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NEWS Seahawks Sink Houthi Boats

Hotdogs

I donā€™t care if I hurt your feelings
pilot
Why?

If the missile is targeted at the ship (which can take a little figuring out after the fact), everybody is under fire.

Ridicule on what basis? Being shot at with a weapon that could result in significant number of casualties on the platform? If people in a HMMWV get shot at with an RPG and they return fire, would they rate a ridicule-free CAR?

I don't really know how I feel about this, either way. But for the record, real GQ due to hostile fire, is not super normal. As in nobody was probably "chilling" like they would be during a GQ drill. Don't get me wrong, I love to hate on boat donkeys too, but this might not be the best example of whatever the Marines want to hate about.

An entire ship getting a CAR is a ridiculous notion. Yes, I realize it has been done before. Everyone on this forum (with boat time) knows a significant number of personnel were doing jack and shit during that engagement, regardless if they were at GQ (Yes, Iā€™ve seen it). Meanwhile your service brethren are getting PH for getting struck by IDF but donā€™t rate a CAR or CIB/CAB because they simply didnā€™t pick up a rifle and fire a round in an engagement during (Insert OIR, OEF, OIF XX.X).

A key criterion in the award is satisfactory performance and active participation (Appendix 2C.1) Navy and Marine Corps Award Manual

Not a single one of you guys here can say with a straight face all ships company were active participants. However, I realize this is a cultural gap with ships and lack of recognition for a specific event. Throw in a little awards inflation, poor SWO morale, and everyone gets a trophy mentality - Not surprised. Willing to hear counter-arguments, but no one is going to change my mind on this so we can agree to disagree. I hope the HSM bubbas got AMs out of it.
 

jollygreen07

Professional (?) Flight Instructor
pilot
Contributor
Iā€™ve only seen it from the CVN standpoint but to successfully engage a target, there are a ton of moving parts, each with a sailor (or whole shop) that have to work right the first time. Are the guys in aft steering doing anything? No, but for the most part nearly every person on the boat is either pushing the buttons or supporting those that are in some way.

Most importantly, though I think the big difference is that if the boat donkeys donā€™t perform well, and a vamp gets through and hits the boat EVERYONE is going to have a bad time.
 

Griz882

Frightening children with the Griz-O-Copter!
pilot
Contributor
Curious how you would define that on a ship. Is it just the people engaged in specific functions (driving the ship, fire control, etc.) or is it anyone at their workstation at the time? Once you define it how would you validate it? Or do you just say this is too hard no one gets anything?
This is the thing. After ODS no fewer than 46 USN ships (entire crew) were awarded the CAR by the SecNav as were some members of HM-14 and a Det of VC-6. In the end, if the decoration is awarded by competent authority then slap it onā€¦there will always be some other hero who thinks you donā€™t deserve it.
 

Uncle Fester

Robot Pimp
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
Well please make sure you let them know of your disapproval. I mean, the entire DoN does hang their self-esteem on whether some devil dogs consider them sufficiently badass.

Jesus, some of yā€™all talk like nobody rates anything unless you were bayonet-charging machine gun nests on Iwo Jima. The ship took hostile fire, the Secretary decided the crew rated the ribbon, and nobody thinks a CAR is a Navy Cross or whatever. Calm down.
 

sevenhelmet

Low calorie attack from the Heartland
pilot
FFS. BZ to the ship and the helicopter crews for upholding the Navyā€™s mission of freedom of navigation. Iā€™m amazed how many of you guys are fixated on ribbons. Put me in the ā€œwho caresā€ category.

Awards boards with everyone moaning about ā€œawards inflationā€ and how ā€œsailor X was just doing his jobā€ and doesnā€™t rate a NAM are something Iā€™m glad to have in the rear view mirror. Congrats on your fucking salad bar. My friends, memories, and even my unit/morale patches mean way more to me than award citations.

Now this is interestingā€¦ Hamas terrorist leader taken out, but the actor isnā€™t clearly stated in the article. Why wouldnā€™t someone take credit?

 

Hotdogs

I donā€™t care if I hurt your feelings
pilot
Iā€™ve only seen it from the CVN standpoint but to successfully engage a target, there are a ton of moving parts, each with a sailor (or whole shop) that have to work right the first time. Are the guys in aft steering doing anything? No, but for the most part nearly every person on the boat is either pushing the buttons or supporting those that are in some way.

Most importantly, though I think the big difference is that if the boat donkeys donā€™t perform well, and a vamp gets through and hits the boat EVERYONE is going to have a bad time.

You might consider recognition in another way - PUC/NUC + NC/NAMs with Combat Vs for key personnel, or whatever battlestreamers are relevant to ships. The carte blanc ā€œCARs for everyone including the augment CS taxes stealing oxygenā€¦ā€ cheapens the hell out of a CAR (Iā€™m not saying CS rates donā€™t matter, for all of you about to tip in).

Well please make sure you let them know of your disapproval. I mean, the entire DoN does hang their self-esteem on whether some devil dogs consider them sufficiently badass.

Jesus, some of yā€™all talk like unless you were bayonet-charging machine gun nests on Iwo Jima, nobody rates anything. They took hostile fire, the Secretary decided they rated the ribbon, and nobody thinks a CAR is a Navy Cross or whatever. Calm down.

Whoā€™s not calm? Itā€™s a different culture, and awards actually have a lot of significance in the Marines. Itā€™s not just a piece of cloth and metal you toss on your uniform to us. I have other gripes with the Navy/USMC awards process, but this isnā€™t one of them.

Jokes on all of you, Iā€™m actually just here to get all of AWs to start defending SWOs. Moving on, unless anyone else wants to throw some heaters my way.
 

insanebikerboy

Internet killed the television star
pilot
None
Contributor
I hope the HSM bubbas got AMs out of it.
I recall reading somewhere on here that the DFC was a typical award for an air to air kill.

I agree on the AM, but since this was the first ever actual hellfire engagement (I think), I could see someone arguing for the DFC.


Awards boards with everyone moaning about ā€œawards inflationā€

You wanna see awards inflation, come take a look at Air Force awards. My first award I wrote I recommended an AF achievement medal for a first tour O-3 about to PCS. The squadron commander came and gave me a long talk about it.

No exaggeration, the size of my ribbon rack doubled when I swapped over just because I existed and therefore qualified for a bunch of AF awards.
 

ChuckMK23

FERS and TSP contributor!
pilot
I recall reading somewhere on here that the DFC was a typical award for an air to air kill.

I agree on the AM, but since this was the first ever actual hellfire engagement (I think), I could see someone arguing for the DFC.




You wanna see awards inflation, come take a look at Air Force awards. My first award I wrote I recommended an AF achievement medal for a first tour O-3 about to PCS. The squadron commander came and gave me a long talk about it.

No exaggeration, the size of my ribbon rack doubled when I swapped over just because I existed and therefore qualified for a bunch of AF awards.
+1 on this - I write awards for our reservists and see it everyday. That and for AF pilots, Reserve and AD, O-5 is almost an entitlement. Its a rarity to see a rated aircrew without an Air Medal.
 

Flash

SEVAL/ECMO
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
An entire ship getting a CAR is a ridiculous notion. Yes, I realize it has been done before....Not a single one of you guys here can say with a straight face all ships company were active participants. However, I realize this is a cultural gap with ships and lack of recognition for a specific event. Throw in a little awards inflation, poor SWO morale, and everyone gets a trophy mentality - Not surprised. Willing to hear counter-arguments, but no one is going to change my mind on this so we can agree to disagree. I hope the HSM bubbas got AMs out of it.

There is no awards inflation with the CAR, it was awarded in line with how it has been awarded since it was established. As other folks have already alluded to, bases can't sink. As much as I, like many here, like to rag on SWO's they have been doing a pretty damn good job in the Red Sea the last few weeks, even if they aren't facing a 'near peer'.

From personal experience I've known plenty of folks who have gotten CAR's, CAB's, CAM's and even CIB's from every service (yes Virginia, even Marines) that did very little compared to some of their peers who earned the exact same award. As someone already pointed out, same with the Purple Heart as well. It is what it is, life ain't fair.
 
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Hotdogs

I donā€™t care if I hurt your feelings
pilot
There is no awards inflation with the CAR, it was awarded in line with how it has been awarded since it was established. As other folks have already alluded to, bases can't sink. As much as I, like many here, like to rag on SWO's they have been doing a pretty damn good job in the Red Sea the last few weeks, even if they aren't facing a 'near peer'.

From personal experience I've known plenty of folks who have gotten CAR's, CAB's, CAM's and even CIB's from every service (yes Virginia, even Marines) that did very little compared to some of their peers who earned the exact same award. As someone already pointed out, same with the Purple Heart as well. It is what it is, life ain't fair.

Flash, Okay. First the CAR is an individual award and outright awarding an entire unit is absurd (Awards manual states as such). It always has beenā€¦ Secondly, using the ā€œthatā€™s how weā€™ve always done itā€ excuse is intellectually lazy. We can disagree, but you gotta have better material than that brother.

To your last point, I have yet to see a Marine awarded that ribbon who wasnā€™t at least directly engaged in a combat scenario. We can debate impact and effectiveness. Yes, I understand there is a difference between conducting a breach through a door in urban combat or complex IED ambush vice simply returning fire against a lone shoot and run marksmen. That has always been the case, but it doesnā€™t make awarding the N1 personnel on a ship with a CAR any less ridiculous. Both can be true at the same time. I understand your (and others) point of view, but I simply disagree.

HSM getting DFCs for a HF strike? Those boys and gals deserve recognition, Iā€™m just not sure itā€™s DFC-level material. I could probably go either way on that one, but more context on the situation is needed.
 

Griz882

Frightening children with the Griz-O-Copter!
pilot
Contributor
Ward says the shots were fired from a single HSM-74 Romeo. A Sierra from HSC-7 was dispatched but didnā€™t arrive on time to join the fight.

 
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