Awards Query

[DakRadz]

I have two questions for the wonderful membership today:

First, when were the two C/Chief awards established (Armstrong and Goddard)- at encampment, I saw a tri-diamond wearing only one of these, so I thought perhaps one was newer and therefor he never actually earned it.

Second- when did the Wright Brothers Award come into being? I'm sure it has to be fairly new, because my Mitchell is number 59214, while my Wright Brothers is 13044.

[Майор Хаткевич]

Lt,

The C/Col is wrong. Plain and simple. The Neil Armstrong ribbon came into being around the turn of the millennium. That was before my time by at least 3 years (April 2003).

The Wright Brothers ribbon was always there, back in the day that was C/SrA and Wright Brothers Achievement. The Feik ribbon bumped the WBR to WBA, and thus cadets who already were past C/SSgt got a bump in one grade *them having tested up due to the renaming of Achievement 3 and creation of the Milestone*.

That chance came in right when I joined, but the unit I was in at the time had horrid cadet programs management, so I didn't even know about the changes at that point. I was waiting on my C/TSgt promotion, but got bumped to C/MSgt. I tried arguing it, but was told that that was the system. *I told the Captain who was the new CC, a transfer guy, that I joined after the change, but to no success*.

My WBA was issued when I received my Mitchell, so the numbers for my WBA and Mitchell match up in the same time period (March 2006)

[DakRadz]

Okay, so both C/Chief awards have been around for longer than he has been a cadet (even if a 20 yr old who joined at 12 in 2002), so... That's clear now. I'm a uni-Nazi at times, plus having never seen a Spaatz cadet I wanted to see what he had earned, so it was a pretty big stand-out considering I had most of his lower ribbons, but he didn't have one that I did.

On the WBA, I'm going to guess that the situation was fuzzy when it was created, and it just hasn't been around/tracked as long as the Mitchell, right? At least, that's what I'm getting from your post.

[jimmydeanno]

On the WBA, I'm going to guess that the situation was fuzzy when it was created, and it just hasn't been around/tracked as long as the Mitchell, right? At least, that's what I'm getting from your post.

I joined in May 1997 as a cadet.  At the time the cadet grade structure went like this (up to the Mitchell):

C/AB
C/Amn (Curry Achievement)
C/A1C (Arnold Achievement)
C/Sgt (Wright Brothers Achievement)
C/SSgt (Rickenbacker Achievement)
C/TSgt (Lindberg Achievement)
C/MSgt (Doolittle Achievement)
C/Msgt (Goddard Achievement)
C/FO (Mitchell Award)

I remember that when I earned my Mitchell Award, there were about 3 others that did it at the same time.  In the time that it took me to work through the next achievements to earn C/2d Lt, the others didn't progress and got the default promotion when they phased out C/FO (Must have been around April 1999, because I earned my Mitchell in January 1999.

I'm pretty sure that was the same time that they rolled out the additional NCO grades (C/SMSgt & C/CMSgt) because I was neither of those, but the cadets coming up behind me had the opportunity to be one. 

I don't remember the details of the Feik, it could have been around the same time.  Either way, when you say The Wright Brothers, there are multiple generations of cadets who earned the Wright Brothers, when it was simply an achievement, like the Arnold.  The last two generations of cadets have earned it as a milestone award.

[IceNine]

Yep '99 some time is when the change happened.

I was a C/Sgt and then around the same time I was up for MSgt they introduced the C/SAmn, and the additional Armstrong.  I remember being a little miffed that I was so close to officership and then my time was delayed an additional 2 Months.

So that change included the change from C/Sgt to C/SAmn
Introduction of C/SMSgt and C/CMSgt as well as the Armstrong Achievement.
Deletion of C/FO and demise of the Gold Pip, in lieu of Mitchell equaling C/2d Lt

According to Wikipedia the Feik Achievement was introduced in April 2003 at which time the Wright Brothers Achievement would have become the Wright Brothers Award.

Mitchell, Earhart, Eaker??, and Spaatz were all introduced in the 60's some time.  I'm not entirely sure on the inception of the Eaker. 

Maj. Bowles seems to be the village wise man on the original dates of awards

[BillB]

Mitchell, Earhart and Spaatz were introduced in 1964 along with the comic book ribbons. The Mitchell replaced the Cadet Certificate of Profecency. Clasps were added to the C/COP for achievements 7,8 and 9.
The Mitchell was introduced as an limited experiment in 1963 for cadets earning the C/COP

[DBlair]

I'm not entirely sure on the inception of the Eaker. 

The Eaker was 1995 or 1996 if I remember correctly.

[Майор Хаткевич]

I'm not entirely sure on the inception of the Eaker. 

The Eaker was 1995 or 1996 if I remember correctly.

I thought that was just the ribbon?

Anyway, the consensus seems to be:

1999 for the Armstrong, hence the C/Col is missing some ribbons.
2003 April (like I said) for the Feik introduction/Wright Brothers Bump.
See my 2nd Captalk Thread

Also see my cadet ribbons:

[DBlair]

I'm not entirely sure on the inception of the Eaker. 

The Eaker was 1995 or 1996 if I remember correctly.

I thought that was just the ribbon?

Nope, before then (if I remember correctly) we used to wear a clasp on the Earhart ribbon denoting promotion to C/Lt Col and Phase IV Completion, otherwise no Award or anything other than the joy of wearing two diamonds.

As for the award itself, when they came out with it around 1995 or 1996, I remember there was a delay in receiving the certificate as they were catching up with those who were entitled to it as a result of being C/Lt Cols and they were sending them unnumbered Eaker Awards, later sending numbered certificates to new C/Lt Cols after that. From what I heard, things were hectic with the new award and mine was supposedly going to be unnumbered but as a result of paperwork being lost in the shuffle or whatever, I think my award number was somewhere ~100.

[Майор Хаткевич]

Ah, that does remind me. that's the story as I've heard it/read about.

The ribbon was then retroactively worn by those who became C/LtCol prior to the award.