The U.S. Air Forces Central Command Decorations Processing Unit, or UDPU, reached the milestone of processing more than 500,000 military awards and decorations Nov. 21.
The 500,000th medal awarded was an Air Force Commendation Medal.
“I think it's important we take time to recognize the team and all that's been done in support of 500,000 Airmen [who] have been duly recognized,” said Richard Leech, USAFCENT Manpower and Personnel Division chief. “[The UDPU] was originally manned by deployed forces until the unit transitioned into an all-contractor force in 2003.”
The UDPU credits its accomplishments to the hard work and dedication of Airmen that serve today’s Air Force.
“I think hitting 500,000 is an important milestone because it shows the Air Force is trying to recognize its Airmen,” said William Tyrone Bailey, UDPU non-boarded decorations team lead. “Members deploy out there and sacrifice a lot — some sacrifice their lives. To complete 500,000 decorations is our way of saying thank you 500,000 times to our service members.”
The UDPU has four major sections: the systems section that maintains database submissions and website functions, data technicians who log submissions into the database, the non-boarded section that processes Air Medals and below and the boarded section that processes Bronze Star Medals and above.
The UDPU has 21 people processing approximately 300 to 800 submissions a week.
“Since award submissions are based on worthiness of an individual's accomplishments, the amount of decorations being processed varies depending on events occurring within the AOR,” Leech said.
Award submissions normally arrive at the UDPU via email and are stored within the submissions database. The award submissions are processed on a first-come, first-served basis regardless of rank or deployed location.
Non-boarded Awards
Non-boarded decorations do not require direct recommendations of approval or disapproval from the USAFCENT commander. For example, squadron commanders can approve Achievement Medals, group commanders can approve Commendation Medals and wing commanders can approve Meritorious Service Medals.
The deadline to complete processing for each submission is 30 days after receiving approval or disapproval.
Boarded Awards
Bronze Star Medals and above undergo a quarterly board process. A general officer, three colonels and two chief master sergeants from USAFCENT make up a board that returns to Shaw AFB to review higher-level decorations for approval or disapproval. The board provides their recommendations to the USAFCENT commander who makes the final decision. Once processed and approved, all decorations are sent to the USAFCENT commander for his signature.
“Regardless of approval, disapproval, upgrade or downgrade of a decoration, the originator and deployed senior leadership will receive an email notification of board results,” said Elisha Mcleod, UDPU boarded decorations lead.
Once notified, the originator should inform the deployed member the results of the decoration submission.
The UDPU was established in 2002 to process decorations for Airmen within the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility.