"Standards of Excellence"

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Without a doubt in Jessica Lynch's Ordnance maintenance battalion where 80 percent of the M16s jammed the field-grade officers and senior NCOs had all received MSMs when they PCSed and the junior officers and NCOs got ARCOMs. It had probably been going on for 10 years.

"We have standards of excellence around here."

Even worse, they got Bronze Stars before their deployment was up.

I've seen Active Duty O-6s relieved for incompetence at the beginning of their tours, being replaced with Reservist O-4s, and then the relived O6 is brought back in for the last month, and is then given a terrific OER, a Bronze Star and put back into the promotion que.