Why are officers recognized with awards more than enlisted?

I didn't get any individual awards but there were a couple of instances I should have got one. However they involved breaking multiple rules, silence would have been the better part of valor at the time. Since I am out and no Admiral is going to make me come back to face the music (see below). Also a lot of NAM's, on my ship, were handed out for pure BS like making sure a particular space or P-way did well on a zone inspection or similar, got a NAM, was enough to actually tell my command to don't bother if this is what it's being handed out for.

We had a power supply that kept going down on deployment and it caused a chain reaction that caused our weapons system to not properly work, exposing half of an aircraft carrier. We couldn't get a new part to replace it, so we had to make due. When it went down, we would have to climb the aft tower on the flight deck (CVN-75 for reference) go into a particular space way off the flight deck, clear the fault and bring it back up. This required a lot of safety gear and most was owned by another division and required signing out. For about a few weeks, the part would go down, we found our safety equipment was in a space locked and no way of contacting them. Time was of the essence because if Combat found out... then the CAPT... then the Rear ADM... bad day. We would normally have to go to flight deck and enter the Big Door to speak with Airmen who have been going for 16 hours straight and Flight Ops isn't over yet to get permission to bring up a weapons system. No amount of strong coffee would bring them around to reality. They would try to deny it because of flight ops... we told them what the problem is and what would happen if not allowed... still clueless. It got to the point were we were considering ignoring them outright and moving on. Finally, now our gear was secured by a brother division with no one available to open the door. We had no better alternative and I volunteered to climb the ladder with no gear, also a sitting duck for any flight deck rover. I made the climb at 0100 for several nights and it was dark, wet and slick on that ladder and I had no gloves. I made the climb up and down that ladder, successfully bringing the system online and each night having to move a big pile of scrap metal oddly enough stacked straight up like it's a bunch of spikes by same flight deck personnel. We had informed them of the fact we must have a clear path to that ladder at all times and why. Having to move that much scarp metal and staying quiet the whole time was putting me and the others on watch fairly nervous to say the least. Obviously this was all hush hush because we didn't want to take a chance of this being leaked and command finding out. I can only imagine the potential list of "charges" if pushed, 11 years ago.

Honestly? It's pretty simple and obvious -- a lot of officers have a built-in attitude that being enlisted is pretty much defacto evidence that the individual is less capable and, therefore, must not be as deserving. I think this really hit home when I was in the reserves and tried to get a direct commission after receiving my degree. I jumped through all the hoops, as did a friend of mine from school, who had no prior service whereas I was SELRES. Now, we went to the same school, I had a significantly higher GPA, I was an E-5 with a very solid record ... and they selected the guy with no track record and less impressive credentials. I was later privately counseled that being enlisted actually worked against me. There is also the "Old Boys Network" ... it's pretty clear that officers will approve higher awards for one another since it is a path to promotion -- the same is true of enlisted but the officers rarely have the same personal connection and, therefore, interest. Honestly, this isn't just an officer versus enlisted thing ... I noticed chief petty officers getting higher awards than lower enlisted who were much more deserving. The solution seems pretty straightforward, that would be to have senior enlisted approve awards for enlisted personnel. Of course, that would require the officer corps to give up a modicum of control and, in the history of the world, how often does that happen?

I was a 1SGT of a unit in Vietnam and was automatically awarded the Bronze Star when I rotated. It was the policy of the organzitation that I was assigned, which had smaller units all over Vietnam, to give the BS to every 1SGT when they left in country. I feel that I deserved the medal but we had one 1SGT that had been 1SGT of 3 different units and was awarded a BS for each assignment. That I think was excessive.

I once heard LTC Yarmy say nobody the rank of PFC or below has ever earned an AAM.

Seriously.. Dude had his Ranger tab and was in charge of a signal Bde. I guess he never heard of PFC Leonard Kravitz, a Congressional Medal of Honor awardee. I don't know his justification for said opinion, but the fact that at least half a dozen PFC's got AAM's the next FTX would indicate his opinion wasn't very well backed up by reality.

I never understood how a SSG could award 3-4 ARCOMS to their team, hardly work any shifts or touch the equipment, who had to be trained on the equipment by their subordinates.. and get a bronze star...

It's not just you or 'seems to me.' It's recognized fact. You don't have to go far down Military History rabbit holes before civilians point it out, too. Officers receive military recognition disproportionate to their accomplishments and efforts when compared to enlisted. In my studies (and experience) the generally recognized cause is a combination of the anachronistic tradition of classism that clings to the military and the bias of officers deciding who gets (most) awards.

Unless you want to get mired down with political bullshit, don't pay much attention to official awards.

The award system is broken.

For meritorious awards, it makes sense that officers receive more than enlisted because the award criteria are generally written so that an important aspect is the effect of the awardee's action have on the unit, and an officer's actions generally have more effect on a unit than an enlisted serviceman's (although SNCOs can have a big impact, too). If a regiment does an outstanding job of preparing for deployment, that is generally put on the CO, XO, SgtMaj, and a few other higher ranks than on a lance corporal who had an excellent junk-on-the-bunk.

However, for awards of valor, no one can convince me that officers should earn more by their conduct in combat. It's the junior enlisted that face the greatest danger and in greater numbers. A fair system would have far more awards for valor for E-3s than O-3s (except possibly for the Air Force where a higher percentage of trigger pullers are officers, or in their case, pilots).

The Marine Corps does a better job in that than the other services. Enlisted Marines get more awards for valor than officers. But I don't think the ratio reflects the reality of officers and enlisted in the Corps. I believe that more enlisted receive awards for valor than officers only because there are far more enlisted in the Corps than officers.

I do not know whether it is factually true that officers receive more awards. In the Air Force, testing played a large role in enlisted promotion. Officer promotion, instead, relied solely on performance reports, and time in grade. With inflation of performance report ratings, awards (AF Commendation at company grade, and AF Meritorious Service awards) became the only way to separate out superior officer performance. That may explain in part any difference in numbers; officers may have had more of a career need for medals. . Whenever I met an E8, I did not need to see his or her ribbons to know that he had performed superbly throughout his career. When I met a young colonel, his ribbons explained the below-the-zone promotion.

I served for 20 years and received every award from the Meritorious Service Medal and below. Yes, there is a hierarchy but that is true of any organization. When I left SHAPE I received the Joint Commendation Medal. My OIC actually apologized because I did not get the Joint Meritorious Service Medal.because my predecessor got the JMSM and everyone knew I did more than she did. We just had a change of command and the new commander had a different attitude on awards. While there is at least a tendency to give awards by rank if you write a good award it will be awarded.

I tend to agree that officers seem to get more awards (and I'm a Colonel). Combat soldiers also get more awards, and they should! And being a commander also influences awards (unless one gets relieved....which never happened to me!!)

when I was in Fed civil service. I went to awards ceremony I was working at Randolph afb. this major got a bronze star for coordinating getting supplies to the marines. I was so pissed my son at the time was a marine in Iraq in fajuallah he got his bronze star carrying a pack and a radio. he got his bronze star in combat not sitting at a desk. nothing against him but my son got his bronze star in combat on a radio they were under heavy fire called in air support. OORAH.