Posted on Sep 3, 2015
How about this? New award established for senior Pentagon leaders.
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A special award has been established to recognize the contributions of senior-level military and civilian officials assigned to Army headquarters at the Pentagon.
Called the Army Leadership Award, the honor is designed to recognize "the demonstrated superior accomplishments and leadership that contributed to the efficiency, efficacy and overall improvement in the operations of the Army or its elements," according to an implementing instruction (DA Memo 672-4) issued April 20.
The award will be presented upon an official's retirement or conclusion of service at Army headquarters.
The ALA will be awarded at the discretion and approval of the secretary of the Army, but eligibility is limited to a small cadre of senior leaders, as follows:
Military: Army chief of staff, Army vice chief of staff and sergeant major of the Army.
Civilian: Presidentially appointed and Senate-confirmed officials who serve as secretary of the Army, undersecretary of the Army, the five assistant secretaries of the Army and general counsel of the Army.
The award will consist of a miniature reproduction of the departing official's positional flag, framed and affixed with a small, engraved plaque stating "U.S. Army Leadership Award," and the recipient's name, title and period of qualifying service.
Nominations for the award will consist of a one-page narrative to be submitted on a DA Form 1256 (Incentive Award Nomination and Approval).
Called the Army Leadership Award, the honor is designed to recognize "the demonstrated superior accomplishments and leadership that contributed to the efficiency, efficacy and overall improvement in the operations of the Army or its elements," according to an implementing instruction (DA Memo 672-4) issued April 20.
The award will be presented upon an official's retirement or conclusion of service at Army headquarters.
The ALA will be awarded at the discretion and approval of the secretary of the Army, but eligibility is limited to a small cadre of senior leaders, as follows:
Military: Army chief of staff, Army vice chief of staff and sergeant major of the Army.
Civilian: Presidentially appointed and Senate-confirmed officials who serve as secretary of the Army, undersecretary of the Army, the five assistant secretaries of the Army and general counsel of the Army.
The award will consist of a miniature reproduction of the departing official's positional flag, framed and affixed with a small, engraved plaque stating "U.S. Army Leadership Award," and the recipient's name, title and period of qualifying service.
Nominations for the award will consist of a one-page narrative to be submitted on a DA Form 1256 (Incentive Award Nomination and Approval).
Posted in these groups: 
Awards
Leadership
Awards Leadership
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 31
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I think this is so the Army staff does not have to take a collection to get the retiring Chief of Staff or Secretary of the Army their going away gift. I think it is funny that this requires a one page nomination. I wonder who sits on the awards board for this. Seems like we have big problems to worry about other than if these people get a going away gift.
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SGT (Join to see)
COL Jon Thompson, Sir, We do, but they don't. Just look what these guys got for being good soldiers.
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CSM Charles Hayden Passed 7/29/2025
COL Jon Thompson, Ha! Reading your post caused me to recall contributing for a "hand carved cable car" presento for a retiring LTG @ Presidio of San Franciso!
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CSM Charles Hayden Passed 7/29/2025
SGT Keith Bodine, Those are not 'good soldiers', they are good "party members"!
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These people do a great job but a special award for a few high ranking, Pentagon Birds is beyond ridiculous.
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I agree that superior performance and going beyond your task to get the job done in order to better the US is acceptable. However, as Sgt. Major Tony Barnes has iterated, "a paycheck is an award for doing your job." In my view, any award with the seeming value of the award discussed (Army Leadership Award) should only be granted with the approval of an award committee, each member of which should be selected to have no political-military, financial, or personal contact with the awardee. Now, I fully understand how difficult that might be, however, in the past, we have seen individuals in high office make awards that did not appear to fit with the awardee's accomplishments. Making awards to those who do not deserve such only damages the work throughout the Pentagon. The failure to determine who really deserves the award damages it much further. I think that the effort to control the granting of awards in the military and for those serving the military in a civilian status should be strengthened and reviewed very carefully for possible improvement, and revision to ensure the right personage gets the proper award when fully deserving of recognition.
Respectfully Submitted;
James L. Mathews
Respectfully Submitted;
James L. Mathews
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"...the demonstrated superior accomplishments and leadership that contributed to the efficiency, efficacy and overall improvement in the operations of the Army or its elements,..."
Sounds like they are contributing by leaving office, congrats senior leadership, job well done, now leave.
Sounds like they are contributing by leaving office, congrats senior leadership, job well done, now leave.
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Haha, this is too much. How much time and money was wasted for researching and implementing this? Also, why do the higher up needs this new medal that obviously only they are qualified for. I don't believe in awarding a medal that is only available to a very small percentage of people.
If a stacked officer, like the ones I often see walking around with huge rows of ribbons, can list me every single ribbon on their rack, without looking at it and in order of precedence, then maybe they could get something extra. Not trying to sound disrespectful, its just something that I have remember on my ASU's, so why not them too?
If a stacked officer, like the ones I often see walking around with huge rows of ribbons, can list me every single ribbon on their rack, without looking at it and in order of precedence, then maybe they could get something extra. Not trying to sound disrespectful, its just something that I have remember on my ASU's, so why not them too?
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Given the amount of headaches that they deal with at that level I can see this.
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I don't think so at all. I think this is treatment of a symptom of the watering down of awards. For example an achievement medal is awarded to E-3 and E-4s in some commands who "did their job" during their tour. That never used to be the case. I just saw an O-3 given a Meritorious Service Medal for also pretty much just doing his job. In my opinion that's completely unprecidented but then I found out from several Air Force officers that it is somewhat normal, albeit not standard.
Giving awards to people way more junior than truly merit them without there being a valid reason (some meritorious action) ends up resulting in an escalation. Basically if we've gotten to the point where there isn't an award high enough for people that have done more than those already receiving the highest award, we're doing something wrong. Making more doesn't fix the actual problem, better evaluation and scrutinizing of awards does.
Ever seen an E-4 with 6 rows of ribbons? I have, and he wasn't even one who was reaching high year tenure.
Giving awards to people way more junior than truly merit them without there being a valid reason (some meritorious action) ends up resulting in an escalation. Basically if we've gotten to the point where there isn't an award high enough for people that have done more than those already receiving the highest award, we're doing something wrong. Making more doesn't fix the actual problem, better evaluation and scrutinizing of awards does.
Ever seen an E-4 with 6 rows of ribbons? I have, and he wasn't even one who was reaching high year tenure.
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MAJ (Join to see)
LCDR (Join to see) I do draw a big distinction between medals and ribbons (don't have any of the ribbons on the rack I wore most often). There's a huge disparity between the services on what merits a badge, medal, or ribbon.
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LCDR (Join to see)
MAJ (Join to see) true there is a big different, but the specific awards I'm talking about are all medals. In the Navy anyways we don't have a whole lot of ribbons that aren't also medals. I know that's not necessarily the case with some others though.
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So in the military, this is only available to 3 people? And they will get it every time. Am I missing something here?
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COL Jon Thompson
SGT (Join to see) I read this too and was going to post a question about it. I was too slow.
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COL Jon Thompson
SGT (Join to see) I think it is ridiculous. There is such an exclusive group of people that are eligible, it makes me shake my head and do not understand the purpose. I really believe it is so they do not have to take up a collection to buy the framed colors of the office. But I don't think the vast majority of Soldiers really care about an award that only the smallest number of people can get.
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SGT (Join to see)
COL Jon Thompson, I don't see why it's such a big deal for three officers. I agree with you, it's ridiculous.
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