How should I handle someone requesting to edit the deployment award recommendations that I submitted?

MAJ Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 21 Mar 2022 09:32:12 -0400

Awards question: I am nearing the end of my deployment and have submitted awards for my people. There is nothing crazy in there, basically all ARCOMs (including myself). I am under a Navy command which has been horrible to say the least. The person directly appointed above me wants me to unlock the awards for "editing". I have never heard this request and don't quite understand how to proceed with this. I always thought it was a concurrence or non-concurrence. I don't feel comfortable having someone else edit the award I wrote, am I wrong on this? She is also Navy so she cannot actually sign the award or in any way act as recommender on an Army award. Any insight into this would be helpful before I offend an O-4 and find myself in administrative troubles right before a head home. Looking for an easy fix on this one, anyone?

Response by LTC Kevin B. made Mar 21 at 2022 11:19 AM

LTC Kevin B. — Mon, 21 Mar 2022 11:19:11 -0400

I would ask them what they're wanting to edit. If they're looking to make more grammatical and style changes to correct minor errors and to make it more readable, that's actually helpful. You wouldn't want any suboptimal writing to poorly reflect on the potential awardee. If they're wanting to change the actual content (i.e. the evidence justifying the award), I'd want to decide beforehand if they should make those changes. After all, it is your recommendation, so it should reflect your insight on why they should receive that level of award.

Response by LtCol Robert Quinter made Mar 21 at 2022 11:33 AM

LtCol Robert Quinter — Mon, 21 Mar 2022 11:33:08 -0400

Since your Navy O-4 is not the approval authority it could be as simple as she saw some things in your recommendations she feels she can make stronger by working with you. Hopefully, her recommended changes will be a result of consultation with you, but even if she does changes unilaterally, you will need to sign the recommendations and will have the opportunity to talk with her about any changes. My feeling is to let it run its course, work with her and then decide if you want to concur in her changes or go back to your originals after explaining any objections you might have to her thoughts. Who knows, you might learn something and you can always fall back on "the Army wants it done this way".

Response by Lt Col Jim Coe made Mar 21 at 2022 11:54 AM

Lt Col Jim Coe — Mon, 21 Mar 2022 11:54:45 -0400

It's time to practice some personal communication. Talk to the person wanting to edit the awards and find out why they want to edit your nominations. There may be good reasons and they might be helpful. Perhaps they have experience with awards boards or the senior person who can approve the awards.

I wrote lots of award recommendations in my time in service as an Air Force Officer and later as Army Civilian. Also, I sat on a MACOM civilian awards board as a DAC. I'll tell you that there are leaders out there who don't write well or don't understand the basic requirements for the awards for which they are nominating their employees. They could have used some help. The Board did send some nominations back for rewrite occasionally. I'm not saying that's you, but I always took all the help I could get.

Response by CAPT Kevin B. made Mar 21 at 2022 11:55 AM

CAPT Kevin B. — Mon, 21 Mar 2022 11:55:33 -0400

Navy doesn't award ARCOMs, but NCOMs. Typically there is a format, sequence, etc. to the writeups. And there may be Skipper guidance in the mix you might be unaware of. Good advice to go with the flow for now. Presumably you followed the Awards Manual. Skippers can typically sign off, BUT these are not participation trophies. There are numerical limits to what quantity can be awarded. If you're trying to get all your people an award, that should be a problem. The Army tends to be more into Fruit Salad (and patch) Mania than the other services.

Response by LTC Ray Buenteo made Mar 21 at 2022 11:59 AM

LTC Ray Buenteo — Mon, 21 Mar 2022 11:59:36 -0400

I have never changed an award recommendation made by a subordinate. Grammar and punctuation errors are the only exception. If she has an issue with one of your recommendations that constitutes a discussion to exchange information which supports your recommendations and her recommendations. When I was in the Air Force I had an award recommendation made for me downgraded simply because the award was determined to be excessive for my performance and but appropriate for a captain .

Response by SPC Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 21 at 2022 12:25 PM

SPC Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 21 Mar 2022 12:25:25 -0400

I have seen S1 kick back recommendations for mistakes or recommend the recommender change the bullets to be... Longer and "fluffed" so that it's stronger. Basically they want you to word smith it to their standard, which isn't an Army standard but rather an individual S1 shop standard or individual commander standard. So sometimes helpful sometimes total BS, depends on the unit.

I would suggest working with this LCDR and on your part use this as an opportunity to pick their brain on what changes they want to make and why they believe this will make the recommendation stronger. Might help you on future recommendations for your guys down the road. That said, a person who is not in the recommendation chain can not deny an award going forward and a recommending authority can't deny an award only recommend approval/disapproval/upgrade/downgrade to the approval authority.

At least they're letting you stick with Army awards, I knew some guys that got stationed with Air Force and Navy personnel and watching Army commanders and SNCO's tighten their fourth point of contact over their guys being awarded USAF and USN awards was interesting. Long story short, yes you can receive awards from other branches.

Response by SGM Bill Frazer made Mar 21 at 2022 1:14 PM

SGM Bill Frazer — Mon, 21 Mar 2022 13:14:25 -0400

Talk to them, but it is really out of their hands- it's an Army thing. I would invite them to come and talk- open the awards in front of them and ask what the problem is- let them talk point to point.

Response by MSG Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 21 at 2022 1:23 PM

MSG Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 21 Mar 2022 13:23:13 -0400

Just ask them what they see that should/could/needs to be edited.

Response by CSM Darieus ZaGara made Mar 22 at 2022 4:56 PM

CSM Darieus ZaGara — Tue, 22 Mar 2022 16:56:09 -0400

Sounds really simple, speak to her if you haven’t. Likely grammar or the like. Ask her to send you the recommended changes via email after the discussion.

Response by SFC Casey O'Mally made Mar 22 at 2022 9:11 PM

SFC Casey O'Mally — Tue, 22 Mar 2022 21:11:26 -0400

Sir, this is tangent to your question, but why not recommend for JSCOMs? Same qualification criteria, so anything eligible for an ARCOM SHOULD be eligible for a JSCOM. And for many Soldiers, an ARCOM will be an oak leaf added (or an oak leaf will be added later), whereas JSCOMs are rare, indeed.

As to the question at hand, if the person asking to edit is not able to sign, I see no problem with it. Save your original, let them edit, and then compare the two when it comes back to you for signature. If you are not happy with the changes, THEN you open that discussion and find out why the senior thought those changes were important.

At the end of the day, there are four ways this can go:
1) you send it up with the changes, everyone is happy
2) you disagree with the changes, put it back the way it was, sign it and send it.
3) you don't like the changes, and they won't let you change it back. Then you refuse to sign, and re-submit when you get back to home station.
4) As 3), but they find a different recommender who WILL sign their version and that person submits.

Remember, there is nothing saying that a recommender for an award has to be in the CoC. And nothing saying that you HAVE to submit a deployment award to the deployment CoC. These are common courtesies and expectations. But they are not actual rules.

Response by SP5 Peter Keane made Mar 23 at 2022 3:06 PM

SP5 Peter Keane — Wed, 23 Mar 2022 15:06:53 -0400

Wasn't the AAM created to strengthen the ARCOM ? It seems that awards for doing the job they are assigned is possibly a sticking point with a sister service as the command.

Response by SFC Dan Thomsen made Mar 24 at 2022 1:58 PM

SFC Dan Thomsen — Thu, 24 Mar 2022 13:58:32 -0400

I would recommend finding out what edit's need to be done and do them yourself if you deem them correct. I can say most of the time the S1 would receive awards and if we modified anything, it was returned with the original submission and the recommended edits and why we did this was discussed with the recommender. I know we had a significant issue at first with award submissions where mission names or duty location's more specific then just the country we're not allowed to be placed on the award for combat tours. Also sometimes the approval line of authority might change intermittently require changes on the award's second/third pages. But I didn't think that required unlocking anything from the recommender. One on One is needed to see if you feel this is justified. I can not see a reason you yourself cannot make the adjustments to anything if you want to make sure nothing is changed outside of your submission.