MY AWARDS or How to SCREW UP FUTURE COLLECTORS!

[BEAST]

Like many others, I was awarded a Meritorious Service Medal when I retired from the Air National Guard. My citation states that it was for my service in Iraq. Nothing about 23 years of service. Thing about is, I never served in Iraq! I was stationed at an air base south of there at an "undisclosed air base in Southwest Asia".This ought to screw up anyone who looks at my records in the future!

 

Here is my ribbon rack. Pretty boring compared others, especially those serving in harms way.

 

[JBFloyd]

I've received a Joint Meritorious Unit Citation for a unit I was never in. My Bronze Star citation from Vietnam had a canned citation that included several functions that I had never even seen (much less done), and did not include the fact that I'd controlled 10,000 aircraft in the year and been credited with saving three aircraft and 18 lives. And, I received an OER endorsement raving about my importance to a Detachment of our squadron -- a Detachment I had never been to (maybe my absence made them operate better).

[Brig]

the military is pretty screwed up with these thigns. for instance, my file says I rate 2 Iraqi Campaign medals (2 tours), but there are no additional awards authorized of this medal, you can't have more than 1!

 

On top of that, several ribbons never go through, much less ones that go through for wrong reasons. I'm yet to be awarded, and doubt I ever will, a Combat Action Ribbon for my first tour in Iraq where I did see some combat. But the MSG unit we're adjacent to now somehow got CARs awarded for a training exercise in a friendly country where there were no hostile personnel! They submitted the proper paperwork and had them revoked, good on them, but the fact remains that awards get screwed up

 

Awards don't make me any better at my job, so I don't sweat it too much, though it's kind of embarressing to be a combat deployed Infantryman without a CAR

[BEAST]

Glad to see I am not the only one!

 

This is one reason that I don't get too concerned if the documentation that I receive from NARA doesn't correspond exactly with the uniform that I am researching. How many vets actually bothered to fill out a DD-215 to correct their awards?

[JBFloyd]

I've only seen a handful of DD-215s in records packages over 30+ years. They're about as rare as retirement awards showing up with full documentation.

[CNY Militaria]

I have a grouping to a Korean War era NCO who needed to correct his records to state that he did in fact receive a purple heart for wounds received in country in order to get a job at the post office. Addituionaly, there are numerous letters requesting medals that he was "supposed" to have earned but for some reason or another they never came through. Ex: One time, while on an armored patrol, he dismounted a tank, and carried a wounded comrade back to friendly lines. Aparently, his PL said he would get a Bronze star for Valor for it, but was KIA a few days later. Additionally, (and I cannot substantiate this, although can scan his original letter and statement) he once was on a patrol, and noticed an enemy soldier. He chased him for a little while and then saw that he went into a tunnel. He "smoked them out" using the brush that was nearby, and over 100 enemies emerged, and he took them ALL prisoner. He never received an award for it. I don't know if he is full of it, or legitimately captured that many soldiers. I will scan his letters soon, as they are rather interesting reads.

 

Justin

[Jason G]

Typical. I was with the 24th MEU (SOC) during the late unpleasantness in Kosovo in 99. Let me tell you, the awards poured in after that one. For about 2 months doing gator squares in the Adriatic, and other sundry and various mundane tasks which included very little in the way of 'boots on the ground', we were awarded the JMUC, NUC, HSM, KCM, NATO Kosovo Medal. Somehow or other, my records reflect a 2nd award of the NUC for the same op! Last inspection I had at HQMC, I got reamed because I wasn't wearing the thing, and my SSgt, an admin type who had deployed exactly....NEVER, told me to wear the star because "S-1 doesn't make mistakes like that". It was all I could do not to laugh maniacally in his face. No doubt I giggled like a schoolgirl tho...but the NUC on my ribbon bar now proudly sports a star.

 

Conversely, I was at the Pentagon on 9/11, and don't rate a thing. Go figure.

[Brig]

I've stopped trying to figure

[BEAST]

Thanks to everyone for posting their "war stories". One of the reasons I started this thread was to show collector's, especially those who haven't dealt with the government, that records don't always match reality.

 

Too often I have received a uniform from the vet (or family) and the awards don't match 100% with the NARA records. After dealing with my own personal records, I am comfortable in giving some leeway in a uniform's awards versus its official records.

[Guest Chris]

When you go to sign your discharge and you review your dd-214 do not sign anything until they make your dd-214 right. After you refuse to sign it and refuse to leave their office until it is fixed you will see that they will give you just about any award just to get you out of there.

 

Chris

[JBFloyd]

A big step in a collector's life is the realization that there can be a substantial difference between the way it should be and the way it is.

[Brig]

When you go to sign your discharge and you review your dd-214 do not sign anything until they make your dd-214 right. After you refuse to sign it and refuse to leave their office until it is fixed you will see that they will give you just about any award just to get you out of there.

 

Chris

 

I see this working for unit and campaign awards up to a CAR, but not valor awards. and anyone who'd try to get a valor award this way should be shot

[Guest Chris]

I didn't have any valor awards or try to get any. When I was in it was hard enough to get campaign ribbons let alone valor awards.

 

Chris

[Brig]

I wasn't accusing you, I was just making a general statement

[Dave]

A big step in a collector's life is the realization that there can be a substantial difference between the way it should be and the way it is.

 

Amen to that... I have had two coworkers nominated for Bronze Stars (one a Navy Arabic translator and the other a Marine infantry MSGT who spent 10 months in Fallujah as a Company Gunny...) and neither of them have heard hide nor hair of their awards. In the case of the Gunny/MSGT, his relief, who spent exactly one week in combat and then took the company back to Okinawa received the same award within two months of returning to Okinawa. My MSGT was still waiting on his over a year later...

 

I once wrote up an award for one of my guys, but it was turned down because the citation wasn't for something that happened while we were in that particular theater. So, I re-wrote his citation using what I had personally done while in theater for HIS citation, and he got the award. What did I get from it? Absolutely nothing but the happy feeling of knowing I did the right thing for one of my guys. Ironically, my end of tour award was only half correct - the other 50% of the citation was for something that one of my subordinates had done which I never had a part in. Go figure.

 

Two years later, I was written up for an award and it was turned down. Six months later, our "big" boss was with us at an awards board and commented that he noticed that very few of us had received awards in the past year. In order to remedy this, he told us, he wanted all of us to write up citations for medals for EVERY officer in the unit that had served in theater..........except (he noted, looking directly at me) those officers that were leaving the command shortly after we returned to the US....which, incidentally included only myself and one other officer out of the 30 at the command.

 

Go figure.

 

I think some collectors spend WAY too much time trying to make sense of the politics of the military, when the ability to do that even surpasses those who are in the situation and know all the aspects of the events at hand.

 

Dave

[Jason G]

Dave, Amen to that, and to all the others who've posted. Most Marines I know barely knew what they 'rated' unless they were specifically told to 'pin this on now'. That is not to say they didn't care, but they didn't really check.

 

As far as standing in the Admin office refusing to sign the DD214, while that sounds good on the face of it, (and I actually kicked mine back for something non awards related and it worked...) most Marines/soldiers/etc aren't that worked up about their awards in most cases, and don't care what that block says...they just want to get OUT of there, and aren't interested in: A: Pissing off the Admin people, and the Admin OIC, who could certainly 'lose' other important pieces of paper, and B: Having to wait around any longer than needed, since signing the DD214 is about the last thing you do before you finally 'check out' and head to 1stCivDiv.

 

Just my observations on that issue. I tend to err on the side of the vet who is wearing the stuff if it's WWII era, unless their is some sort of major glaring discrepancy. Even then.....

 

This is a good topic!

[Guest Ulstrman]

the military is pretty screwed up with these thigns. for instance, my file says I rate 2 Iraqi Campaign medals (2 tours), but there are no additional awards authorized of this medal, you can't have more than 1!

 

On top of that, several ribbons never go through, much less ones that go through for wrong reasons. I'm yet to be awarded, and doubt I ever will, a Combat Action Ribbon for my first tour in Iraq where I did see some combat. But the MSG unit we're adjacent to now somehow got CARs awarded for a training exercise in a friendly country where there were no hostile personnel! They submitted the proper paperwork and had them revoked, good on them, but the fact remains that awards get screwed up

 

Awards don't make me any better at my job, so I don't sweat it too much, though it's kind of embarressing to be a combat deployed Infantryman without a CAR

 

Brig:

I totally understand. Send me a private email and maybe I can help.