Then in that case you should equally award them to long serving Warrant Officers etc.
So, 19 of the 29 MSMs went to OR9 WOs and MAcr. Also, one of the 12 MBEs went to an OR9 MAcr (a Crewman from 27 Sqn). Further, take a look at HM’s Birthday Honours List for 2021 -
https://www.raf.mod.uk/news/articles...urs-list-2021/. There were 13 MBEs awarded - of which 4 went to WOs and 1 to a FS. So nearly 40%. This time last year there were 13x MBEs awarded in the New Year 21 list -
https://www.raf.mod.uk/news/articles...urs-list-2021/. That was 4x WOs, 1x MAcr, and 2x Cpls (over 50%). With only low numbers of MBEs being awarded (about 12-15 per list) then the stats can quickly swing each way.
Sadly, when the BEM (and also the AFM and DFM) was removed to make things more equal for the FSs, WOs and MAcr, then quite the reverse happened - they were now fishing in a bigger pool and so attracted fewer gongs than before. That said, if the medal system is equal then why can’t Officers achieve the MSM as well? But in my opinion, let the WOs, MAcr and FS keep that as it is more of high-end long service award and I would fear the same would happen with it as it has with DFMs, AFMs and BEMs.
I also believe that the ‘them and us’ narrative is unhelpful and what some would call ‘fake news’
