Question for my fellow SNCOs

[rero360]

I am currently facing an issue and not quite sure how to proceed.

Jan 2014, my platoon and I (just made PSG) were transferred to a different battalion, along with a few other platoons of guys of the same MOS from other battalions. Upon arriving to our new home they mixed up the platoons. Because we were in the field pretty much every month right from the get go, I didn't learn until 9 months later that no one in my new platoon had ever been awarded any longevity awards. So I built a spreadsheet with everyone's info and submitted it to the S1 for processing. I figured I don't know these guy's histories, so I didn't know if they did anything that would prevent them from earning any of the awards, and I don't have access to RCAS (?) to look up that information.

I'm coming up on 10 months with no resolution, the 1SG and CO has been made aware of it since May, the 1SG said that the Company as a whole hasn't processed any longevity awards in over two years, but that with the new Bn Co, that it would have a higher priority.

I've been in contact with the S1 roughly every other month about it, and a few times with the 1SG and CO. I had a soldier ETS who had 12 years in and never once received a single longevity award, he should have had 22 between state and federal. I'm going to get him his awards, even if I have to mail them to him myself.

My question for you all is this: What should I do next? I'm thinking of emailing the Bn CSM in a week or so, I last emailed the 1SG 4 days ago and have yet to get a reply, 12 days since I emailed the S1 and no reply. How long do I let it go, and how high do I go before I just go and make an IG complaint?

It's so frustrating, we demand these guys do three and four day drills almost every month, ATs longer than normal, commute one to three hours each way to the armory, with insanely early first formations and stupid late final formations, broken down equipment, next to no school slot openings. And we can't even do something as simple as give them awards that the have earned. I'm just M-Day (just go to drills and AT) so I don't have access to the systems and information needed to process these awards to send them up for signature from the CO, I'm a full time grad student so I don't have tons of time outside of drill weekends to pursue this on a regular basis, the whole thing just sucks.

[Spurholder]

I am currently facing an issue and not quite sure how to proceed.

Jan 2014, my platoon and I (just made PSG) were transferred to a different battalion, along with a few other platoons of guys of the same MOS from other battalions. Upon arriving to our new home they mixed up the platoons. Because we were in the field pretty much every month right from the get go, I didn't learn until 9 months later that no one in my new platoon had ever been awarded any longevity awards. So I built a spreadsheet with everyone's info and submitted it to the S1 for processing. I figured I don't know these guy's histories, so I didn't know if they did anything that would prevent them from earning any of the awards, and I don't have access to RCAS (?) to look up that information.

I'm coming up on 10 months with no resolution, the 1SG and CO has been made aware of it since May, the 1SG said that the Company as a whole hasn't processed any longevity awards in over two years, but that with the new Bn Co, that it would have a higher priority.

I've been in contact with the S1 roughly every other month about it, and a few times with the 1SG and CO. I had a soldier ETS who had 12 years in and never once received a single longevity award, he should have had 22 between state and federal. I'm going to get him his awards, even if I have to mail them to him myself.

My question for you all is this: What should I do next? I'm thinking of emailing the Bn CSM in a week or so, I last emailed the 1SG 4 days ago and have yet to get a reply, 12 days since I emailed the S1 and no reply. How long do I let it go, and how high do I go before I just go and make an IG complaint?

It's so frustrating, we demand these guys do three and four day drills almost every month, ATs longer than normal, commute one to three hours each way to the armory, with insanely early first formations and stupid late final formations, broken down equipment, next to no school slot openings. And we can't even do something as simple as give them awards that the have earned. I'm just M-Day (just go to drills and AT) so I don't have access to the systems and information needed to process these awards to send them up for signature from the CO, I'm a full time grad student so I don't have tons of time outside of drill weekends to pursue this on a regular basis, the whole thing just sucks.

Sorry deal. My initial impression is that your unit full-timers suck.

Longevity awards being Reserve Component Achievement Medals and the like? It's probably already being done - you just don't have the visibility. I recommend that you pull an Enlisted Record Brief (ERB) on every one of your soldiers and take a look at what they have (or don't have). If your unit clerk or BN PAC NCO won't do it due to METT-TC/his important CFC work or whatever, no problem. It's easy to pull by the individual directly from AKO. Your guys will probably find they've been awarded a lot of things that they didn't know about.

State awards are a different animal, as a Memorandum For Record with your entire platoon listed can be easily done, although I'm sure that this varies from state to state.

When it comes to other federal awards (from a simple AAM up through a MSM), it goes on an individual DA Form 638 and is submitted through the food chain. Become the Awards SME for your unit, and watch it pay off.

I recommend you sit down with the Readiness NCO and go over your concerns. He should be able to fix this without issue. If he can't, he either doesn't know how (which can be fixed) or doesn't want to fix it. Honestly, it sounds like the latter.

If your commander and 1SG don't have time to look into this - then you've got a bigger issue. You might want to print out GEN Milley's email to the force that hit inboxes worldwide yesterday for them to read.

I'd hold off on the IG until you fully engage your chain of command, to include your BN CSM.

Good luck.

[rero360]

Thanks brother, I've already looked at a few of their ERBs and they are almost completely blank. It's not an issue just with the CAARNG, when I moved here from NY I was missing easily half my awards and schools on my ERB.

The 1SG told me that because of state, Brigade and Battalion demands on OP Tempo, that they simply have been unable to process the awards for the last two years. I kind of understand seeing how we have been averaging 8 field drills (including AT) a year, with only three home station drill. All they care about is the damn score card, a CAARNG creation which tracks and only cares about OERs/NCOERs, weapons qual, SRP (medical, dental, legal, all that stuff), MOS-Q and the online training classes (Accident avoidance, SHARP, etc) everything else is secondary. So there I am, in the field on the hill with my personal computer and hot spot so Joe can do his online training, and filling out NCOERs until all hours of the morning. But still, I've given them tons of information, keeping it updated as well, and it keeps getting pushed back due to COMET inspections, Wild Fire Missions, and everything else under the sun that can be used as an excuse.

Doesn't help that my detachment is something like 6 hours away from the rest of HHB and we are extremely short staffed on full timers, at both locations.

[rero360]

I'm currently taking a VBA programming class for my masters, once I learn how, I plan on building a spreadsheet that will automatically update itself and tell you who has earned what awards each month, and how many of each type they should have at that point. Once I get it figured out, I'm going to get the info for the whole damn company and make it so this never happens again.