the trouble is in the military the system appears rigged to award those that are in a position to nominate those awards
Spot on Nutty and to be fair, the same applies to the civil system too. Its just human nature. People in power tend to favour the people closest to them. I know that in the civil system, anyone can "nominate" someone for an honour but its still the people at the top of the tree who have the final say. At the end of the day, the top awards seem to go to the people at the top of the system.