Why are officers recognized with awards more than enlisted?

I personally think the US Military gives out far too many medals and ribbons. thus why most call them fruit salad. We could take a lesson from the Brits and get rid of a lot of the "I was there and cleaned the head ribbons."

Most are college graduates, and can be a bit more poetic than your platoon sergeant. You know, they can spin something as simple as “the private cleaned the barracks really good”; into, the “the soldier was very adept in the procedural aspects of facilitating a healthy, clean, environment for his fellow soldiers. Thus enabling senior personnel the ability to focus their resources and time on valuable training requested by their command staff.”

See...”polished turd”.

rear echelon.

Huh,? I was a Spec 4 (5 years active 3 years guard) . I'd look like a Russian General, if I wore all my medals. LOL. Sorry. I was in in a different century. Things were different "back in the day" , and I lucked out to have good commanders in good units most of the time, and I was lucky a few times. Then again there were times I did stuff that was above and beyond and didn''t even get an attaboy (while in a chitty unit). Ah well, 50-100 comrades are alive that might not be , i'll trade that for my "lost (IMO)Soldier's medal", And those are rare,rare, rare, I know.

Often it is the luck of the draw of your unit assignment /commanders there and/or you're MOS in and opportunities to be "noticed". A unit that does not award lower rank for good/outstanding performance in their MOS or other areas and only awards officers? Is a chitty unit with chitty commanders. I knew guys in just a different company in my same battalion that got half the medals I did. Main Reason ? their company officers and NCO's. It was telling in more ways than one as I was in the best-company of battalion , better than theirs. Because our officer's/NCO's cared more it seems.

However Leadership/officer ranks does have its privileges and also increased responsibility so yea they kinda deserved higher recognition for an outstanding job at their level , but if those guys are getting dinky medals they better be fighting for their soldiers to get some recognition too, who help them get their awards , or they're going to be setting up a morale problem which can hurt them.

Really though, you only need 3 medals and a Certificate to max the 50pts, (if things are still the same. I would be looking into schools, special training, transfers, somewhere to swing at a better chance for them if your unit and leadership is not doing so., and awarding medals without recognizing lower ranks in team endeavors? What do they medals get for, that they only get alone? jacking off?

Note - 8 years and a Spec4, and a lack of awards(1 AAM)? , I'd be worried more about not being offered a re-enlistment , and with a re-enlistment that should be an AAM or Certificate and where is your GCM? bang 3 max medals your need for sergeant points. Past 3 medals it is just gravy with no potatoes. Go Pass the E-5 Board, and do PLDC higher up the list should get you something. Don't take a forth medal if no certificate of appreciation , try to get the forth downgraded.
It is counterintuitive but you need that certificate , if the point system is the same. Met alot of guys with many medals and no certificate- 45 points. Actually when I was in, certificates were harder to come by than medals in Germany. But I managed to get a couple of those there too. One being direct from the Berlin brigade Commander a 3 star, and I was mentioned by name in the NATO Order's of the day for my actions. I was very hung over when it occurred and even got an article 15 that same day LOL . Very funny story.

This isn’t just an Army thing. I have served with the Navy and Marines and the exact same thing happens.
Part of this may be in the write up. If you are able to elaborate well and make it “very fluffy” then there may be a better chance the award gets approved.
One of my favorite excuses is that the officer has the higher responsibility! That is the situation went the other way and something serious happened, the officer is held more responsible than the enlisted. Maybe that’s why “sh$& rolls downhill!”

The simplest answer is most often the accurate answer. They write their own awards which are then signed off by their superior because he wrote his own award, etc. Enlisted don't write their own awards. They have to be recommended and approved by their supervisor. I've seen more shitebag officers with Bronze and Silver Stars they awarded themselves for sitting on their arses during deployments or planning something minor than I care to remember.

Simplest answer to me, is that Officers write each other up.
Where this becomes egregious is for Valorous awards. I could give a shit less about anything that gets worn lower than the national Defense Service ribbon, and indeed for anything "Meritorious". I've seen racks on senior officers stacked 4 and 5 rows, and not a single valorous award. that don't impress me much.
E-4's with Bronze Star with V, especially several, now THAT'S an award. or several.
A severe lack of leadership for LT's and Captains to not have a sense of awarding their soldiers for acts of bravery.
I myself, was awarded a Silver Star as a PFC. I was involved in an action that several other soldiers also expended maximum effort, closing with the enemy and prevailing in a hairy fight. Doing our jobs, but some of us got awards and some didn't. Exact same incident.
Or, sometimes if is because the Orderly room fails in it's job (the First Sgt and Exec Officer). Our unit made 3 Heliborne assaults under fire, Battalion insertions, all the Infantry companies wrote their soldiers up for Air Medals. HHC failed to even note anything about Mortars sections, and Medics, and the Engineers attached got nothing from their Batallion. "I didn't know" is a sorry answer when all three line companies got awarded Air Medals, and NOt a single Medic from HHC got one. Same action, same helicopters. That's 15 medics, at least.

There has existed an injustice in the military insofar as awards and decorations are concerned since the beginning of recognition for valor or service. The injustice no only has to do with rank but also with unit, duty position and other variables. For example, I came back to the World after an extended tour of duty on the same plane with a non-SF SP5 who worked in Awards & Decorations, 5th SFGA. He had a Bronze Star w/OLC. I knew another SF soldier who had served in several isolated A-Sites, experienced actual combat and was never recommended for an ARCOM. Was it fair? in my opinion, no. In another occasion, I saw a COL and a MSG PCS in the same month from the same duty station. Both were exemplary in their performance of duty. The COL received a LOM while the MSG (who had served the whole time in a SGM slot and represented the COL on several occasions) received an AAM as an afterthought. I've known many who walk around with a fruit salad on their chests although they haven't done half the work of any of their subordinates who, by the way, more often than not receive a "scrap medal" if at all. But here's the thing. Most who feel that they were/have been short-changed in recognition know that they earned every last award or decoration that is posted in their DD-214s.

Awards are presented for doing something great, not doing your job. Clearly there is something wrong with you