Verification of Awards

1. THE PURPOSE OF THIS MARADMIN IS TO PROVIDE GUIDANCE TO
MARINES ON ACTIONS REQUIRED TO VERIFY THE ACCURACY OF THEIR
PERSONAL, UNIT, AND SERVICE AWARDS. MARINES ARE REMINDED THAT THEY
ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ACCURACY OF THEIR INDIVIDUAL RECORD AND NO
AWARD OR DECORATION SHOULD BE WORN ON THEIR UNIFORM THAT IS NOT
AUTHORIZED AND DOCUMENTED IN THEIR OFFICIAL MILITARY PERSONNEL FILE
(OMPF) AND/OR THE MARINE CORPS TOTAL FORCE SYSTEM (MCTFS).
2. TWO SIGNIFICANT CHANGES HAVE OCCURRED THAT HAVE ADDED CONFUSION
AND MAKES VERIFICATION EVEN MORE IMPERATIVE. IN 1999 THE COMBAT 
HISTORY-EXPEDITION-AWARDS RECORDS PAGE (PAGE 9) WAS REMOVED FROM THE
OFFICER QUALIFICATION RECORD (OQR) AND THE SERVICE RECORD BOOK 
(SRB). AS A RESULT, AWARD INFORMATION WAS REQUIRED TO BE MANUALLY
TYPED INTO THE MCTFS THROUGH UNIT DIARY ENTRIES. NUMEROUS CODING
ERRORS RESULTED FROM THIS EFFORT. FROM 1996 TO 1998, THE OMPF WAS
CONVERTED FROM MICROFICHE TO DIGITAL FORMAT. SOME OF THE
TRANSFERRED IMAGES WERE UNREADABLE AND SOME WERE INADVERTENTLY
DROPPED ALL TOGETHER. 
3. PERSONAL AWARDS VERIFICATION.
 A. STEP 1: VERIFY THAT YOUR OMPF CONTAINS A COPY OF EACH 
OF YOUR AWARD CITATIONS AND SUMMARIES OF ACTION FOR PERSONAL 
AWARDS (I. E., NAVY ACHIEVEMENT MEDAL OR HIGHER). THE OMPF IS 
THE DIGITAL REPOSITORY OF A COPY OF ALL SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS THAT
PERTAIN TO A MARINE'S MILITARY CAREER. THIS FILE IS MANAGED AT 
HQMC BY THE PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT SUPPORT BRANCH (MMSB). A COPY OF
A MARINE'S OMPF CAN BE OBTAINED IN ONE OF THE FOLLOWING WAYS: 
 (1) ONLINE BY VISITING THE MANPOWER AND RESERVE AFFAIRS 
WEBSITE (WWW.MANPOWER.USMC.MIL). SELECT THE PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT
(MM) ICON, THEN THE SUPPORT BRANCH ICON (DIRECTIONS ARE PROVIDED 
TO SUBMIT AN ELECTRONIC REQUEST)OR;
 (2) GO TO WWW.MMSB.USMC.MIL AND SELECT "HOW TO ORDER 
YOUR OMPF AND MASTER BRIEF SHEET"; E-MAIL REQUESTS TO 
MMSBOMPF@MANPOWER.USMC.MIL OR; 
 (3) MAIL A REQUEST TO HEADQUARTERS U.S. MARINE CORPS, 
PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT SUPPORT BRANCH (MMSB), 2008 ELLIOT ROAD, 
QUANTICO VA 22134-5103.
 (A) COPIES OF MISSING AWARD SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS
SHOULD BE MAILED TO THE ADDRESS ABOVE. WAIT A COUPLE WEEKS AND
REORDER YOUR OMPF TO ENSURE THE DOCUMENTS WERE ACCURATELY ENTERED
INTO YOUR OMPF. WHERE NECESSARY, THE AWARDS BRANCH WILL VERIFY 
AUTHENTICITY OF SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS SUBMITTED DIRECTLY FROM 
INDIVIDUAL MARINES. IF POSSIBLE, INCLUDE THE NAVMC 1650 SHOWING 
APPROVAL SIGNATURES ALONG WITH THE SUMMARY OF ACTION.
 (B) ALL PERSONAL DECORATIONS AWARDED AFTER OCTOBER 
2000 ARE DOCUMENTED IN THE AWARDS PROCESSING SYSTEM (APS). 
VISIBILITY, QUERY AND PRINT CAPABILITY ON ALL THESE DECORATIONS ARE 
AVAILABLE ON THE MILITARY AWARDS WEB SITE
(WWW.MANPOWER.USMC.MIL/MANPOWER/MM/MMMA/AWARDSREF.NSF). IF YOU
RECEIVED AN AWARD OR DECORATION THAT DOES NOT APPEAR IN THE OMPF AND
YOU DO NOT HAVE A PERSONAL COPY, CONTACT THE MILITARY AWARDS BRANCH
AT HQMC ON 703-784-9342/43 OR DSN 278-9342/43.
 (C) RECOMMENDATIONS THAT HAVE BEEN LOST AND MEET THE 
TIME CRITERIA SET FORTH IN THE NAVY AND MARINE CORPS AWARDS MANUAL
REF A, APPENDIX A TO CHAPTER 2 CAN BE RESUBMITTED THROUGH THE APS
BY THE ORIGINATING OFFICER THROUGH HIS/HER CHAIN OF COMMAND. 
REQUESTS FOR STATUS SHOULD BE DIRECTED TO THE ORIGINATING OFFICER.
 (D) THE COMBAT ACTION RIBBON (CAR) AND THE HUMANITARIAN
SERVICE MEDAL (HSM) ARE PROBABLY THE MOST MISUNDERSTOOD AND 
ERRONEOUSLY WORN AWARDS. BOTH THE CAR AND HSM ARE CONSIDERED 
INDIVIDUAL, NOT UNIT, DECORATIONS. THE APPROVAL LETTER CONTAINS THE 
UNIT NAMES AND THE NAMES OF EACH MARINE AUTHORIZED TO RECEIVE THE 
CAR/HSM. IF A MARINE'S NAME DOES NOT APPEAR IN THE APPROVAL LETTER, 
HE/SHE IS NOT AUTHORIZED TO WEAR THESE AWARDS. INITIAL INQUIRIES 
CONCERNING THESE AWARDS SHOULD BE DIRECTED TO THE MARINE'S ADMIN 
OFFICE. IF QUESTIONS PERSIST, THE ADMIN OFFICE, NOT THE INDIVIDUAL 
MARINE, SHOULD CONTACT THE AWARDS BRANCH AT (703) 784-9340/41. 
THE AWARDS BRANCH WILL CHECK FOR THE MARINE'S NAME IN THEIR 
DATABASE AND PROVIDE THE ADMIN OFFICE WITH WRITTEN AUTHORIZATION 
TO MAKE THE PROPER ENTRIES IN THE MARINE'S RECORD. IN THE NEAR 
FUTURE, THIS DATABASE WILL BE AVAILALE ON THE AWARDS BRANCH'S WEB 
SITE. THE ADMIN OFFICE WILL HAVE THE ABILITY TO MAKE THE 
VERIFICATION ONLINE WITHOUT THE ASSISTANCE OF THE AWARDS BRANCH.
 B. STEP 2: VERIFY THAT THE PERSONAL INFORMATION IN THE MCTFS 
IS ACCURATE AND COMPLETE. THE MCTFS IS THE MASTER PERSONNEL AND PAY
RECORD FOR ALL ACTIVE/RESERVE MARINES AND IS MANAGED AT HQMC BY THE
MANPOWER INFORMATION DIVISION.
 (1) MARINES CAN VIEW THEIR PERSONAL MCTFS INFORMATION ON THE
INTERNET USING MARINE ON-LINE (MOL) AT WWW.MOL.USMC.MIL. LOG ON
ACCESS CAN BE OBTAINED BY CALLING COM 816-926-5916 OR DSN 465-5916. 
FROM THE LOG ON SCREEN CLICK ON THE PERSONAL INFORMATION TAB, THEN
THE AWARDS TAB. MOL WILL DISPLAY THE TYPE AND NUMBER OF AWARDS
CONTAINED IN THE MCTFS RECORD. MOL DOES NOT CURRENTLY SHOW DEVICES
(I.E. BRONZE STARS, HOURGLASS, "V", ETC). MOL INFORMATION IS
UPDATED APPROXIMATELY 5 TIMES A WEEK. THE LAST UPDATE WILL BE
DISPLAYED AT THE LOWER RIGHT HAND SIDE OF THE PAGE. BECAUSE MOL
RECEIVES INFORMATION FROM MCTFS, ANY ERRORS ON THE MOL AWARDS PAGE
INDICATES AN ERROR IN THE MCTFS RECORD. IF YOU DETECT AN ERROR,
CONTACT YOUR ADMIN OFFICE.
 (2) MARINES WITHOUT INTERNET ACCESS SHOULD CONTACT THEIR 
ADMIN OFFICE FOR ASSISTANCE.
 C. FOREIGN PERSONAL AWARDS CAN ONLY BE WORN WHILE ATTENDING
OFFICIAL FUNCTIONS OF THE AWARDING COUNTRY'S GOVERNMENT.
4. UNIT AWARDS VERIFICATION.
 A. A COMPREHENSIVE UP-TO-DATE LIST OF MARINE CORPS UNIT AWARDS
IS MAINTAINED ON-LINE ON THE AWARDS BRANCH WEBSITE
(LNWEB1.MANPOWER.USMC.MIL/MANPOWER/MM/MMMA/AWARDSREF.NSF) IN THE
MARINE CORPS UNIT AWARDS MANUAL (REF B). THESE INCLUDE
PRESIDENTIAL UNIT CITATIONS (PUC), JOINT MERITORIOUS UNIT AWARDS
(JMUA), NAVY UNIT COMMENDATIONS (NUC), MERITORIOUS UNIT
COMMENDATIONS (MUC) AND FOREIGN UNIT AWARDS.
 B. IN MANY CASES UNIT AWARDS MAY NOT BE APPROVED FOR 
MONTHS, SOMETIMES YEARS, AFTER THE AWARDING PERIOD. IN MANY 
CASES, MARINES ARE NO LONGER ATTACHED TO THE AWARDED UNIT. 
 C. NAVY BATTLE "E" (NE). THIS AWARD IS AUTHORIZED TO 
MARINES PERMANENTLY ATTACHED TO A SHIP. NO MARINE UNITS ARE
ENTITLED TO THIS AS A UNIT AWARD (I.E. MEU'S, SQDNS, ETC).
5. CAMPAIGN AND SERVICE AWARDS VERIFICATION.
CAMPAIGN AND SERVICE AWARDS ARE ISSUED TO AN INDIVIDUAL TO DENOTE
PARTICIPATION IN A CAMPAIGN, WAR, NATIONAL EMERGENCY OR EXPEDITION.
COMMANDING OFFICERS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR ENSURING THAT APPROPRIATE
MCTFS ENTRIES ARE MADE CONCERNING CAMPAIGN AND SERVICE AWARDS THAT
WERE EARNED BY EACH INDIVIDUAL UNDER THEIR COMMAND. NO MORE THAN
ONE OF ANY SPECIFIC CAMPAIGN OR SERVICE MEDAL SHALL BE ISSUED TO
AN INDIVIDUAL. THE NAVY AND MARINE CORPS AWARDS MANUAL (REF A),
CHAPTER 4, THE QUARTERLY ALMARS/MARADMINS AND THE ON-LINE NAVMC 2922
PROVIDE DETAILED CRITERIA AND DATES REQUIRED TO VERIFY A MARINE'S 
ELIGIBILITY FOR CAMPAIGN AND SERVICE MEDALS. 
6. U.S. NON-MILITARY DECORATIONS & OTHER SERVICE AWARDS ARE RARELY
AUTHORIZED TO BE WORN ON A MARINE UNIFORM. AWARDS NOT SPECIFICALLY
AUTHORIZED IN APPENDIX C TO CHAPTER 1 OF THE NAVY AND MARINE CORPS
AWARDS MANUAL (REF A) MUST BE FORWARDED TO HQMC (MMMA) FOR FURTHER
TRANSMITTAL TO THE APPROPRIATE REVIEWING AUTHORITY. ALL RELEVANT
DOCUMENTATION MUST BE SENT TO HQMC (MMSB) FOR INCLUSION IN THE
MARINE'S OMPF.
7. ADMIN PERSONNEL SHOULD BECOME FAMILIAR WITH REFERENCES A 
THROUGHT E THAT ARE LINKED TO THE AWARDS BRANCH WEB SITE AND SHOULD
BE A MARINE'S FIRST POC FOR AWARDS RELATED QUESTIONS. 
8. THE AWARDS PROCESSING SYSTEM (APS) IS THE ONLY AUTHORIZED MEANS
FOR SUBMITTING MILITARY AWARDS. NUMEROUS ENHANCEMENTS ARE BEING
REVIEWED TO MORE FULLY INTEGRATE APS WITH MCTFS AND THE OMPF.
9. IN SUMMARY, EACH MARINE IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE
ACCURACY OF HIS/HER INDIVIDUAL RECORD AND NO AWARD OR DECORATION
SHOULD BE WORN ON HIS/HER UNIFORM THAT IS NOT AUTHORIZED AND
DOCUMENTED IN HIS/HER OFFICIAL MILITARY PERSONNEL FILE (OMPF) AND/
OR THE MARINE CORPS TOTAL FORCE SYSTEM (MCTFS).