Should units "Groom" for Awards?

2016-03-10T12:33:47-05:00

Recently, my leadership started to select certain people (alternating, as we are a very small unit) to send in for Quarterly/Annual awards and only send 1 package per category. I was wondering what more people thought of this practice.

Response by SSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 10 at 2016 12:47 PM

2016-03-10T12:47:23-05:00

I am not trying to whine about my leadership, as they have been good to me. What I am trying to do is get more views from others with different experiences regarding the practice.

Response by 1stSgt Eugene Harless made Mar 10 at 2016 12:48 PM

2016-03-10T12:48:35-05:00

I noticed in my time in that being a hard nose about awards did absolutely nothing for the morale of units that didnt award their Marines. It just causes agnst between the haves and have nots. If you aren't recognizing your top performers every quarter you aren't doing your unit, people or yourself a favor.
Its not going to kill you to ask your section leaders to tell you who has been busting their ass and get them a LOA, MM or even a NAM.

Response by MSG Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 10 at 2016 12:54 PM

2016-03-10T12:54:32-05:00

Perhaps this is a way to get all the people in your unit to understand that only the best will get picked and to help boost their performance

Response by Sgt Aaron Kennedy, MS made Mar 10 at 2016 2:46 PM

2016-03-10T14:46:21-05:00

If I recall correctly the USAF assigns promotion points to awards, so they "may" be trying to "spread the wealth" based on eligibility dates (need based awarding). "If" the command limits the number of approvals per quarter this "may" be a way to ensure each person is recognized at the most opportune time.

As an example, if someone is getting ready for promotion to SSgt (USAF E5) next quarter, getting them an AFAM this quarter would be "more beneficial" than someone who who is going to TSgt in 3 quarters. Basically, it's "prioritizing" the bureaucratic machine a bit.

Your thoughts 1stSgt Eugene Harless? Since we don't really have points & promotion tied to our awards system, I'm not sure if this would be ethically flawed. I'm assuming that the awards were fully justified, just referring to "juggling the order" of timeline.

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Feb 17 at 2020 6:00 AM

2020-02-17T06:00:36-05:00

I can understand this practice in a small unit if you can vouch for the work being awarded, but I don’t think this is a fair practice across a whole organization overall.