Posted on Dec 11, 2017
As an Army Reservist deployed to Afghanistan, is the GWOTSM awarded through a DA 638 or memorandum?
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Hello all. I am an Army reservist deployed to Afghanistan. A number of us have never spent any time on active duty that would authorize us the Global War on Terror Service Medal. According to AR 600-8-22 our deployment qualifies us for this award. Approval Authority is BN Commander/LTC/O5, however since for most active duty personnel the award is automatic, my question is would this award be requested through a DA 638 or as a Memorandum for Record (as our Army Reserve Component Achievement Medal is done). I want my fellow soldiers who haven't been authorized this award before to have it and not leave it up to chance so hence I ask. Thank you!
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Awards
Army Reserve Elements
Awards Army Reserve Elements
Posted 7 y ago
Responses: 8
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Your deployment orders with dates of service are sufficient.
To initiate the action and make sure it occurred we used memorandums of record from Company Commanders submitted through the S1 as a forcing function. That enabled us to better track who's award had been entered into the system by the PAC clerks and ensure everyone got what they were entitled to. We did the same with Soldiers campaign medals. Little extra work on the S1 and the PAC NCOIC up front but helped keep troops stuff from falling through the cracks.
To initiate the action and make sure it occurred we used memorandums of record from Company Commanders submitted through the S1 as a forcing function. That enabled us to better track who's award had been entered into the system by the PAC clerks and ensure everyone got what they were entitled to. We did the same with Soldiers campaign medals. Little extra work on the S1 and the PAC NCOIC up front but helped keep troops stuff from falling through the cracks.
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Roger thank you - when we demobilized they just put it in our DD214 automatically from our orders so it ended up being a non-issue.
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Your chain of command should process the award and any others for you while in country. That was how our unit handled them, we were just an 11 man team so our lead NCO who was also the UA processed all our stuff and they awarded the medal right after our change of responsibility with our replacement unit.
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It is awarded on a Memorandum for Record. All you need is the verifiable service dates.
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