SFC David Cook 116555 <div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>I recently had a Sergeant who took it upon himself to do something nice for the Soldiers in my unit. I am not going to go into detail on what he did, but after doing it he asked me to write him an AAM. I asked him to provide me with some details I was missing, and after some careful thought and consideration I personally did not think it was AAM worthy. I asked for advice from a few peers to see what they thought, and they agreed. I advised the SGT I was not going to put him in for AAM, but I would put him in for a COA. He told me to forget about it and he had enough of those, and then asked the same peers I asked for advice from to write the award. After they told him "no", he blamed me for influencing them. I had a long talk with him and finally asked him why he did this nice thing "was it for the recognition, or was it for the Soldier's in the unit?" He replied with "he was trying to get promotion points." The Sergeant has since avoided me, and boycotted my farewell dinner..... I am told. This is greatly depressing to me because I believe I did a lot for this Sergeant while I was in the unit. My question is what happened to Selfless Service? This is not the first Soldier or the first NCO I have met with the same attitude.<br /><br />My philosophy: If you "genuinely" focus on how you could help your country, your community, your unit, your platoon, your section, and your Soldiers... you are doing it right, and the accolades will eventually come on their own. Helping others just to earn a medal; whatever happened to selfless service? 2014-05-01T16:23:23-04:00 SFC David Cook 116555 <div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>I recently had a Sergeant who took it upon himself to do something nice for the Soldiers in my unit. I am not going to go into detail on what he did, but after doing it he asked me to write him an AAM. I asked him to provide me with some details I was missing, and after some careful thought and consideration I personally did not think it was AAM worthy. I asked for advice from a few peers to see what they thought, and they agreed. I advised the SGT I was not going to put him in for AAM, but I would put him in for a COA. He told me to forget about it and he had enough of those, and then asked the same peers I asked for advice from to write the award. After they told him "no", he blamed me for influencing them. I had a long talk with him and finally asked him why he did this nice thing "was it for the recognition, or was it for the Soldier's in the unit?" He replied with "he was trying to get promotion points." The Sergeant has since avoided me, and boycotted my farewell dinner..... I am told. This is greatly depressing to me because I believe I did a lot for this Sergeant while I was in the unit. My question is what happened to Selfless Service? This is not the first Soldier or the first NCO I have met with the same attitude.<br /><br />My philosophy: If you "genuinely" focus on how you could help your country, your community, your unit, your platoon, your section, and your Soldiers... you are doing it right, and the accolades will eventually come on their own. Helping others just to earn a medal; whatever happened to selfless service? 2014-05-01T16:23:23-04:00 2014-05-01T16:23:23-04:00 SSgt Gregory Guina 116661 <div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>Just the fact that he asked you to write an award for him would have been enough for me to tell him no. Awards are earned and if the command deems the award warranted they will write it up and present it. No one should be asking for an award. Response by SSgt Gregory Guina made May 1 at 2014 6:56 PM 2014-05-01T18:56:50-04:00 2014-05-01T18:56:50-04:00 SFC Private RallyPoint Member 883612 <div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>Wish I didn't have some of the awards I have received. These days, all I see I junior soldiers asking what they can do to get more promotion points. That is all they care about.. Many of them are not cut out to be leaders and have not the responsibility that it takes to be an NCO. If A Soldier merits an award, then by all means, recommend them. If they are just trying to line their own pockets and not really care about the rest of the soldiers, then I would say no, don't give them an award simply because they asked for it. And if they have that kind of attitude, then how do the other Soldiers perceive him? He is to set the example and be ready to assume the next level of leadership. Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Aug 12 at 2015 8:20 AM 2015-08-12T08:20:09-04:00 2015-08-12T08:20:09-04:00 CPT(P) David Thorp 1027681 <div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>Right...who asks for an award??? Response by CPT(P) David Thorp made Oct 8 at 2015 9:50 PM 2015-10-08T21:50:30-04:00 2015-10-08T21:50:30-04:00 2014-05-01T16:23:23-04:00