Why are officers recognized with awards more than enlisted?

As an NCO I never bothered myself at how many medals an Officer has, only that he does his job so that I may do mine. I have noticed that Officers do pay attention to enlisted that receive awards and medals and commend them. what does matter is that the awards and medals received are justly earned. The Uniform is is your mirror of your success; wear them proudly.

During my service, I received many awards. When I made SFC, I endured my junior NCOs and Enlisted were recognized with awards. Did not have to prove myself anymore.

I remember standing at the III Corps Parade Field after the Gulf War while they handed out medals. I recall a CPT that was a Battalion Motor Officer getting a BSM with V-Device for conducting recovery operations in an Iraqi obstacle line. I thought 'what about the M88 crew? Didn't they have something to do with it?'

I used to think it was awkward that our 1990-1991 desert adventure bagged me 5 medals. NDSM, SASM, Kuwait Liberation (Saudi), Kuwait Liberation (Kuwait), ARCOM (sans V-Device).

Don't listen to this "responsibility" crap. It's not that. It's that the bigger awards aren't supposed to be given out as often, so they're saved for the higher ranking individuals.

Reinforcing story number 1. I served in 2 branches. During my second branch (USMC), I was named SACO of the year for our base due to maintaining such an outstanding program as a sergeant. The civilian in charge recommended me for a NavCom. My COC attempted to knock it down to a meritorious mast because I was only a sergeant. Then they looked into my SRB and found that I already had an AAM and an ARCOM from my previous service. They settled in the middle and gave me a NAM.

Reinforcing story number 2: My younger brother joined the Marine Corps out of high school. A couple months after hitting the fleet in Hawaii, he was at the PX after work one day to pull some money out of the ATM. The young Marine in front of him locked up in a seizure out of nowhere. My younger brother caught him before he hit the ground, told someone to call 911, and performed 1st aide until help arrived. A witnessing Chaplain contacted his COC and recommended a NavCom. COC bumped it down to a NAM because he was only a PFC and didnt have any personal awards yet.

Bottom line. You want big awards, you better get big rank or do something insanely heroic.

Officers look out for each other. Heck with the enlisteds.

Great points. Thanks for the update. Makes sense in civilian life as well.
Goes to show you that there are still major class divisions between the workers and management.

On deployment, seems most O-3 and up get a bronze star for, well I don't know what they get them for.

The short answer? Because they are officers. The military is the only place in the United States where a class system still exists. It's an outdated system that dates back hundreds of years that no one is willing to change. I have seen the AF give out bronze stars to officers just for serving in Afghanistan.

But in the end, awards don't mean crap (at least 90% of time).

Take this as you may, but personally know of cases of this. An aircrew on a multi crew aircraft consisting of both O's and E's. The crew flies a combat mission, all crewmembers complete their duties, all face the same risk of not coming home. The entire crew is put in for the same award. When the results were finalized the crew with exception of the Aircraft Commander/ Pilot were downgraded to a lower award. The Aircraft Commander, however was upgraded to the next higher award. When questioned as to why the answer was it was a HQ call. Rumor had was because he was "chosen"

I've got some m