Hunter to Army; Did you award soldiers properly?
Joe Gould at Army Times sends us a link to his article about a possible discrepancy in the awards they’ve given soldiers. It seems that the data base the government was creating to prevent stolen valor for us, also included people who didn’t know they’d been awarded Silver Stars for their service in the recent wars. Former Marine, Congressman Duncan Hunter is asking tough questions of the Army Secretary;
At least one of the nine, a retired Special Forces master sergeant, said that if he and two others were approved for the Silver Star, they were never told. Ronnie Raikes told Army Times he was badly wounded while on a team that in late 2001 infiltrated southern Afghanistan and protected Hamid Karzai, then a little known statesman hunted by the Taliban and now the country’s president.
Raikes said he and two others from the 11-member Operational Detachment Alpha 574 received the Bronze Star in 2002 for their actions. The team left Afghanistan after a friendly fire bomb attack that killed three soldiers and wounded Raikes and several others, as reported in the book, “The Only Thing Worth Dying For.”
“If we did receive the Silver Star, it would be significant to me because it says the Army is doing right by us,” said Raikes, 50, of Clarksville, Tenn. “We worked our asses off, and we didn’t know then that Hamid Karzai would be president.”
So, they had been awarded Bronze Stars that appear to have been upgraded by the Army and many of the soldiers didn’t know about it.
“It’s understandable that there were lapses in the system during World War II, though unconscionable, because that was not the age of technology we live in today,” [Doug] Sterner said. “Why give awards if you don’t keep track of them?”
And that’s the whole reason that Doug has been pushing for this database, curbing stolen valor being a secondary benefit.
Category: Big Army, Real Soldiers
“Why give awards if you don’t keep track of them?” Because when a bureaucrat (even a uniformed one) has done the minimum required, the job is done. It’s paperwork and numbers, not people that matter. It’s that old disconnect between Billie or Billy Bureacrat’s cubicle and the world.
I mean Jeez-the guy lives in Clarksville. Send someone from post to his house and invite him to a ceremony in his honor where he gets the award. Make it right!
Note to non-Army guys: @2 is referring to the fact that Clarksville, TN is a stone’s throw from the 101st at Fort Campbell, KY.
I suppose I should probably work to get my ARCOM and AAM in my record. They went through all of the trouble to get them approved, but never actually put them in. Given how rarely our unit bothers with awards at all (I think my company processed less than half a dozen during my two years as admin guy), you’d think they would go that last step…
As screwed up as military awards in general are, this surprises me not at all. We found out years after returning from Afghanistan that we’d acquired a Meritorious Unit Commendation.
Not at all surprising. Buddy of mine was awarded the CIB and while he has pictures of the ceremony, no orders. When I left Company Command decades ago, my award was going to be mailed to me. Not that in Germany we were on three year rotations or I had orders 120 days out or anything. I’m sure you are shocked that that award still hasn’t shown up.
2-17 AirCav, Yep and plenty of SF there too if they want to keep it “in house:,
Sig-the unit I was in from 2009-10 was put in for a MUC. There is a spreadsheet somewhere online (maybe through HRCs website) where you can see the status of awards like that. I looked at it some time ago and it was awaiting action (or some such one shop-eze). We’ll probably never see it.
“NOW HEAR THIS, muster all hands on the fantail for Awards Ceremony.”
Poor leadership is the problem. Period.
#7, Here’s the link to recently and previously approved Unit awards at the HRC website. CAC login or AKO username and password required.
https://www.hrc.army.mil/TAGD/Unit%20Awards
Sig, When my unit was awarded the VUA from our first deployment we knew about it right away. When we recieved a MUC for our second deployment I didn’t find out about it until 2 years after I had PCS’d.
@5/Al T -You should do some digging and find out where your award is. You earned it.
Scubasteve-thanks. DAGO Pending. Who knows if it’ll ever go through.
A buddy of mine from basic training is a 1st Sgt. now and just informed me and another friend that our unit was awarded some citation for actions in Desert Storm….and he only just found out about it a couple of months ago, from Afghanistan!!
#13, The DAGO is the Department of the Army General Order, which is posted for historical purposes. If the DAGO is pending, the award is already approved; check in with your MPD and update your records, you can wear it. If you need further proof, let me know and I’ll see if I can dig up the ALARACT or message.
Scubasteve-thanks for that. Since I didn’t see a permanent order number, I figured it was still being processed. It’s been 2 1/2 years since the end of our mission, so I figured it was lost in the sauce. I am going to e-mail the guys at the one shop at that unit and see if they know what is going on with it. We had a GO commander who is the state A-TAG today, so maybe he can push it.
A task passed-along is a task completed, screw whether anything got accomplished… the old disconnect between bureaucrats and the world is right.
Wow, I knew the National Guard lost lots of paperwork and awards, but I didn’t think the “Big Army” did shit like that….
Lost two PCS awards due to apathetic admin. Still trying to get last one from 10 months ago. Called IG, negative response. Unit is doing third letter of lateness instead of award. It’s not about the soldier anymore.
THE ARMY CLAIMS NOT TO HAVE A PROBLEM WITH AWARDING THE BRONZE STAR BUT THE TRUTH IS THAT THIS AWARD IS FOR COMBAT ‘PERIOD’. THEY REFUSE TO ACCEPT THAT MERITORIOUS SERVICE OR ACHIEVEMENT IS FOR COMBAT REASONS ONLY WHILE ACTUALLY ENGAGING THE ENEMY. THERE IS A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AN ARMY COMMENDATION MEDAL!! THE ARMY COMMENDATION MEDAL CAN BE AWARD IN A COMBAT ZONE FOR DOING A GOOD JOB BUT AN ACTUAL ENGAGEMENT WITH THE ENEMY PUTS ‘YOUR LIFE IN DIRECT RISK’! JUST BEING IN A COMBAT ZONE DOES NOT POSE THE SAME RISK!
SSG Michael Cox@20, you may want to check that caps lock key.
Caps lock, UNLEASH THE RAGE.
Thank you for your comments about the cap lock.This is a very important thing and I will be on my toes to correct it now and in the future for all humanity ! I didn’t try to be funny but only wanted to show that I’m fed up with those that abuse this award in awarding it for non-combat reasons ! The way they have been awarding this award of the Bronze Star over the years is not proper and soldiers active or retired should express their opinions to see if we all fell the same way about awarding this decoration. If you think this is Rage than the Rage has been there for years for not placing value on the lives of soldiers who actually risk their lives in combat. Not to be valued by the very army that you serve is an insult to the value you hold in yourself and other lives of the soldiers around you.
How do you get that Cold War Victory award again? I lost my gedunk medal in moving over the past 488,000 years, so how would I get that back?
Thank you.
This is TAH and you are going to get some ribbing. The award has been abused and it pisses me off too. Soldiers that never leave the wire are getting the BSM for just doing their jobs and because they are a certain rank. At the same time my Squad Leaders who where outside the wire every day that I put in for the award had theirs downgraded. Personaly I feel that I didn’t deserve mine. I feel that I did more to earn my ARCOM for my 05-06 tour than I did for my BSM for my 08-09 tour.
The only way the abuse of the Bronze Star Medal can be stopped is another ‘Executive Order’making it impossible to award it for non-combat related meritorious service or achievement!!! There is Meritorious Service or achievement in combat that doesn’t require an award of a v-device.The Army Commendation with a v-device is a joke because the Army Commendation Medal itself was never meant to be a combat award.We in the Infantry call it for what it is–‘The Green Wee-nee’Most combat awards that were created only have our national colors in them to denote they are for combat only except the Purple Heart.
The C.M.H. is the other award that doesn’t have our national colors in it. Its called ‘The Coffin with Metal Handles’.