Should award submissions be blind to rank?

2014-01-31T20:58:21-05:00

When writing and submitting awards, we've all heard the "your not such and such rank," so do you think the Army should do away with submitting awards with the soldiers rank and have them reviewed by a separate review board to determine if the bullets written correctly justify the award recommended?

Response by SGT(P) Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 31 at 2014 9:02 PM

2014-01-31T21:02:17-05:00

I personally feel that if the Army is allowing and wanting to be fair across the board, that there should be a central review board to review awards submitted and base the decision of the bullets written. This in my opinion would take the personal feelings and thoughts out of the judgement, and leave the responsibility to the recommender to evaluate what is the proper deserved award.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 31 at 2014 9:04 PM

2014-01-31T21:04:25-05:00

a separate review board?.. so the orderly room loses it, bn loses it, review board loses it, cdr who is signing it loses it... its just another opportunity to lose it. Maybe if it was for Certain awards during certain times yeah, but overall having another place to lose it will cause more drama i think. Ether that or CDR's stop thinking they are god and actually adhere to the 600-8-22 and stop being so uppity about making sure their buddys get a nice start to their ribbon rack. But that's been an ongoing issue for some time now...

Response by SrA Daniel Hunter made Jan 31 at 2014 9:18 PM

2014-01-31T21:18:58-05:00

I cannot speak for the Army, however it does sound like the system is very similar to the Air Force. Some awards are just not given to junior Enlisted. I had a similar experience while I was in. I was recommended for an Achievement Medal and received a Commendation Medal. The biggest difference between the two for Airmen is the Achievement Medal gives them an extra dec. point when testing for SSGT. What I heard was, had the recommendation been written better my chances would have improved. My suggestion is to incorporate numbers when ever you can (e.g. PFC Jones increased unit efficiency by 110% by implementing a new method, of his own design).

Response by SSG Christopher Freeman made Jan 31 at 2014 9:43 PM

2014-01-31T21:43:55-05:00

I think this could be an option that could work, however it would require a complete overhaul of the Army awards program. If there was a tracker implemented into the progress of the digital form, it would get rid of the losing it possibility.

Response by SSG Clarence Moore made Feb 18 at 2015 1:35 AM

2015-02-18T01:35:11-05:00

What's even worst is awarding SMs by rank. In 2003 I personally seen tank commanders that never fired a round from there tank get Bronze stars with Valor device. Meanwhile, Gunners and below were not allowed to get anything higher than a ARCOM with Valor Device. I can say that my Tank Commander earned his when so many didn't but why is it that not the entire crew was awarded the same award. We fought all night on OBJ Peach in 2003 and anyone that was there credits our tank with the lions share of enemy soldier kills out of the 350+ killed. Not to mention that we killed 2 enemy tanks with one round but we only got arcoms since we were not tank commanders? The pic above is what the two tanks with a single round looks like through thermal sites!