Posted on Jun 5, 2016
Why do Active Duty Servicemembers get higher level awards than Reserve Component equivalent accomplishments?
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I think I know why but interested in hearing the thoughts of others.
Posted in these groups: 
Awards
Awards
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 40
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Bureaucracy is like running water. It takes the path of least resistance.
Active duty has less hurdles, therefore, it becomes easier to recognize people appropriately.
Stepping away from Reserve/Active for a moment, let's look at DoN vs DoA for a second. The Army awards "more" than the Navy/USMC. Why? The answer is actually really simple. Approval authority (up until a few years ago) was lower. For an Impact Award like an Achievement Medal (NAM/AAM) it took a LTC in the Army but a Col/Capt in the USMC/Navy. Therefore, what would be recognized with a Medal in the Army was recognized with a CertCom or a Meritorious Mast in the USMC (I've got a stack of LoAx 20+).
Essentially, by having a higher "administrative burden" it changes the Philosophy of Awards.
Were I to ask a Soldier how many AAM/ACM they had, the numbers to me would be surprising. The USMC would NEVER encounter the issue of having to wear multiple ribbons due to the 4 device rule. This not a hit on the Army, but designed to highlight the differences between services.
Taking this mindset and applying it back within the Army (et al), you can see something similar happening, but more from a pragmatic standpoint. There's not only a systemic difference in philosophy that applies to awards, but also administrative hurdles which are harder to overcome because of cross-boundary delineation.
Active duty has less hurdles, therefore, it becomes easier to recognize people appropriately.
Stepping away from Reserve/Active for a moment, let's look at DoN vs DoA for a second. The Army awards "more" than the Navy/USMC. Why? The answer is actually really simple. Approval authority (up until a few years ago) was lower. For an Impact Award like an Achievement Medal (NAM/AAM) it took a LTC in the Army but a Col/Capt in the USMC/Navy. Therefore, what would be recognized with a Medal in the Army was recognized with a CertCom or a Meritorious Mast in the USMC (I've got a stack of LoAx 20+).
Essentially, by having a higher "administrative burden" it changes the Philosophy of Awards.
Were I to ask a Soldier how many AAM/ACM they had, the numbers to me would be surprising. The USMC would NEVER encounter the issue of having to wear multiple ribbons due to the 4 device rule. This not a hit on the Army, but designed to highlight the differences between services.
Taking this mindset and applying it back within the Army (et al), you can see something similar happening, but more from a pragmatic standpoint. There's not only a systemic difference in philosophy that applies to awards, but also administrative hurdles which are harder to overcome because of cross-boundary delineation.
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Sgt Aaron Kennedy, MS
Sgt (Join to see) - I think our last 5-6 SMsMC topped out at 7-8 combined NAM/NMCs (and that's high).
Current SMMC Ronald Green has 5 NMC, and 3 NAM.
The idea of having 10 of any award other than GCM is just "foreign" to me.
Current SMMC Ronald Green has 5 NMC, and 3 NAM.
The idea of having 10 of any award other than GCM is just "foreign" to me.
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SPC (Join to see)
Not really(I think you were being sarcastic), it's just laziness. I can write a 638 in 20 minutes, another 10 to take it up to S1. From there its not my problem except check on it. Save a digital copy just in-case the approving authority has a correction then fix it and resubmit. Whenever I have NCOs coming to me telling me to write a 638 for their soldier, I tell them the exact same thing.
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CPT Joseph K Murdock
It's hard work because they don't want to expend the effort and lack of knowledge is a contributing factor.
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CAPT Hiram Patterson
It gets much easier to write up awards the more you write them. The same for OER/NCOERs and FITREPS/EVALS.
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Are you talking PCS/ETS awards? If so thats simple. Working 5 days a week (or more but lets say 5 in a garrison Army) vs working 2 days a month and 2 weeks in the summer. Now are we talking actual accomplishments? No reason. If someone got an AAM for something like say... I dont know 3 300 PT tests in a row, then a reservist does the same thing and gets a COA, then thats just bad leadership.
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LTC (Join to see)
I've been on active duty for 8 years then went to the Reserves. You all do not understand how much the Reserves and National Guard soldiers do in a year. Yes we do work fewer days but, don't do just one weekend a month and two weeks a year. We often taken on extra days to coordinate and accomplish major events. This isn't including the extra unpaid time for schooling done for career advancement. Also on our "one Weekend" it's spent on actually packed with Army/duty relevant training. Unlike on active duty is spent irrelevant taskers (i.e. post clean up). Also for Change of Command Ceremonies we don't spend three days practicing it more like three hours.
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CAPT Hiram Patterson
LTC (Join to see) - In my last Navy Reserve unit, my predecessor wrote periodic/detaching senior Fitness Reports for his CO of one year and then I got a new CO for one year and we had to repeat the process. Then out third CO came in and we had to write periodic reports under him. This was all within 3 years! Just to get them from 7 detachments plus HQ, review an rewrite many of them to proper standards, and finalize/print them took dozens of off-duty hours plus time for routine things that could not be completed on drill weekend alone. These are not your father's reserve units by any means.
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COL (Join to see)
What is missed in your argument is the bigger picture. Whether RC or AC, all voluntarily serve. Because awards are designated as either for 'service' or 'achievement' the duration of service is irrelevant. An RC member could argue that they deserve recognition moreso than an AC member because in those 48-60 days a year, they meet or exceed the same standards as those serving 365 days do. So, the RC is more efficient than the AC, especially since there is a likelihood that a greater percentage of RC members have served combat tours than the AC have. Also, this bias, based on days served, is the root of all biases between the AC and RC. Everyone in the RC has served on active duty at some point in their career. Some have served years on active duty. But few AC members have served a single day in the RC and have frame of reference on how difficult it is to juggle/balance family, work, military and civilian education as well as military participation. When an AC member loses their job, they leave the military. When an RC member loses their job, they usually still have to serve in the military.
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