Why are officers recognized with awards more than enlisted?

"It seems to you" because you are unfamiliar with the awards regulation. Officers have legal responsibilities that enlisted do not have. Therefore their scopes of duty and responsibilities rate higher which is one of the 5 components of evaluation for an award.

ANYONE can submit an award. Less often do enlisted submit. This ensures other enlisted do not receive an award. So, if you feel you did not get the award you deserved, ask yourself, how many awards have you submitted for others? Are you part of the problem?

In my 24.7 years of service, I found that nothing is better than experience. With that comes confidence. Finding a good senior advisor or someone who truly “gets it” helps.

It really comes down to the task of writing the award. And then submitting the award. It’s that simple. I took command of a unit and the biggest initial complaint was we never get awards because they get denied. I told them I wanted all the denied awards. The reality was the awards were never written. Over the next two days they wrote and submitted awards. All awards were submitted and all the ones submitted were received. That is the most basic issue. The next issue is leaders advocating for their soldiers. Make sure the senior leaders know their Soldiers and their accomplishments. This is doing storyboards and weekly roll ups. Again simple over looked tasks. Giving Soldiers positive counseling statements that document accomplishments. Roll ups, storyboards, and positive counselings provide documentation of the accomplishments but also ensure people outside of the platoon or company are aware. And finally, well written awards and evaluations that accurately represent the Soldier and their accomplishments. The awards should not simply be a form letter with the same accomplishments and only the name changes. As a commander I believed every soldier should receive an impact award and a PCS award. And an end of tour award for deployments. Level of awards becomes another discussion but it should reflect the accomplishments. If you’re not doing the above correctly, it is hard to get the higher level awards. The award shouldn’t be the first time the appropriate approval authority is hearing about the event or the Soldier.

I agree with both MSGT Minor and CPT Durish. When I was a young officer, I was required to put myself in for an award AND my boss as well, even though he had absolutely nothing to do with my personal achievement. My service, while believed to be a bit more liberal in the dcorations, apparently takes a back seat to the Army when it comes to Bronze Stars, even for meritorious performance (vice valor). I also had an award downgraded because I was a junior officer at the time, and my overarching superior did not believe in junior officers getting that award. Understand, like the MSGT, I am retired, and I could care less about any of what happened to me, but I believe that a lot of what happened is endemic to the military.

I've seen this first hand, my first duty station out of infantry and jump school was in Panama, while there I received 2 ARCOM's. When I PCS'd to Fort Bragg our first class A inspection the 1SG asked to see my 201 file because E-4's didnt get ARCOM'S in Division. Went to S-1 and pulled the paperwork for him. The entire time I was with Division I received one AAM as a PCS award.

So to answer your question, some units submit awards based of accomplishments and some submit based off of rank.

I am sorry, but I am in the same boat. I did get only one major award- a Navy Achievement Medal and when I finally got it, I was credited with helping manage a $7.1 million budget. The prior time I was even considered for one was when I was up for Junior Sailor of the Year at my first command in Japan. But that's what it's supposed to be like. Every military individual medal for professional achievement is higher than any civil honor- including a President Medal of Freedom. Also, These things are technically given in theory on behalf of the secretary of the respective service. This is why even Achievement awards should not be given out like candy. That's why there's letters and certificates of appreciation and accommodation. And I have a bunch of those.

Here is a perfect example of this problem:
Lipton was part of the Carentan raid by Easy Company supervised by Lt. Colonel, Robert George Cole who got injured from a shot fired by a sniper. Lipton himself received injuries in the groin and face for which he was honored with a ‘Purple Heart’ while Lt. Col George Cole received a ‘Medal of Honor’ for his effective leadership

If it makes anyone feel better this is nothing new. My son who spent 10 years in the Marines was the recipient of such treatment. His superior put him in for a bronze star in Afghanistan in 2009. The after action report clearly rises to the level of silver star and he ended up with a commendation medal with valor. He also spent 2 weeks in a hospital with a concussion bleeding from his ear when his truck drove over an IED. No purple heart or mention of anything for that either. Major Winters (ret) refers to this very thing back at the end of WWII in his book "Beyond Band of Brothers". In the end, however, I don't think that there is one straight answer here. BUT, I theorize a few: 1) Inept leaders, 2) lazy leaders (nearly synonymous with inept), 3) brotherhood of the officers in a "us vs. them" type approach, 4) hubris, and finally the one I think most fits 5) self aggrandizement!

Officers getting awarded with medals they never earned. Been going on since the Vietnam War in all branches of the military.