These are generally easy to accomplish for deserving personnel and can be used for either military or civilian personnel. This means that you write it in memorandum form and submit it up the chain of command to the commanding officer. Your people will work harder if they perceive you genuinely appreciate them. One of the basic tenets of leadership is that a good leader takes care of his or her people. For assistance in getting started, see your civilian personnel officer if the recipient is a civilian, or your personnel officer if the recipient is military.
Personal awards are for individual heroic or meritorious acts.
Unit awards are awarded to ships, squadrons, commands, or units for heroic or meritorious acts. Service awards recognize individuals for duty in areas of particular concern, like the Vietnam Service Medal or the Navy and Marine Corps Overseas Service Ribbon. As an individual, you have a greater influence over being awarded a personal award or decoration than the other two types, so this section will not address unit and service awards. You should be notified in the Plan of the Day if you receive one or are eligible to receive one. Because you are most likely to be recommended for, or to recommend someone else for one of these medals, the following discussion will be limited to these three.