How many should a soldier wear that has 1 permanent ASUA and PCS's to a new unit that has 2 temporary (for the SM) awards of the ASUA?

SSG Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 03 Mar 2014 14:03:39 -0500

<p>It is widely contested, when the subject arises, as to how many unit awards an individual is to wear once they have received a permanent award and moved to a new unit. <br><br>For the sake of this topic, how many should a soldier wear that has 1 permanent ASUA and PCS's to a new unit that has 2 temporary (for the SM) awards of the ASUA?<br><br>Are you aware of the regulatory guidance in this matter? Many are not.</p><p> </p><p>Special thanks to SSG Hoffman for being the first to answer this correctly. A somewhat more indepth review shows:</p><p> </p><p>AR 670-1 Table 29-1 'Authority for wear--U.S. unit award emblems' (sub)Note 1 sentence 2 states:<br>"When a soldier is permanently awarded a unit award and is subsequently assigned to a unit that has received the same unit award, the soldier will wear the permanent award in lieu of the temporary unit award."<br><br>In action this has a 1 for 1 cancellation effect. For every 1 unit award YOU are permanently awarded, you cease to wear an equal 'temporary' unit award.</p><p> </p><p>i.e. MSG Snuffuluficus has orders for 1 PUC, 2 MUCs and 4 ASUAs from his 24 years in the Army. Joining B Co. 80th Armored Medical Battalion he finds that he is authorized to wear 3 MUCs and 1 ASUA as temproary awards:</p><p> </p><p>The MSG will then continue to wear 1 PUC, add another oak leaf to his MUC (as there is 1 more temporary MUC than his permanent awards) and continues to wear 4 ASUAs.</p><p> </p><p>Do NOT continue to wear your last unit's temporary awards or ANY awards without having permanent orders reflecting such in your OMPF AND your O/ERB.</p>

Response by LTC Paul Labrador made Mar 3 at 2014 2:36 PM

LTC Paul Labrador — Mon, 03 Mar 2014 14:36:01 -0500

To answer your specific question, it would be: ASUA with 2 OLC (making a total of 3) for temporary wear while assigned to said unit, reverting back to a single ASUA when they PCS out. The regulation states that they can only wear temporary unit awards while actively assigned to that unit, and that the rule for OLC to count additional iterations of the same award is the same as individual awards. But soldiers have to understand that they cannot wear temporary unit awards on an official DA photo (as those will not show up on an ERB/ORB).

Now, in reality, unless the leadership is very anal about ASU's looking "correct" and uniform, many soldiers who already have permanent wear unit awards will typically forego temporary awards and only wear their permanent ones.

Response by SSG Alexander Hoffman made Mar 3 at 2014 6:13 PM

SSG Alexander Hoffman — Mon, 03 Mar 2014 18:13:07 -0500

I'm glad this topic came up, I've had this discussion and had to correct MANY Soldiers, both junior and senior to myself. Got clarification from DA G-1 (the proponent for both AR 670-1 and AR 600-8-22) a few years back just to make sure I was correctly interpreting the regulation.<div><br></div><div>BLUF, You CAN NOT "combine" your permanent awards with the existing unit awards. In situations where you have an awards and are later assigned to a unit with the same award, you wear YOURS, not theirs. In you example, you would wear an ASUA with zero OLC's. </div><div><br></div><div>Reference:</div><div>AR 670-1, table 29-1 states "When a soldier is permanently awarded a unit award and is subsequently assigned to a unit that has received the same unit award, the soldier will wear the permanent award in lieu of the temporary unit award."</div><div><br></div><div><br></div>

Response by SSG Dave Rogers made Mar 3 at 2014 6:40 PM

SSG Dave Rogers — Mon, 03 Mar 2014 18:40:50 -0500

After I received by first permanent Unit Award, when I was assigned to a new unit that had previous Unit Citations I would wear the awards as they were given by the Supply Room and required by the unit. While there were a few commanders who would say nothing, it was about showing my respect for the unit I was with. But if I went before a board or military training and required to wear my dress uniform, I would only wear the awards I have earned.