Why are officers recognized with awards more than enlisted?

That's not always the case there were a couple of Specialists in my last unit that got an AAM for finishing the Nijmegen march and the NCOs that also finished it as well received no award. As others have said a lot of times it comes down to whether or not you have earned the award and if you have inquired about it. If you feel that you deserve an award for being the only Specialist on the funeral honors team ask your first line about it. It never hurts to ask a question; besides there are only two responses they can give you yes or no. So either way you have a 50/50 shot.

The easiest answer is that officers are supposed to know how to write award recommendations for their troops, so they're often taught how. Since they know how, they tend to do it for themselves, making sure that their efforts are not going unnoticed. It's not until you get to about E6-E7 level that enlisted personnel are taught to do this, and so most of the things that you do go unnoticed because you never say anything about them.

From my Vietnam experience, it seems it is true because the junior officers have more contact with the ones who actually recommend the men for awards , than do the enlisted men. "Flipper John Kerry" with all his "purple oowies" is a prime example. In some instances they can simply have a buddy officer put them in for awards, earned or not.

That's the way the Army is, I was put in for a purple heart by my platoon sargent. And got down graded to a ARCOM

Why are officers recognized with awards more than enlisted? I always wondered when someone would be innocent enough to ask that question and since I am very much closer to the grave than the cradle I am going to give you an answer which should give more than a few people heart burn. All awards are initiated by commissioned officers however the people who are at the company, troop or battery headquarters tend to get special treatment. For instance based on personal experience, I have seen company clerks by hap stance, mischance and coincidence just happen to get flight status and flight pay and Air Medals for being door gunners when people from aviation units including Air Cavalry Troop were on R&R. Interestingly enough enlisted people in air assault unit would get only one Air Medal for the whole year even if they made one hundred air assaults. Each air assault was supposed to count as one mission and by Army Regulations every twenty five were supposed to count as another Oak Leaf Cluster.

Reality is, if you have been im the Army almost 8 year and yoi still an E-4, do not ask why Officers got more awards than you, what you should be asking to yourself is what you are not doing right. Awards are not candies and should not be given just for do your job. The fact that you still a SPC is telling me that you are not even barely able to perform a task without supervision, NOT Worthy of award.

They are smarter. They knew by not being enlisted they wouldn't have to put up with NCO bullshit and get better housing and not have a depenapotamous follow them all over the world. They have better teeth and have soldiers set up their tents and they can use soldiers as butlers too.

On this topic I would also say this -- I don't know if officers are really recognized more or not (i.e. statistically) but certainly there is a widely held perception that they are -- so, this is something that both officer and NCO leaders at all ranks have to be cognizant of, and understand, when approaching who's getting recommended for what, when and how. Especially, again, young officers, need to realize that their troops may feel this way, and that they themselves (the 2LT...) are not likely to be told this directly! This is where a good PSG and a solid PL--PSG relationship comes in!! If in a particular unit this perception is strong, then there are things that leaders can do to inform/educate everyone without changing the underlying reasons why you might or might not recognize someone in the first place - their merited achievements.

A question you are not alone in asking.. I too often wondered that myself.

The easy answer is yes. The rules and guidelines for awards of heroism (Bronze and silver stars and the like) are also far less stringent for commissioned officers. RHIP.