Operational Honours and Awards List: 21 March 2014

[peppermint_jam]

Congrats to all.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/operational-honours-and-awards-list-21-march-2014

[PTC REMF]

Well done to the 18(B) Sqn lads.

[Chinny Crewman]

Chinook force recognised again, well done.

[Easy Street]

I must admit to a slight raising of an eyebrow at the VERY short list of RAF personnel awarded MBE or QCVS (only one of each in Afghanistan?). These are not gallantry awards but are "a job exceptionally well done" awards; accordingly I am left with the impression that either:

1) Our deployed pers are doing the least work they can get away with;
2) The standard of our citations is poor;
3) We are not submitting enough citations.

Having seen a few tri-service citations in my time I lean towards 3) - some of the stuff that the other services put up for MBE/QCVS really is "day job with lipstick on". But good on them - that's what those awards are for! Despite this I note that someone looked after the senior RAF officers at the CAOC; poor show by them for (apparently) not doing so down the chain. More writeups for the coal-face next time please. Even reducing it to a matter of self-interest, I thought it was supposed to be to a commander's benefit to maximise the number of awards in his AoR?

Well done to those that did receive an award (and lucky you for having a switched-on Boss!)

[500N]

Do they still have quotas for medals and if so, why ?

Why not just give medals to those who earn them ?

[Martin the Martian]

Well done to all.

I notice that one of the RAF recipients is a Lance Corporal. Is that now an RAF rank?

[November4]

Well done to all.

I notice that one of the RAF recipients is a Lance Corporal. Is that now an RAF rank?

Since 1 Apr 2010 L/Cpl has been an RAF Regt (http://www.raf.mod.uk/rafwittering/newsweather/index.cfm?storyid=D48F3F97-5056-A318-A87135E2B5D42F3B) rank

[Jobza Guddun]

Only in the RAF Regiment. Brought in after joint ops showed up some mismatches with the rocks' and others' rank structure.

[Rector16]

Don't want to be picky, but I count 1 x MBE, 1 x QCVS and 1 x CBE for the RAF - it still isn't as long as the Army list, but it is 50% longer than noted earlier!

[500N]

Suggest you count again. A few more than what you listed including a DFC.

[Easy Street]

Rector16 / 500N - I don't want to be picky, but I suggest you both read the first line of my post again, which quite clearly referred to the MBE / QCVS only. I stand by my ability to count.

These are the awards for which most of the field is eligible, regardless of whether or not they happen to have found themselves in a sticky situation, and there was only one of each on the Afghanistan list (yes, there was a CBE on there as well, not that many are in with a shot at one of those due to the rank guidelines, and our senior officers seem to get well looked-after in terms of citations). I know there were a couple more on the 'Rest of World' list - these, as far as I can see, are the senior CAOC / UK Air Component HQ officers I referred to (CBE for the UK ACC and QCVS for a couple of his Wg Cdrs). I'm just surprised that we could only muster two sufficiently well-written "good job well done" citations for the rank-and-file across the whole of Afghanistan, given the number of RAF personnel who are still out there.

I deliberately wasn't counting the numbers of DFC, MiD and QCBA in my whinge as they are (rightfully) only written up in specific circumstances, and there's clearly no way of telling how many is the "right" number in any 6-month period.

[wokkawarrior]

A bit more information on two of the RAF awards

Chinook Crew Hit By Bullets Are Commended (http://www.raf.mod.uk/news/archive/chinook-crew-hit-by-bullets-are-commended-21032014)

[500N]

Easy,

My apologies.

[Vie sans frontieres]

How do the crewman's actions only merit a MiD? Hope the crown jewels are ok.

[Tankertrashnav]

VSF - It's an old RAF tradition in multi-crew aircraft. Captain gets the DFC/AFC - all the rest get MID/QCVSA.

'Twas ever thus!

Still, I've always thought it was fair enough. When it all goes pear-shaped the captain's the one with his neck on the block.

[TheWizard]

Or the rest of the crew get bugger all!!

[orca]

VSF,

I know one cannot really determine tone from a text but could you expand upon what you mean by 'only' a MiD?

[ian16th]

Or the rest of the crew get bugger all!! Gunners on Fairy Battle's?

[pzu]

AFAIK, Operational Awards are normally announced on a half yearly basis, usually late March and late September

To date I'm not aware of a 'September' announcement this year, will there be one due shortly?

PZU - Out of Africa (Retired)

[alfred_the_great]

There may be a delay, if only because the last HERRICK rotation was extended, thus the usual 'deadline' would have been missed by a significant population of those who may have been eligible.