State of FORCECOM January 2016

Good evening, Marines.
With some Brigades gearing up for their annual awards cycle, I’d like to review some specifics.
Commandant’s Campaign Award: This is the reporting cycle for units to report activities for the Commandant’s Campaign Challenge. Don’t know what that is? To quote the ‘Marine Force Manual’: This ribbon is given for completing or participating (certain criteria may have to be met to
qualify) in a Commandant’s Campaign. Still not much? This award is issued by the Commandant for those who volunteer in support of ‘Toys for Tots’ and the ‘Special Olympics’. For the 2015 award cycle any hours spent in support of the Sargent Major’s ‘March for the Disabled’ will continue to be counted.

If someone wants to use another project, there is no guarantee that it will count – that will be on a case by case basis as decided by the Commandant.
The data collection period covers from 1 Jan 2015 through 31 Dec 2015.
Please have this information to your BDE OIC in the Feb 2016 report.
T

his way I can make sure I get a report from every brigade and nothing gets missed. This info needs to be to me by 28 Feb 2016. If for some reason you forgot to include the information in your unit report, please send an email to your Brigade OIC ASAP with the specifics.
Needed info: Unit #, Rank, Name, SCC#, what project you were involved in, what you did for them, where the activity happened and how many volunteer hours spent. A minimum of 4 hours of service is required for consideration for this award. I will compile the list and submit it to the Commandant for his consideration.

FORCECOM’s Reading Challenge: My DCO BDR Liam Smith has the oversight for this project. This is a year long inter-Corps competition to encourage folks to read more and it’s honestly very simple to get involved. You can not count books that you are required to read for work. E-Books do count since you still have to read them. Audio books do not count at this time.
Your Unit OIC will need the following data ASAP and the rest of the year until the June report: Unit #, Rank, Name, SCC# and then the book title, author, ISBN and page count.
The Reading Challenge runs from 1 June to 31 May. I will compile all the data submitted and winners will be announced at IC this year. There are winners for Brigade, Battalion, Unit and individual [adult and cadet].
The top three in each category will receive certificates and first place in each category will be authorized to add a streamer to the Guidon [white with black block letters that says ‘READING (year won)’].
Awards and Nominations: As mentioned above, it’s coming up on that time of year to start your thinking about award nomination. As the Sergeant Major is fond of telling me ‘If you can’t come up with a reason why your unit and it’s members are the best of the best, there are problems.’.

Okay – I paraphrased that a bit, but it gets the point across.
Here’s the URL for the online form: [Link Removed – Old Post]
If anyone is having problems using the online forms, please report this to me ASAP. [We can’t fix it if we don’t know it’s doing it.]. If it’s a nomination for a Brigade level award, also let your BDE OIC know ASAP.
The person making the nomination should be getting an email telling them their nomination went through so if you don’t see that in your inbox, report the problem.
If you’re wondering what awards are out there, who issues what and if you’d be eligible for something, you can find descriptions of the awards on the SFMC website here: [Link Removed – Old Post] – or in the Marine Force Manual starting on page 57 – Section 8 – Awards, 8.2 SFMC Achievement Awards.

And if you’ve got questions, always remember to use your chain of command. Everyone from your Unit OIC up to the members of the General Staff are here to help you. Just run your thoughts and concerns up the chain and we’ll help you out.
That’s all for now. Keep it safe out there and be nice to each other.
Stand Easy, Marines.

BGN Jari “Gato” James
COFORCECOM