A Brief Guide To The Granting Of Decorations At some point in your career with the UNMC you may well be involved, either as a witness, a proposer, or as the recipiant of a Decoration, and so its a good idea to have some grasp of how the decision is made to what awards are granted and when. At the end of operations, it is customary for the commanding officer to take reccomendations for awards for any actions or services that are deemed to be above and beyond the call of duty, meaning actions that others performing the same duty consider exceptional, outstanding or distinguished. These recommendations are then studied and a decision reached as to firstly "if" an award should be made, and then secondly, which one of the 17 available decorations (18 for the UK and Commonwealth), is to be granted. Unlike other awards Decorations are NEVER granted automatically like the majority of Service Medals, nor can you claim one on your own behalf. They are in effect granted by your peers in recognition of your contribution to the collective effort, and are thus the most sought after awards of them all. The criteria of four of the seventeen Decorations (18 for the UK), the Purple Heart, the Achievement Medal, the Prisoner Of War Medal and the Combat Readiness Medal are unique, and do not directly relate to the other awards. The remaining 13 decorations form a "system", by which it is possible, in colaboration with the criterias set out Decorations, Medals & Awards, along with pressedence, to determine which Decoration should be awarded for what type and degree of action or service. It is always difficult to decide if an award is justified, but pressidence and circumstances provide the best guide to this. The Decorations are divided in to three classes, "Gallentry", "Valour" and "Merit". The first two deal with acts of heroism, while Merit is concerned with "service" to the collective effort, exceptional performance of duties and the like One question that many ask, is what is the difference between Gallantry and Valour? For an action to be considered under either heading, it must first be regarded by others to be heroic, wherein the candidate has placed themselves at great personal risk to perform an action others would not. For example: single handedly assaulting multiple positions while under enemy fire. By itself this would be considered as an act of Valour. However for it to be considered as an act of Gallantry, the action must have been a selfless deed on behalf of another or others. So expanding on the previous example we get: single handedly assaulting multiple positions while under enemy fire, so as to rescue a wounded comrade caught in a killing zone. This would be an act of Gallantry. The three classes of Decoration, "Gallantry", "Valour" and "Merit", are shown left to right in the table. Valour is sub-divided in to two sub-catagories: "Flight" and "Surface". The former are awards granted for actions conducted in aircraft or in spacecraft, whereas the latter are for actions on land or on or beneath the sea. Merit is also subdivided in to two further sub-catagories:"Individula" or "Unit", the former being awarded to a single person, the latter going to participating members of a specific unit or formation. There are two "Degrees" of each of the three classes of Decoration, "First" and "Second". The four decorations of the first degree are extremely rare, and often require there to be a significant risk of death, resulting in most often a posstumous award. Those of the Second Degree are sub-divided in to two "Contexts"; "Combat" and "Non- Combat" awards. Combat awards require the involvement of direct enemy action, whereas non-combat awards do not. However it should be noted that many non-combat awards are often won upon the battlefield. All Decorations in the same Degree are regarded as equal to one another in terms of their difficulty to achieve, differing only in their Type, Context and their Promotional Points (PP) values. Decorations Guidance Chart The following table is a guide to award selection for the thirteen* key decorations. * UK and Commonwealth personnel will in place of the Medal of Honor receive either the Victoria Cross or the George Cross as appropriate.

Type Degree & Context Gallantry Valour Meritorious Service Flight Surface Individual Unit 1st Degree Medal Of Honor* 1,300 Distinguished Service Cross 1,100 Distinguished Service Medal 900 Distinguished Unit Citation 200 2nd Degree Combat Silver Star 900 Distinguished Flying Cross 700 Bronze Star 500 Legion Of Merit 700 Meritorious Unit Citation 100 Non-Combat Soldier's Medal 500 Air Medal 300 Commendation Medal 300 Meritorious Service Medal 500

Top

END OF DOCUMENT