I couldn’t agree more, but there probably isn’t the capacity in the Military Division of the Order to accommodate all of our ‘deserving cases’. Trying the Civil Division route is a non starter too because you’re competing against all other charities and voluntary organisations as well. I know that our Lords Lt suggest that their Commendations are one down from State Awards, but they’re not.
Just a thought and I’d be interested in peoples’ views, I’ve long belived that we need something along the lines of the military’s Meritorious Service Medal; a Cadet MSM if you like. A justified and carefully considered award that recognises the ‘above and beyond’ and which isn’t automatic after x years service like the CFM is. I’d probably limit the number to around 200 per year across all the cadet forces, that would make it special and if nominees didn’t make the grade, they wouldn’t get it just to fill quotas, so perhaps not all 200 would get awarded in a year if the field wasn’t good enough. I’d also suggest that there might be a need for a minimum qualifying criteria could be 25 - 30 years, but maybe not; the key thing is that it would be awarded following a written citation and formal Boarding by the MoD, not decided by single service cadet organisations. That way you’d get consideration of merit against the other cadet forces. And I’d have it available to all CFAVs, not just uniformed.