Freedom of Information?

[NUFC1892]

As I come near to the end of my time in the Mob (32 years done, 2 to do till I retire) I have become a little reflective of what I have actually achieved during my 17 postings, half a dozen OOAs (been lucky there) and countless shorter dets. As part of this reflection I thought it would be nice to get copies of the citations for the CinC’s Commendations and MSM that I have been fortunate enough to receive.

I thought that this would be a simple matter of putting through a Freedom of Information (DPA98) Subject Access Request Form and then waiting a few weeks before basking in the warm glow of hyperbole, alas that is not the case. Apparently, in order to protect the integrity of the honours system citations for Meritorious Lists are never released; additionally no citation was ever raised for my MSM. So, my questions to the educated reader are:

1. Has anyone out there ever been able to get hold of a copy of the citation for any award they have received?

2. Does anyone know how personnel were actually selected for the MSM (NYHL 05). It beggars belief that a board could actually read through the profiles for everyone who met the criteria in any given year.

And yes I know it’s vanity wanting to know what has been written about me - it’s what age and reflection does to a man!!