Posted on Feb 2, 2016
What can be used on your Retirement award if you have already recieved awards throughout your career for major accomplishments?
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I will be medically retiring after 8yrs of Service and would like to know what can be used as bullets if my major accomplishments where rewarded? I know that you cannot get awards for things on previous awards but how do u cover 8yrs of service if you cant include those?
ETS/EAS
Retirement
Medical Board
Awards
Signal
Posted 9 y ago
Responses: 14
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well i never recieved one after 31 years of service my command wanted me to write my own retiremnt award and i declined, it is their job not mine, and it has not affected mylife what so ever nor my civi career, im proud of my service i gave all that i could, no regrets what so ever.
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SFC (Join to see)
I’m there with you MSG. I’m getting ready to retire and my PSG and PL said it would be better if I wrote my own retirement award. “They have no idea what I have done“. They are fully aware that I am working on my 29th year of military service. I was prior service marine Corp for 4 years. I spent 11 years in the National Guard. And then I spent 15 years active duty army.I also deployed twice to Iraq. I don’t know whether I should include all different branches of service in my award.
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LTC Andrew Addison
Mine either. I retired with 34 yrs and got zilcho. I see this as a direct reflection on your leaders...not you
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1SG (Join to see)
I see varied years in this post, and I'm sorry for bringing it back up.
Write your award if asked! It seems weird, but if you have a leader who asks, you must write it; ultimately, they want to put you in for one. The leader who is asking will still read, validate, and submit.
Some leaders are afraid to write for fear of not doing justice to what you or whoever they want to recommend did thoroughly. Most definitely, they want you to get awarded if they ask you to write it, and they don't want to fail you.
I just submitted 3 AAMs, and it took me time to deliberate what they did. They were all solid SMs, but in these particular awards, I wasn't directly involved in their actions; I wrote to my knowledge of them. Honestly, I would have asked for bullets if it was a higher award. I am not trying to escape writing; I just want a better picture for the Award and them.
If this post takes, current Army 1SG, working through SGMA DL, ALL WRITING!
Write your award if asked! It seems weird, but if you have a leader who asks, you must write it; ultimately, they want to put you in for one. The leader who is asking will still read, validate, and submit.
Some leaders are afraid to write for fear of not doing justice to what you or whoever they want to recommend did thoroughly. Most definitely, they want you to get awarded if they ask you to write it, and they don't want to fail you.
I just submitted 3 AAMs, and it took me time to deliberate what they did. They were all solid SMs, but in these particular awards, I wasn't directly involved in their actions; I wrote to my knowledge of them. Honestly, I would have asked for bullets if it was a higher award. I am not trying to escape writing; I just want a better picture for the Award and them.
If this post takes, current Army 1SG, working through SGMA DL, ALL WRITING!
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There's an app for that:
Army Regulation 600–8–22
1–23. Recognition upon retirement
a. Period of service. Each individual approaching retirement may be considered for an appropriate decoration based on his or her grade, years of service, degree of responsibility, and manner of performance.
b. Service recognition awards. The following awards may be awarded upon retirement:
(1) Meritorious service awards will be awarded, upon retirement (to include medical retirements), which may include periods of service longer than that served in the recommending command. An extended period will only be considered in those cases where the length or nature of the individual’s terminal assignment would not qualify him or her for an appropriate award. It is neither necessary nor desirable to consider an extended period of service when the length and character of service of retirees in their terminal assignments would qualify them for an appropriate award.
This is not to imply that an extended period of service should be considered for every individual who retires, such periods will be limited to the last 10 years of service. When writing the citation, it is not necessary to indicate the time period again; it is only pertinent to mention the total number of years of service, for example, over 22 years or 30 years of service.
Army Regulation 600–8–22
1–23. Recognition upon retirement
a. Period of service. Each individual approaching retirement may be considered for an appropriate decoration based on his or her grade, years of service, degree of responsibility, and manner of performance.
b. Service recognition awards. The following awards may be awarded upon retirement:
(1) Meritorious service awards will be awarded, upon retirement (to include medical retirements), which may include periods of service longer than that served in the recommending command. An extended period will only be considered in those cases where the length or nature of the individual’s terminal assignment would not qualify him or her for an appropriate award. It is neither necessary nor desirable to consider an extended period of service when the length and character of service of retirees in their terminal assignments would qualify them for an appropriate award.
This is not to imply that an extended period of service should be considered for every individual who retires, such periods will be limited to the last 10 years of service. When writing the citation, it is not necessary to indicate the time period again; it is only pertinent to mention the total number of years of service, for example, over 22 years or 30 years of service.
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Not trying to burst your bubble, but shouldn't you be worrying About what comes after the Army? like employment, schooling etc? And second an award is something that is recommended by others not oneself, more or less like a surprise, it should not be expected. Just my thoughts on the matter.
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MSG (Join to see)
I agree with the statement above. The recommendation for an award has (for the majority of what I have seen in the last 10 years) been replaced by unit quotas for awards by rank/type and "if you want it, write up some bullets and I'll take a look at it". True awards should not be expected, but seriously, how is it taking care of someone who served honorably and dedicated an honest effort to the unit has become such a strenuous chore for leaders? It's blatant laziness and I will not allow myself to be convinced otherwise. At best, the "recommendee" is told BS excuses like, (and I have personally been told this as a SFC who has written many awards throughout my career that got approved) "this will help you develop your award writing skills". Thank you senior enlisted guy who would rather jabber with cohorts about nonsense and play on his phone than exercise his own purportedly superbly developed writing skills. The award ultimately will not mean jack post-Army. It will most likely be forgotten very quickly. But that isn't the point. If retirement/ETS/PCS/whatever awards don't matter then don't even authorize them. Stop wasting unit money on unit coins then. They mean nothing after the service. I think there needs to be a long look taken into how we send our service members off into the world. Strangers will thank them and offer recompense in the form of discounts and free this or that because of their veteran status for the remainder of their lives. But you are telling me that unless the departing SM writes his own bullets, those he served under and with won't lift a finger on the keyboard to send him off with a token of appreciation? I could continue this diatribe until my character limit is maxed but I will egress with, it is sad to see that young NCOs and even some of the older geezers are left hanging by those they busted their fourth point of contact for relentlessly.
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MAJ (Join to see)
MSG (Join to see) - I will say this. The expectation is that EVERY Soldier PCSing, ETSing, or retiring WILL depart with an award, unless they have done something that prohibits them from receiving an award. Your message about the Soldier asking where is my award is not a good message. If the Soldier is deserving of an award, they should expect an award and should not have to write the award themselves. If we are late on awards, we get the business from our CSMs, so again, it is an expectation that Soldiers departing WILL receive an award.
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