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Awards O sea stories

Hair Warrior

Well-Known Member
Contributor
Anyone have any sea stories from their time as Awards O (or a bystander) they can share? Good/ bad/ ugly anecdotes? Sailors who were upset that they didn't receive a XYZCOM as their end-of-tour award? Aviators missing out on an Air Medal by only a couple sorties? Stolen valor? Paperwork mix-ups or other crazy stuff? @mad dog still wanting a NAM?
 

Yardstick

Is The Bottle Ready?!
pilot
Anyone have any sea stories from their time as Awards O (or a bystander) they can share? Good/ bad/ ugly anecdotes? Sailors who were upset that they didn't receive a XYZCOM as their end-of-tour award? Aviators missing out on an Air Medal by only a couple sorties? Stolen valor? Paperwork mix-ups or other crazy stuff? @mad dog still wanting a NAM?

No, it’s a totally made up bs job that should be done by the admin Ldo (if your squadron is fortunate to have the manning to support an admin ldo)
 

nittany03

Recovering NFO. Herder of Programmers.
pilot
None
Super Moderator
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Anyone have any sea stories from their time as Awards O (or a bystander) they can share? Good/ bad/ ugly anecdotes? Sailors who were upset that they didn't receive a XYZCOM as their end-of-tour award? Aviators missing out on an Air Medal by only a couple sorties? Stolen valor? Paperwork mix-ups or other crazy stuff? @mad dog still wanting a NAM?
If an aviator is getting excessively butthurt over missing a Strike/Flight Air Medal, they're probably a prima donna. I have a nice letter in my files saying I'm a few sorties short of one, and it hasn't impacted my career progression for good or bad one whit compared to all the other factors involved.
No, it’s a totally made up bs job that should be done by the admin Ldo (if your squadron is fortunate to have the manning to support an admin ldo)
Or the PERSO if you don't.
 

Hair Warrior

Well-Known Member
Contributor
No, it’s a totally made up bs job that should be done by the admin Ldo (if your squadron is fortunate to have the manning to support an admin ldo)
Our reserve unit has an Admin DH (LT) who isn't an LDO and seems truly busy.
 
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nittany03

Recovering NFO. Herder of Programmers.
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Our reserve unit has an Admin DH who isn't an LDO and seems truly busy.
Depends on the size of your unit [archer_phrasing.jpg]. You're asking a bunch of aviators. In a squadron, you usually have one or two winged people running Admin. An LDO might be involved in single-seat Hornet land, but they can speak to that better than me. By "running Admin," I mean AO and PERSO duties; the real HR paper-pushing. Legal and ESO/PAO will fall here too, and usually get given to first-tour FNGs. I've never heard of an Awards O, at least in the TACAIR realm. That's a collateral responsibility of the PERSO, AO, or similar. Speaking from SELRES land, in my unit, Admin is generally where the outgoing OPSO gets parked post-high-water-FITREP to cool down after their year in the barrel. But we're just a lowly Echelon VI command . . .

That said, if you're in a SELRES unit who is taking their awards program seriously, and have an active unit who will do likewise, good on all of you. This ball gets dropped way too often, either by the reservists themselves, or an AC unit who thinks "those damn weekend warriors don't rate NAMs/COMs/MSMs."
 
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Hair Warrior

Well-Known Member
Contributor
Roger. Understand the gouge/anecdotes from squadrons may not be apples to apples, but I'm still interested to hear about other parts of the Navy that I don't have the opportunity to directly observe.

The SELRES has much administrivia - or so I've been told by LCDRs coming to SELRES off AD. Admin O (PERSO) is a DH job in my SELRES unit, and the paperwork required to keep the trains running on time is way more than 16 hours a month. So, where possible, other Admin-y duties are delegated by our Skipper to JOs (first tour FNGs like me): Awards O, Safety O, RESPAY O, Muster O, CMEO, UPC, etc. Our Training O is actually a CDR. Awards aren't a huge lift every drill weekend, but the nomination/review process for them is apparently a big paperwork drill for the Awards O during crunch time.

I'm still learning the difference between a NAVCOM and a NAM, and what's the right criteria for each, let alone all the other possible ribbons and medals that are out there. (I've read the SECNAVINST but it doesn't give real world insights that experienced fleet O's have.)
 
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exNavyOffRec

Well-Known Member
At some point awards will get lost, and in my opinion it is the junior guys this really affects, either point toward their advancement cutoff or just the knowledge that people do realize they have worked hard.

I think the worst I ever saw was when no one in our department received an award from the cruise we just came off, the awards were written and sent up but became lost after they left our department, they were eventually found, but it was months later and the DH was told it was too late.
 

nittany03

Recovering NFO. Herder of Programmers.
pilot
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Roger. Understand that the gouge/anecdotes from squadrons may not be apples to apples, but I'm still interested to hear about other parts of the Navy that I don't have the opportunity to directly observe.

The SELRES has much administrivia - or so I've been told by LCDRs coming to SELRES off AD. Admin O (PERSO) is a DH job in my SELRES unit, and the paperwork required to keep the trains running on time is way more than 16 hours a month. So, where possible, other Admin-y duties are delegated by our Skipper to several JOs (first tour FNGs like me): Awards O, Safety O, RESPAY O, Muster O, CMEO, UPC, etc. Our Training O is actually a CDR, but YMMV. Awards aren't a huge lift every drill weekend, but the nomination/review process for them is apparently a big paperwork drill for the Awards O during crunch time.

I'm still learning the difference between a NAVCOM and a NAM, and what's the right criteria for each, let alone all the other possible ribbons and medals that are out there. (I've read the SECNAVINST but it doesn't give real world insights that experienced fleet O's have.)
Some people get butthurt tying awards to ranks, but it's a thing. Generally as follows.
NAM = E-6 to E-7 or O-1 to O-3. Exceptions on the E side for an impact award for outstanding performance. I once got one of my E-5s a spot NAM. On the flight deck, on a black-ass night, standing five feet and not much more, she stopped a clueless helo E-3 from walking too close to a turning Prowler intake via a flying tackle. I wish I'd have been there to see it, but I'm told it was impressive. The Safety O wanted to put her in for "Safety Pro of the Month," but I circular-filed that shit, wrote up a 1650, and got it approved. NAM approving authority is generally any O-5 or above CO of the AC and SELRES hardware squadron COs.

NCM = E-7 to E-8 or O-4. I've seen shoe O-3s walking around with them, but hey . . . they're shoes. Approving authority is generally the CO's boss, and usually an O-6 of some variety.

MSM = this is what the CMC and CO get as EOT awards; that's all an Ensign really needs to worry about. Let alone anything higher. On the reserve side, note that many (most) reserve units are not commissioned units. This means the CO doesn't get NJP authority, doesn't wear the sheriff's badge, and can't award decorations. Thus, they go to the gaining active CO. So you need to know the timeframe it takes to chop an award through your SELRES unit AND the timeframe it takes to get it approved on the active side. Plan for a month when a NAM hits the AC's inbox initially. Add a month for every layer in the COC for an NCM or MSM.

Spot awards are generally less likely to be seen the more senior you get.

More junior Sailors who don't rate impact NAMs generally get a CO's Letter of Commendation. They don't get advancement points for that, but it beats giving them nothing.

Oh, and when it comes to advancement points, one of the reasons NAMs get handed out like candy is because they get the Sailor 2 points and can get approved by an O-5. Flag letters of commendation are a thing. But see my above comment about layers of bureaucracy . . . a FLOC is approved by an O-7 and only gets a Sailor one point. Why bother if you're not serving on a flag staff?
 

Hair Warrior

Well-Known Member
Contributor
Check. Let me make sure I understand correctly: one of the main reasons to give out awards to deserving E’s (other than to genuinely thank them for their hard work) is a points system that moves them closer toward advancement to the next rank up?
 

nittany03

Recovering NFO. Herder of Programmers.
pilot
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Check. Let me make sure I understand correctly: one of the main reasons to give out awards to deserving E’s (other than to genuinely thank them for their hard work) is a points system that moves them closer toward advancement to the next rank up?
Yes. Generally anyone not bucking for Chief uses the same advancement formula which involves points, exam scores, and their eval GPA. Have your ESO, SEL, or Admin O show it to you next DWE. E-6s have to pass the Chief exam and the Chief's board, which is similar to an O promotion board. This is why junior enlisted eval writeups don't have to be much, but E-6 writeups should fill the space. The Chief's board looks back 5 years (haven't sat one, but that's what I've been taught). So if someone's within 5 years of bucking for Chief, their future briefer needs to have enough material to annotate their record in the tank.

You can probably do a search here for what the promotion board/tank process is.
 

Uncle Fester

Robot Pimp
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Super Moderator
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As a junior Shoe, I’d just been moved from being First Lt to AdminO on my FFG while on a counter-drug cruise. I’d written up one of my coxswains for a NCM for doing an outstanding job landing and then bringing off a boarding team during a nasty night at sea. The Coastie in charge of the LEDET said it was some of the best small-boat handling he’d seen in his career.

Anyway, one day the XO calls me up to his stateroom and in the same breath tells me he’s 1) rejecting the BM2’s Comm because “we don’t give out medals just for doing your job,” and 2) to contact DESRON and see how the Captain’s EOT award paperwork is coming along.

The same CO, by the way, had been on the verge of being relieved for cause twice in the preceding six months.
 

Gatordev

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pilot
Site Admin
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a FLOC is approved by an O-7 and only gets a Sailor one point. Why bother if you're not serving on a flag staff?

Because the answer you gave. It's a chance to recognize a junior Sailor that won't get a NAM but makes the paper worth slightly more than toilet paper on a frigate.

It's a common tactic for independent deployers, be it on a ship or on a detachment, because otherwise it's tough to reward Sailors with something after months of hard work.
 
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