Award questions

[gebfamcap]

So a couple weeks ago, I was on my way home from Castle Rock Co. And I came upon an accident where a man drove his car off the road and into a telephone pole.  He had various head injuries and cuts and scratches. About 4 months before I had been certified in CPR,First Aid, AED and BLS.  I stopped to help, (EMS Had not arrived yet.) I came up to the van I saw the man sitting on the back, bleeding heavily from his forehead and above his eyes.  I had my First Aid Kit and began work.  I cleaned the wounds and applied bandages to his head, the man was in shock and had blurry vision.  I stopped the bleeding and stayed with him until EMS arrived.  Is there an award for this type of thing? Just curious. 

[PA Guy]

Promoting yourself for an award is  just tacky.

[lordmonar]

Tell your story to your supervisor and let him run it up the chain.

[MSG Mac]

Talk to your Commander as recommended by Lordmonar. See if the casualty, the newspapers or Emergency Response Team mentioned you. If you know the name of the casualty contact him for his comments. But nothings going to happen without this information. Awards range from Silver Medal of Valor for actions which could have put you in danger of life or life threatening injury. Bronze Medal of Valor for actions which would have resulted in serious injury, Commanders Commendation, or the Lifesaving Award for -saving a life. CAPR 39-3 is your friend in this case.

[A.Member]

Is there an award for this type of thing? Just curious.

*sigh*

[PHall]

When you took the First Aid courses was it to help your fellow man or was it to furnish your "I love me" wall?

[Eaker Guy]

When you took the First Aid courses was it to help your fellow man or was it to furnish your "I love me" wall?

Give the guy some credit. People that get ranger tabs from Hawk Mountain, "I love me wall." People that accumulate participation trophies on their shelves, "I love me wall." People that actually pay attention and are alert to danger instead of just driving by, AWESOME!!!!!

gebfamcap,

Although I cannot give you an answer to your question, I do want to thank you for your service to the CAP and to your fellow man. If I were in an accident like that, I would certainly want a person to help me. You did the right thing.

[lordmonar]

When you took the First Aid courses was it to help your fellow man or was it to furnish your "I love me" wall?

Why can't it be both?

Bottom line.....if you have done what is necessary for an award.....you should get it.
If your leadership is not aware that you have done what is necessary for an award....you will never get it.

Hence my advice to tell your commander and let him/her make the decision if it should be an award or not.

[JacobAnn]

Whether you end up receiving an award or not, I feel what you did is very commendable.  :clap:

[Paul_AK]

Why can't it be both?

Bottom line.....if you have done what is necessary for an award.....you should get it.
If your leadership is not aware that you have done what is necessary for an award....you will never get it.

Hence my advice to tell your commander and let him/her make the decision if it should be an award or not.

This. For example, many of the folks I know who have received the Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal (myself included) had to start the paperwork themselves and afterward it is largely up to the member to substantiate and write, unless you've got a really high speed supervisor with too much free time on their hands. So, if a full time organization has awards like that, how much more so in a volunteer organization? If you've earned it, and you've researched it, ask. The worst they can say is no.

In any case good job helping out.

[Spam]

Be advised it may take some time, and require significant evidence to substantiate (police reports, witness statements, etc).

I currently have had a Life Saving award recommendation for one of my Cadet Captains (GTM3/2/1 SET) sitting at my Wing HQ awards committee since June without action. He stopped to render first aid for a pedestrian struck by a car doing over 50 mph, with police and witness reports that put the victim in critical condition (was in critical in the hospital until downgraded the next day).  My Wing HQ hasn't acted on it in months, as one of the awards committee reportedly expressed doubt that my members actions in stabilizing his bleeding and shock contributed to the saving of a life. 

In your case, scalp wounds bleed like a stuck pig, we all know, but if our experience is any indicator, you'll likely need to substantiate that his head trauma was life-threatening to get any traction on a recommendation, even if you have police reports, etc. Getting a hospital admit CT scan and head trauma screen might not even support a life saving claim.

Twenty years ago I had such an award swiftly approved for a cadet who pulled drowning twins from rough surf down in Brevard Co, FL. I suspect that recent inflated and falsified claims (e.g. self awarded decorations from HWSNBN in Florida) have now played a part in putting all such awards under a microscope now. I've considered that and I think I'm ok with the approach, frankly. I just with my Wing would give me an up or down vote on it...


V/R,
Spam

[arajca]

Be advised it may take some time, and require significant evidence to substantiate (police reports, witness statements, etc).

I currently have had a Life Saving award recommendation for one of my Cadet Captains (GTM3/2/1 SET) sitting at my Wing HQ awards committee since June without action. He stopped to render first aid for a pedestrian struck by a car doing over 50 mph, with police and witness reports that put the victim in critical condition (was in critical in the hospital until downgraded the next day).  My Wing HQ hasn't acted on it in months, as one of the awards committee reportedly expressed doubt that my members actions in stabilizing his bleeding and shock contributed to the saving of a life. 

In your case, scalp wounds bleed like a stuck pig, we all know, but if our experience is any indicator, you'll likely need to substantiate that his head trauma was life-threatening to get any traction on a recommendation, even if you have police reports, etc. Getting a hospital admit CT scan and head trauma screen might not even support a life saving claim.

Twenty years ago I had such an award swiftly approved for a cadet who pulled drowning twins from rough surf down in Brevard Co, FL. I suspect that recent inflated and falsified claims (e.g. self awarded decorations from HWSNBN in Florida) have now played a part in putting all such awards under a microscope now. I've considered that and I think I'm ok with the approach, frankly. I just with my Wing would give me an up or down vote on it...


V/R,
Spam

If you can get the doctor who handled the case in the ER to write a quick note saying your actions directly contributed to the saving of the life, it should go through quickly.

[TheSkyHornet]

I'm not knocking anyone's efforts to help someone, especially in situations of medical emergencies like a car accident, but I don't think I can agree with the practice of going door-to-door to get recognition from something that we are trying to instill in CAP members as a selfless act. If it really is selfless, then it's not something that warrants a person to say "Hey, I can get award for being selfless! Wanna write me a recommendation?" It's not an application committee looking over your resume.

That being said, I commend the OP's actions for stopping at the scene of an emergency and providing aid until EMTs were able to take over. Good work for sure. A story to share. But let's not go the route of asking people if you should get a medal for it. Leave that to them to decide.

"Once in a while some guys get put up for decorations and a ceremony takes place somewhere. You see them in dress uniforms, standing proud. But that's politics and theater. You should see them as I have, downrange, in action. They're amazing to watch, risking their lives to serve their country. I don't like to talk about valor awards. I don't think it's useful to think about them. We just go to work, and it's the work itself that tells us who we are. Our pride is no less without the fanfare." - Marcus Luttrell

[lordmonar]

It is basic psychology.

You reward behavior you want to continue and you punish behavior you want to stop.

Forget about motivation.....the why they did it.

We have these awards to reward good behavior.   If we say "well we expect you to do that" is counter productive to the whole reward/punishment system of training.

Of course...the reward needs to be appropriate....hence the different levels of awards.   

In the real military....we got the basic longevity awards (ribbons or hash marks) for just being there.   We got the Good Conduct Medal for keeping you nose clean.  We got campaign medals for going out there and doing your job.   We got AFAMs, AAMs, etc for doing your jobs a little better then everyone else.

Etc, etc.

We want our people to save people's lives.  We want them to get the training and maintain the skill set, and keep their gear on hand.   So we made an award to reward and recognize those who do what we wanted them to do.    I don't care if they wanted to do it because they "should have" or because they wanted to get a fancy piece of cloth.  I care that they did it.

I don't know who Marcus Luttrell is.....but he's forgotten a very basic aspect of human psychology.   And it shows that someone in the chain of command has forgotten their duty to use the award system to get more out of people by not recognizing those hard working people down range.    Those people have had to find their own way to feel good about themselves.  They have decided that the award program is worthless, just "politics and theater".  And that's is just sad.

[/rant]

[A.Member]

I don't know who Marcus Luttrell is.....but he's forgotten a very basic aspect of human psychology.   And it shows that someone in the chain of command has forgotten their duty to use the award system to get more out of people by not recognizing those hard working people down range.    Those people have had to find their own way to feel good about themselves.  They have decided that the award program is worthless, just "politics and theater".  And that's is just sad.

[/rant]

Yeah, he probably has no idea what he's talking about...

Marcus Luttrell

Let's just say, we'll agree to disagree. 

Did the OP do the right thing in stopping to render aid?  Of course, and I'd expect all here would do the same.  Coming here to ask if he can get an award, well...poor form.

[lordmonar]

I stand by what I said.

Being a SEAL does not mean you know how to lead everyday common solders, airman, sailors and marines......and most especially does not mean you know how to lead CAP volunteers.

[Storm Chaser]

There are probably better ways to ask the question about an award without sounding as if that was the primary motivation for the action performed. But there's nothing wrong with a member asking if they qualify for an award for something they did, especially when the given action was performed outside of CAP.

We give a ribbon for performing community service outside of CAP, right? How else is your commander going to know you met the requirement unless you tell him or her you did? How is this different? Unless he tells his commander, he would not be put up for an award even if he met the criteria.

I probably would've phrase the question differently, but nevertheless, he did the right thing and helped someone. I doubt he was thinking about an award when he did. We should cut the OP some slack.

If he qualifies for an award for what he did, then he deserves it and should get one. Period.

[Mitchell 1969]

There are probably better ways to ask the question about an award without sounding as if that was the primary motivation for the action performed. But there's nothing wrong with a member asking if they qualify for an award for something they did, especially when the given action was performed outside of CAP.

We give a ribbon for performing community service outside of CAP, right? How else is your commander going to know you met the requirement unless you tell him or her you did? How is this different? Unless he tells his commander, he would not be put up for an award even if he met the criteria.

I probably would've phrase the question differently, but nevertheless, he did the right thing and helped someone. I doubt he was thinking about an award when he did. We should cut the OP some slack.

If he qualifies for an award for what he did, then he deserves it and should get one. Period.

:clap: :clap: :clap:

[Capt Thompson]

People that get earn ranger tabs from Hawk Mountain,

Fixed that for you.

I have to agree, I don't feel the OP was thinking of a medal when he pulled over to help. As Storm Chaser said, there are ways to start the process without sounding arrogant. Get the conversation started with your CC, but realize it's not a quick process. Good job!

 

[TheSkyHornet]

There are probably better ways to ask the question about an award without sounding as if that was the primary motivation for the action performed. But there's nothing wrong with a member asking if they qualify for an award for something they did, especially when the given action was performed outside of CAP.

We give a ribbon for performing community service outside of CAP, right? How else is your commander going to know you met the requirement unless you tell him or her you did? How is this different? Unless he tells his commander, he would not be put up for an award even if he met the criteria.

I probably would've phrase the question differently, but nevertheless, he did the right thing and helped someone. I doubt he was thinking about an award when he did. We should cut the OP some slack.

If he qualifies for an award for what he did, then he deserves it and should get one. Period.

I agree there.

It's not very common that you'll see someone who's earned an award for lifesaving to step out and say "I should get an award for this." I understand the OP was not demanding an award, but merely asking about it.