Operational honours list
 

Some good names and awards in there from Op SHADER, I'm sure the citations will make interesting reading. Top work fellas (and ladies!)

RAF Honours

Flight Lieutenant John Paul JONES :D:D:D

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Surely someone of that name should be in RN......

Any decision yet on a campaign medal for Op Shader? Be nice to have a campaign ribbon to wear those MID emblems on.

BZ
 

Sentry E-3D Mission Crew TEAM AWARD, RAF WADDINGTON.:D

Doesn't Shader now qualify for the new GSM? Or did I dream that? :confused::\

Well done all!

Afraid not, no SHADER medal so far. The new GSM clasps are geographically rather than thematically based, so they will have to decide where as much as what counts e.g. what about ground crew in Cyprus, personnel deployed in support and Liaison functions around the Levant region as well as those specifically operating in/over Syria and Iraq. So I suspect there are arguments over that as much as teeth sucking over cost and whether it hits the criteria of risk & rigour. Personally, I'd have thought a Near East or Levant clasp would cover it nicely.

Well done guys... what's the story?

Don't you mean USN?

That is it in a shell for a nut.

The decision, or lack of one, is almost embarassing. Other Commonwealth nations have been recognising the time and personal sacrifice that their people make since day one...and medallically awarding them with items with HM's image on.

Meanwhile the UK continues to send people on ops - oops sorry it is not ops so you won't get Op Allowance - to fill ops roles - oops, sorry it is not ops so you won't get a medal - and in many, many cases resulting in junior ranks receiving a monthly wage that is less than they receive in the UK - it is ops and you are not in the UK so we will take your Home to Duty away.

Junior Ranks of all colours that have not done ops before are confused - and the leadership of all colours needs to pull its finger out.

Well USN doesn't give out Royal Honours ever since they decided to go it alone.

No, I agree, but the John Paul Jones I think you're referring to was never in the RN. Or are you not referring to the captain of the USS Bonhomme Richard?

They must be on a hell of a HTD that their LSA doesn't cover it.

But you know what we're like for medals, they're just not the done thing. Unless you can convince some senior type that it's up there with D-Day on the risk scale - and the criteria can be sorted to enable his chums to qualify ahead of the other Services; and unless you can convince the Finance types that spending money on people rather than management consultants is a good move; and as long as the politicians and Seevice Chiefs can put a good spin on it to get more votes / jets / tanks / ships, then it probably won't happen quickly. Or at all. Pending a full scale inquiry to ensure it doesn't conflict against some seemingly random decision made in 1957.

The lack of medallic recognition is becoming a major issue for a lot of guys. In the RN for instance there are people who have done 5,6 or more tours in Bahrain. The argument that 'oh but you get LSA' seems to ignore the fact that you are away from home, subject to pressures that are not necessarily hostile, but which do place restrictions on your life, and which do involve a lot of commitment.

I personally think beyond the 'Long Service', 'Campaign' and 'Gallantry' medals, that a 4th category is needed for what I'd call 'deployment' medals. Essentially a single gong which you can add clasps to for time deployed on an Operation that is not a Campaign. This would recognise repeat offenders in the Cyprus / Bahrain areas, but also allow for a SHADER campaign medal for those on the ground or in airspace to sublty differentiate the additional risk.

The days of people with the HERRICK/TELIC combo being commonplace are drawing to an end, with far fewer people having that now. Yet we remain busy and operationally deployed, even if not every deployment is a two way range. Recognising that our people do great work overseas in a small way seems reasonable to me.

Thanks for the update on an Op Shader medal (or lack of one) chaps. I used to be pretty au fait with medals but I get a bit out of touch these days.

Jimlad1,

Fully concur, especially as medals are one of the few things we have left to recognise service given the rapidly dwindling recognition in other elements of our Ts & Cs. In my opinion the Canadians, IIRC, have it right. They have an 'operational' medal for those actually sausage side and what amounts to a 'support' medal for those employed on named ops but not actually in country doing the fighting. So there is precedent in the Commonwealth for such an arrangement I think the US had something similar for the GWOT before individual Iraq/Afghanistan medals. And if the Canadians require HM 'approval' and it has been given, then the blockage would be some senior types in the system rather than HM taking a dim view of too many medals.

If Middle Eastern ops in the broader sense and the Falklands are so important then give the guys a 'non-op' medal. It's really not hard and would go a way to actually proving that people are our best asset when everything else seems to be hit by constraints.

Totally agree with the Hon Melchett and Jimlad1.

The lack of decision is embarassing. It may suprise some but there are people with 2 x Jubilees and LSGC - and no ops. It is therefore important to recognise time spent on such. Why give an LSGC to officers? The 'behave yourself' bit comes with job - and then not reward those that are away from family and friends for long stretches??

Leadership - pull your finger out. A decision, even if you don't agree with it, is better than no decision. It is what you are paid to do.

For those of use with more knowledge of the honours system than I-is a DSO considered a 'greater' award than a DFC for example-or is it simply a different award for a different circumstance e.g. DSO for Leadership vs DFC for gallantry in the face of the enemy?


Many thanks
TO

More information on criteria for awards available here and here Treble.

DSO is a level 2 award and a DFC a level 3 according to the JSP.