Not the BEM, but the separate Imperial Service Medal - Imperial Service Medal - Wikipedia
It’s effectively a long service and good conduct award as I see it.
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Yup. My step mother refused a promotion because she had two years left before retirement and this promotion would have prevented her getting the ISM. Such a weird system
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At least in my dept, the Imperial Service Medal is only awarded on retirement after >=25 years service to people who have never been promoted to EO or above, so it’s pretty rare and almost a feat in it’s own right in an EO-heavy dept.
Its an offshoot of the old Imperial Service Order, which as I understand was formerly awarded to everyone else after 25 years service before it was scrapped in the 1990s.
Not sure why the AA/AO’s Medal remained and everyone else’s went in the bin, but I’m still a (perhaps biased) advocate for it’s restoration or some form of medallic recognition of long service for civil servants, especially after a 25 year marker. Even if it’s not a ‘uniform medal’, having some official token of your contribution beyond a retirement certificate would be nice.
NCA (also CS) introduced a LSGC medal for 20 years service in 2017 so it wouldn’t be without precedent.
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There are at least two officers close to retirement I’m aware of that are on their 4th/5th CFM clasps, have served in posts across Sqn/Sector/Wg levels and have consistently gone out of their way across decades to put the cadets before themselves.
Some would say that the CFM ‘covers this’, but I’m half tempted to put in a BEM/MBE nomination for at least one of them, if only to see what would happen.
The BEM criteria states “Achievement or contribution of a very “hands-on” service to the community in a local geographical area. This might take the form of sustained commitment in support of very local charitable and/or voluntary activity; or innovative work that has delivered real impact but that is relatively short (three to four years) in duration.”
Based on that criteria, there’s literally no way we shouldn’t be getting dozens of these across the organisation, there are surely scores of worthy recipients.
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This is the thing - to actually stand a chance of getting an award people need to be nominated. Recognition and celebration of achievement is something I think this organisation does poorly.
Really you would think that permanent staff should be making much more effort to recognise volunteers in their areas, but as ever it usually falls to the volunteer.
I’m not sure how this is the case, but my Wing has proven particularly successful in getting nominations through in recent years. In the last three years I think we’ve had two MBEs and a BEM so it is certainly doable.
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100% worth the effort, surely your ARC can assist with writing a suitable recommendation for them?
On that basis I can name about a dozen people off the top of my head who had stepped into failing units and turned them around who should’ve gotten a BEM.
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The problem is that the uniformed staff, or at least orifices, fall (wrongly under the regulations of the Order) into the military division which doesn’t have the BEM.
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Which as was said above should’ve changed when they took our Commissions away.
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I nominated someone for an AOC 22 Gp commendation and never heard a thing. They are very much deserving (more so than others who got one) but the system is appalling and only the ‘face fits’ brigade or the heavy self promoters get them.
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If you don’t have a heavy-handed “recommend all who meet the minima” policy, repeated every year, your people are doomed to go unrecognised.
I think you’re fighting a tough battle. The moment the military mindset kicks in, you have to be walking on water before they think of you for a commendation.
Whereas some bloke got a BEM/MBE for running a virtual pub quiz during lockdown…
It needs standardising so people know what to expect at each level, and then if you hit the rough criteria, they put you through.
I get that not everyone can have one, but they’re so unbelievably limited across the country as it is. If everyone in the country had a BEM for doing as much volunteering as a sector commander who also runs a squadron does, I don’t think that’d undermine it at all.
And all of a sudden, it would be very well-understood what needs to be done (ish) to achieve one fairly. After all, transparency was what the system was in dire need of.
Edit: And the more people that go unrecognised for doing loads of stuff, the more of their people, in turn, will go unrecognised in the future. Because why should X get something if I never got something?
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Another argument to remove the military oversight link that hinders us more than it seems to provide currently.
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Oh 100% I’ve had that attitude when I’ve questioned why people haven’t been put forward by their CoC.
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The military view that no matter how grand your achievements, your rank dictates your eligibility is also completely ridiculous.
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Or how minimal, don’t forget the Twitter Queen for a CBE for her minor achievements as Commandant.
As an Air Commodore they couldn’t give her anything lower.
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Pretty solid summary of the issue right there.
So the rank-and-file can’t be recognised because you need to artificially restrict eligibility and ensure only superhumans amongst the superhumans are recognised for a BEM/MBE, but a general officer /air officer gets a CBE because, as the only one actually doing a role like that, they’re automatically peerless…
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Also, man who saves 29 lives on the tube gets…
MBE.
If the goal is to inspire others, I can’t help but think the pyramid is a little upside-down.
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Maybe its the wine talking but nothings going to change any time soon.
Other than the continued running down of this org.
A good friend in the Corps placed a genuine bet at start of Dec that there would not be an RAF cadet entity by 2040.
The odds… 3 to 1.
Not exactly inspiring!
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I wanted to see how this works with other ATCs, so I looked to New Zealand (purely because I once lived there).
Their volunteers DO only receive awards in the civil list and are not eligible in the military section. They can be awarded the King’s/Queen’s Service Medal:
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I had another look at OBE’s / #MBE’s awarded this year in the New Year’s 2024 entried and 1 x OBE and 1 x MBE - how minimal is that and even our Sqn Ldr with 56 years worth of service - not a look in. You don’t get involved in this for: the rewards - there are none; the pay - it’s minimal; the recognition - you might on occaision get a well done, but rarely; or the VA - it’s negligable.
I dare say our man with 56 years not looking for it but god that’s a long long time…
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A very old lady received a gong for her decades of poppy collecting.
I would agree that she deserves recognition, especially still doing that at her age.
But the work that involves probably pales compared with that man’s 56 years or whatever it was in the cadets, running a sqn, then being a WAvO etc.
I think that’s where the military has lost perspective, because they’d have been queuing to applaud that old lady and say how much she deserves it, but I get the impression getting an honour past the military chain is almost impossible.
You are not the military and you do it all in your spare time.
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