommend for our guys either flat out get denied, or are lowered from an ARCOM to AAM, etc..

Response by SFC Michael Hasbun made Mar 26 at 2014 9:51 AM

SFC Michael Hasbun — Wed, 26 Mar 2014 09:51:50 -0400

Out of curiosity, have you asked?

Response by 1SG Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 26 at 2014 10:07 AM

1SG Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 26 Mar 2014 10:07:26 -0400

Here is the question I have..... What is the sole puprpose of the Award? To reward the Soldier it is written for or to gain recognition yourself for writing it?

To me as long as my Soldier that I feel deserves an award, gets that award, I don't care who they change the recommender to. Maybe I'm just a little old school and care a little less that my Soldiers see the award came from me. Bottom line for me is that they did something good and received recognition for it period.

Response by SFC Michael Boulanger made Mar 26 at 2014 1:39 PM

SFC Michael Boulanger — Wed, 26 Mar 2014 13:39:24 -0400

It sounds like that officer is trying to make it look like they are trying to make themself look like they do more work than they actually do by placing their name in there and taking credit for recomending the award. I agree that it doesn't matter as long as the Soldier gets the award for a job well done, but I think they gave you a crap excuse. Anyone can recommend and Soldier for an award and your unit should work as such because it goes through the chain and they would sign off on it somewhere down the line anyway.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 26 at 2014 1:44 PM

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 26 Mar 2014 13:44:58 -0400

If it goes through with the content intact and the proposed acknowledgement of a Soldiers accomplishments relatively unchanged is there truly a problem?

Does the 638 have to have your name on it for you to claim responsibility for the write-up? I'm not excusing the actions of others or trying to give a reason for them, but it would be an easy solution for me to congratulate a Soldier personally and tell them my part in their recognition(yes i realize that might sound arrogant)

Response by LTC John Mohor made May 29 at 2015 9:40 PM

LTC John Mohor — Fri, 29 May 2015 21:40:44 -0400

If a major rewrite is involved or the recommender is out of pocket when a correction is required I fully understand a recommenders name being changed. It wasn't that long ago when actually hand written signatures were required thus causing a delay or undo hardship. Every unit has some quirks. As long as the Soldier that earned the honor is recognized that's most important. I certainly can understand your frustration.

Response by 1SG Private RallyPoint Member made May 29 at 2015 9:57 PM

1SG Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 29 May 2015 21:57:41 -0400

Sometimes the culture of a unit is that in order to be recognized, you have to be recommended by a more senior Soldier. It isn't right, but I've seen it often enough that I don't think that mindset is all that rare.

I think that the point is that the Soldier in question ultimately receives the intended recognition. Don't you SSG Private RallyPoint Member?

Response by SFC Casey O'Mally made Aug 15 at 2019 1:56 AM

SFC Casey O'Mally — Thu, 15 Aug 2019 01:56:05 -0400

I realize this is an old thread, but it came up as current. I can tell you one answer from an Ops NCO perspective.....

If you sign and submit an award and I find a quick and easy correction - say you accidentally put two periods at the end of a sentence - that I can fix for you, I am going to do that. But in order for me to make that correction, I have to unsign your award. If you are around, or if we have lots of time to get it done, no worries, I unsign, make all the corrections, and send it back down to you for signature. But if it is time sensitive, I may well toss my name, or the 1SGs or the XOs on there, because I can get it signed on the spot.

Also, if the Commander has already signed it and sent it up, and it comes back down for minor formatting BS, we will usually fix it and get it back up to BN with less than a 24 hr turnaround, and you will never even know it got kicked back by BN (unless it starts becoming problematic, and your Soldier is being delayed in their recognition). We do this as a service to you, not as a way to take credit from you. My job as an OPs NCO was to handle all of that crap so my PSGs had time to plan and execute training, teach and mentor Soldiers, and maintain good order and discipline. They had enough on their plate without having to worry about the new AAM template that BN released YESTERDAY - despite the fact that they had just released the "final" template 10 days ago.

I am not saying this is always the case, but it often was for my OPs rooms.

And at the end of the day, the important thing is that the Soldier gets recognized. Mission Accomplished.