Posted on May 1, 2014
Helping others just to earn a medal; whatever happened to selfless service?
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I recently had a Sergeant who took it upon himself to do something nice for the Soldiers in my unit. I am not going to go into detail on what he did, but after doing it he asked me to write him an AAM. I asked him to provide me with some details I was missing, and after some careful thought and consideration I personally did not think it was AAM worthy. I asked for advice from a few peers to see what they thought, and they agreed. I advised the SGT I was not going to put him in for AAM, but I would put him in for a COA. He told me to forget about it and he had enough of those, and then asked the same peers I asked for advice from to write the award. After they told him "no", he blamed me for influencing them. I had a long talk with him and finally asked him why he did this nice thing "was it for the recognition, or was it for the Soldier's in the unit?" He replied with "he was trying to get promotion points." The Sergeant has since avoided me, and boycotted my farewell dinner..... I am told. This is greatly depressing to me because I believe I did a lot for this Sergeant while I was in the unit. My question is what happened to Selfless Service? This is not the first Soldier or the first NCO I have met with the same attitude.
My philosophy: If you "genuinely" focus on how you could help your country, your community, your unit, your platoon, your section, and your Soldiers... you are doing it right, and the accolades will eventually come on their own.
My philosophy: If you "genuinely" focus on how you could help your country, your community, your unit, your platoon, your section, and your Soldiers... you are doing it right, and the accolades will eventually come on their own.
Posted in these groups: 
Awards
Selfless Service
Awards Selfless Service
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 3
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Just the fact that he asked you to write an award for him would have been enough for me to tell him no. Awards are earned and if the command deems the award warranted they will write it up and present it. No one should be asking for an award.
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SFC David Cook
Agreed! I think he may have felt pressured to ask me because I was PCSing, either way if the only reason you are doing things in the military is to receive an award you are going to find a lot of heart ache.
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Wish I didn't have some of the awards I have received. These days, all I see I junior soldiers asking what they can do to get more promotion points. That is all they care about.. Many of them are not cut out to be leaders and have not the responsibility that it takes to be an NCO. If A Soldier merits an award, then by all means, recommend them. If they are just trying to line their own pockets and not really care about the rest of the soldiers, then I would say no, don't give them an award simply because they asked for it. And if they have that kind of attitude, then how do the other Soldiers perceive him? He is to set the example and be ready to assume the next level of leadership.
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SSG (Join to see)
You do have a very valid point; however, opportunities for promotion points are few and far between, especially when it comes to awards. While I agree that "would you write me an award for this?" after the fact is in extremely bad taste and displays the wrong motivations, I don't see anything wrong with a soldier asking "what can I do to earn more awards?" Because the reality is every little point counts, especially in MOS's where the cutoff drops below 798 once a year or so. And while they're on that path, mentor them as well. Leaders are made, not born.
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