What are your experiences with the Military Awards system?

Working as a company personnel actions clerk as a junior enlisted and then a training NCO in company ops, I have had my hands on a lot of awards to pass up. A few of the worst examples come to mind:

Most units I've seen set a standard timeline for processing an ARCOM at 60-75 days, so it should be submitted to battalion before then. I have seen numerous awards submitted well outside of that requirement that end up taking 4+ months until signature. This is usually because once it's submitted, it has to be reviewed and approved through the BN awards section, S1 NCOIC, S1 OIC, BN CSM, BN CDR, BDE S1 awards, S1 NCOIC, S1 OIC, BDE CSM, and finally the BDE CDR, and a lot of times it is returned to unit after each level due to "corrections" that are either so simple that they can be corrected by S1 (we do awards digitally finally), or they are not really a "correction" but rather a personal view on how something should be phrased.

Next example, due to the timeline stated above, I saw a BDE Commander chew out the entire chain below him due to a PCS ARCOM recommendation that was submitted within 60 days of the Soldier PCS'ing. Due to that event, BDE will no longer accept an award recommendation if it is within the timeframe, regardless of merit.

My final example was a very strong written PCS ARCOM recommendation that was highly approved by the CO and BN Commanders, but downgraded to an AAM because, in his words, "Specialists don't deserve ARCOMs". (regardless of the fact the soldier was promoted to Sergeant after the award was first submitted, and the recommendation fully supported an ARCOM)

On a good note, I did see 2 very deserved awards pushed through the system in a matter of days. The 2 Soldiers in question were medics supporting an infantry FTX. A Soldier had a life threatening issue, and the 2 medics quickly reacted, assessed, performed CPR, and CASEVAC'ed the Soldier to a local treatment facility, saving his life. They were awarded with an ARCOM each for their actions.

Wrote up a number which had to go up. The system and process is OK. What's not OK is the fickleness of the signing authority. Had several over the years and would see favoritism or ignore everything unless it was HQ. The rejects that would put things back at my level would leave the crew in "Huh?" mode. Good morale killer not awarding stuff at the proper level. The icing on the cake was the Flag that asked why he hadn't gotten any awards from me for him to sign off on. Grrrrrr.

COL Lee Flemming the highest award I wrote was for a Legion of Merit for retirement after 28 years. I submitted it to the HHC XO for his review and submittal as I was PCS'ing and I wanted someone to submit it that would still be around in case it got kicked back for corrections. To my knowledge he threw it away and put him in for a MSM. I do wish I had submitted and followed up on it as I believe he earned it. The next highest that I submitted and signed was MSM. I do not regret any of those I submitted and I am 2 for 3 getting them approved.