September 25, 2006
Navy and DoD revisit standards for awards

By John Hoellwarth
Staff writer

The Navy Department has completed a major revision of its awards manual, including 14 changes that bring the document in line with America’s two modern wars.

At the same time, the Defense Department on Sept. 8 announced a sweeping review of awards in a plan to standardize them across the military services.

The Navy’s new awards manual, which is expected to be released this month, is the first revision of SecNavInst 1650 since January 2002.

The new manual is the product of “a periodic review and update,” Lt. Col. James Taylor, head of Marine Corps headquarters’ awards branch, wrote in an e-mail response to questions. Criteria were “clarified in many places, but no awards were outright changed.”


Although the new manual has not yet been released, Taylor summarized the major topics addressed by the revision:

• Entries on the Afghanistan Campaign Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Korea Defense Service Medal and Ceremonial Guard Ribbon.

• A chapter on awards for veterans and prior-service Marines.

• Combat Action Ribbon eligibility criteria that include roadside bombs.

• Policy changes on the Corps’ oversight of awards given to Marines by other service branches.

• Re-establishment of gold 5/16-inch numerals in lieu of stars to denote multiple awards of the Air Medal, necessary now for the first time since Vietnam.

• Changes to reservists’ eligibility for the Overseas Service Ribbon.

• New rules for the Fleet Marine Force officer and enlisted warfare qualification badges that now supersede the FMF Ribbon.

• Individual chapters for foreign awards and foreign gifts.

• Policy clarification on the premature disclosure of awards.

• Revisions to the delegation of awarding authority.

• Policy revisions on wearing foreign awards and decorations.

• Instructions on processing awards online.

• Updated listings of operations approved for various campaign and service medals.

• Changes to a citation’s formatting and its required and optional language, including the addition of a time-in-service acknowledgment in end-of-tour awards for retiring personnel.

DoD standards

Taylor said the updates in the Navy Department’s awards manual should “allow for good discussion at the [Defense Department] awards review.”

He added that any future changes in DoD policy “will necessitate further updates” to the Navy and Marine Corps manual.

Defense Department spokesman Maj. Stewart Upton said any changes to DoD’s “Manual of Military Decorations and Awards” are still six to eight months off. The process has just begun.

“A working group consisting of representatives from each service, the Joint Staff and the Institute of Heraldry will form the core of the comprehensive review effort,” according to a Defense Department release.

Upton said this working group is expected to begin meeting by the end of September under the leadership of Bill Carr, acting deputy undersecretary for military personnel policy.

Upton said the department hasn’t completed a major review of its medals policy since 1996, and a lot has changed since then. New decorations have come, and old ones have gone.

But for medals such as the Purple Heart, the oldest military decoration still issued by any nation, the review promises to create equity where before there was subjectivity between services.

“All the services use the same criteria for the Purple Heart medal. However, there may be some slight differences in the interpretation of some of the criteria,” Upton said.

He said the Army and Marine Corps recognize three different levels of concussions, each varying in degree and severity. In the Corps, only Marines who suffer the most severe level of concussion as a result of enemy action are eligible for the Purple Heart. In the Army, any concussion is recognized, according to Upton. According to the Sept. 8 release, the group will work toward these goals:

• Clarifying criteria and standardizing processes for awarding valor and meritorious service medals.

• Eliminating disparate qualification criteria between the military services in awarding the Purple Heart and the combat “V” device.

• Redefining a theater of operations as it applies to campaign medal eligibility.

• Recognizing multiple wartime deployments by authorizing multiple awards of the Iraqi and Afghanistan campaign medals.

Ellie