PCS, Impact, Deployment, and other awards: Should they be determined by rank?
Deployment
Awards
PCS
SSG N.,
We have numerous discussions on this topic over the past 4-5 months here on RP and the overall consensus from many E6/E7s were that is the issue you speak of, but we have had many CSMs and Officers state it doesn't exist, but we as NCOs have seen it to many times to ignore or go down that easy, it exists for rank discrimination no matter how many senior leaders claim it doesn't, because when you have repeated complaints and statement from NCOs from varying fields and units stating the same thing, it is not a few disgruntled SMs it is reality.
The only thing you can do is try and give your Soldier the best and most honest support you can and try and be straight forward with them to ensure they know it was not them, it is how some commands perceive the way they should be given out.
One one hand, my Grandfather was awarded the BSM for saving 68 lives back in WW2 while serving in the navy, his story was published and some of the people who were saved by him, remembered him and honored him at his funeral.
I served 6 years, 3 tours, and every tour I saw my senior leaders get a BSM and they did not do anything in my opinion that would compare to what my Grandfather did.
I certainly wanted to follow in my grandfathers footsteps and get one, to tell the story, but was given nothing more than a ARCOM medal x3 for my tours, and humbly accepted them and made no fuss.
On the other hand, I felt those who are getting those Bronze Star Medals, probably earned them, I guess, and its none of my business. But one has to question why a Platoon Sergeant gets a bronze star for delivering chow at lunch every day out to his mechanics on the flight line, never leaving the wire once in his 12 month deployment.
I guess in the end, the medals mean nothing more than the stories we tell about them, and heroes like my grandfather taught me the true lesson, to keep my mouth shut, worry about myself, and don't boast about my accomplishments, and one day, on my death bed, if I have lived my life Holy and True to the Lord, people will remember the good deeds and big heart, everything will take care of itself. My grandfather never spoke of his military experience, never once showed us his medals or his accomplishments, and when he passed away, the battle buddies and loved ones did the digging to show his valor, heroism, courage and selfless service. Everything did take care of itself.
I have deployed numerous times, and have served as a
Gunner, Driver, Team Leader, and Squad Leader during those deployments. As a
private and a Specialist I would have agreed with you, but only because of my
own ignorance. Think about it, as a Soldier your day starts (depending on MOS
& mission) with WARNO, and ends when you return to the FOB and complete
recovery.
Team Leaders, Starts the WARNO, then PCC/PCIs, and ends
after a meeting with the Squad Leader, after recovery.
Squad Leaders, Receive a Mission, Issue the WARNO, Make
a tennitive plan, Start the
Necessary Movement, RECON the area, Complete the Plan, Issue the complete Order
(your mission brief), and during all of that they run around and supervise
his/her NCO's and Soldiers to ensure that what they need to do is happening. (
8 Troop Leading Procedures), and end there day with debrief and stroyboards.
Platoon Sergeants, Busy enough tracking his Squad
leaders, and he/she still has to deal with "Beans and Bullets"
ensuring that the Platoon has the right equipment, at the right time, for the
right mission. Mentors his LT, reviews Debriefs and storyboards, and deals with
the 1SG and CSM.
Platoon Leaders, On platoon missions (refer to the Squad
Leaders day) Squad Sized missions, the PL may go out with all of his/her
squads. Normally attends two or three meetings a day, and decides the best
course(s) of action for missions to properly meet the Commanders intent.
Now lets look at the Bronze Star- AR 600-8-22 ch3-15
The Bronze Star Medal was established by Executive Order
9419, 4 February 1944 (superseded by Executive Order 11046, 24 August 1962, as
amended by Executive Order 13286, 28 February 2003).
The Bronze Star Medal is awarded to any person who,
while serving in any capacity in or with the Army of the United States after 6
December 1941, distinguished himself or herself by heroic or meritorious
achievement or service, not involving participation in aerial flight, in
connection with military operations against an armed enemy; or while engaged in
military operations involving conflict with an opposing armed force in which
the United States is not a belligerent party. Title 10, United States Code,
section 1133, (10 USC 1133) limits award of the Bronze Star Medal to service
members receiving imminent danger pay. Awards may be made for acts of heroism,
performed under circumstances described above, which are of lesser degree than
required for the award of the Silver Star. The Bronze Star Medal may be awarded
for meritorious achievement or meritorious service according to the following:
(1) Awards may be made to recognize single acts of merit
or meritorious service. The lesser degree than that required for the award of
the Legion of Merit must nevertheless have been meritorious and accomplished
with distinction.
Meritorious service/achievement- An act which is well
above the expected performance of duty. The act should be an exceptional
accomplishment with a definite beginning and ending date. The length of time is
not a primary consideration; however, speed of accomplishment of an important
task can be a factor in determining the value of an act. Meritorious Service
which is distinguished by a succession of outstanding acts of achievement over
a sustained period of time. Individual performance must exceed that expected by
virtue of grade and experience, based on accomplishments during an entire tour
of duty.
So My answer is Yes I think the Bronze Star should be
awarded to SSG and above for Meritorious service while deployed, providing that
Soldier served in a duty position commensurate to his/her pay grade.
SPC Warden,
You bring up a great point. Just as reference, I have not received a BSM for
every one of my deployments and I have been fortunate enough to be in units
that judge awards from scope of responsibility and level of performance.
Do I believe the award has been over used? Yes. Do I believe that the BSM I
earned carries the same weight as the BSM my grandfather earned in WWII? Absolutely
not.
It’s a tough problem to tackle. I think you must start with scope of
responsibility and level of performance. That is how I balanced awards when I
was a commander. Unfortunately, I think a part of your comment derives from the
responsibility piece. We commonly link rank with level of responsibility. Not
saying that is correct, but as a rule the higher rank you achieve, the more
Soldiers you are responsible for thus easier to quantify that aspect of awards.
BLUF: The BSM has been over used and shouldn't be based on rank. Some units
are better than others when handling awards. This is a good debate.
I am aware of that, however he was not in the unit somewhere else. He had just PCS'd here, and was here only for that period of time.
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