MARADMIN 065/20 - Military Awards Guidance for the 2020 Permanent Change of Station Season

Scope

MARADMIN 065/20 published the Department of the Navy Personal Military Decoration (PMD) processing guidance for the 2020 Marine Corps PCS season from HQMC Manpower Management Military Awards Branch (MMMA). The first message in the season series. It covered nominee identification, iAPS origination with a hardcopy fallback, SOA formatting, citation limits during the Awards Manual format transition, a graduated origination timeline by award level, expedite requests, retirement award dating, and Combat Action Ribbon eligibility relative to combat conditions PMDs.

Audience

Unit award administrators. Award originators. Awarding authorities. S-1 and IPAC personnel processing awards in iAPS.

Key clauses

• Identifying nominees. Before PCS season, unit award administrators download the unit outbound roster from MCTFS and publish it to command leadership. Originators identify high performers deserving of PMDs and submit recommendations on the graduated timeline below. The message names a best practice: track recommended awards on a spreadsheet and brief pending PMD status to the unit commander on a regular basis until PCS season ends or every pending PMD completes.
• iAPS origination with hardcopy fallback. Every DoN PMD from a Marine Corps command originates in iAPS. Only when iAPS is offline are commands authorized to process PMDs on hardcopy NAVMC 11533 or OPNAV 1650/3 forms, and the originating unit re-originates the hardcopy records in iAPS once the system restores. This fallback authorization is unique to the 2020 message.
• Summary of Action. SECNAV M-1650.1 limits the SOA to two pages. The iAPS SOA field has no standard formatting or character limit, so originators format the SOA to fit two pages in Microsoft Word, portrait layout, Times New Roman size 12, normal spacing.
• Citation format transition. The Awards Manual had recently changed the citation format and iAPS was pending the update. Until completion, Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal and below carried a 1250 character limit in all capital letters. Meritorious Service Medal and above carried an 1800 character limit in standard sentence format. Later season messages cut the upper limit to 1650 and then settled at 1670.
• Opening sentences. Each DoN PMD has a unique opening sentence and two authorized closing formats. Name the nominee unit only to the point of clear identification. "While assigned as the Battalion Intelligence Officer of 3rd Battalion" is unclear. "While assigned as Battalion Intelligence Officer for 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment" identifies one unit.
• Citations and certificates. Signed certificates and citations match the PMD level approved in iAPS. The certificate and citation attach to the certificate section of the award for upload into the recipient OMPF.

Graduated origination timeline

The 2020 message set origination deadlines by award level instead of the flat 60 and 90 day windows in later seasons.

• Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, O-5 awarding authority. Originate no later than 60 days before the desired presentation date.
• Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal, O-6 awarding authority. Originate no later than 90 days before presentation.
• Meritorious Service Medal, O-7 awarding authority. Originate no later than 120 days before presentation.
• Legion of Merit in connection with retirement, O-9 Marine Force commanders and CG Marine Corps Combat Development Command. Originate no later than 150 days before presentation.
• Legion of Merit in connection with transfer, CMC awarding authority. Originate no later than 150 days before presentation.
• Distinguished Service Medal, SECNAV awarding authority. Originate no later than 150 days before presentation.

The intent is presentation before the Marine detaches or separates from the command where the action took place, not at the next command.

Expedite requests

MMMA acts on expedite requests for retirement, relief and appointments, or change of command. A General Officer or their Chief of Staff signs the request. MMMA takes no action on requests signed by direction. Other expedite cases are honored case by case. An expedite reduces the votes required by the HQMC Military Awards Board without guaranteeing completion by the presentation date.

Retirement and separation awards

The end of action date for a separating nominee is the presentation date or a date before terminal leave, whichever comes first. This window lets MCTFS report the award so the DD-214 records it. An award reported after terminal leave begins often misses the DD-214 and forces the Marine to request a correction to the DD-214 and service record.

Combat Action Ribbon and combat conditions PMDs

Combat Action Ribbon criteria in SECNAV M-1650.1 are more restrictive than the criteria for combat conditions PMDs, which include the Bronze Star Medal. A Marine receives a PMD with a C device or a Bronze Star Medal for meritorious service under combat conditions without automatically qualifying for the Combat Action Ribbon. In the other direction, qualifying for the Combat Action Ribbon satisfies the personal exposure to hostile action requirement for the C device or the Bronze Star Medal for meritorious service under combat conditions.

Common mistakes

• Incorrect opening or closing sentences.
• Action dates on the NAVMC 11533, SOA, citation, and certificate not matching.
• Incorrect action dates for Marines separating from service.
• "Great credit" used below the Air Medal.
• A commander approving an award outside their awarding authority, or directing rescission and origination of a lesser award. Only the official with approval authority downgrades or disapproves.
• The approved iAPS award differing from the citation and certificate presented.
• A commander approving a DoN PMD for a foreign service member. SECNAV is the awarding authority for DoN PMDs to all foreign service members per SECNAVINST 1650.1J.
• Failing to attach the signed citation or certificate to the iAPS certificate field for OMPF upload.

References cited inside the message

• SECNAVINST 1650.1J, Department of the Navy Military Awards Policy
• SECNAV M-1650.1, Navy and Marine Corps Awards Manual
• MCO 1650.19J w/CH-1, Administrative and Issue Procedures for Decorations, Medals, and Awards

Status

Superseded. MARADMIN 093/25 cancels this message together with MARADMINs 080/21, 132/22, 086/23, and 222/24 and publishes the enduring PCS season guidance. Retained in the registry for citations anchored to the 2020 season. Released by MajGen David A. Ottignon, Director, Manpower Management Division. POC at release was Capt N. D. Hooker, HQMC MMMA.