"It’s important to me that the award system is fair, that leaders do spend a lot of time on it, they take it seriously and they are committed to making sure that people get the right recognition,” Dunford said at a recent awards banquet in Alabama, a Department of Defense release said. "It is really important to the force that we recognize heroism when it occur.”
Dunford made the statements during an interview about a review of honors requested by Defense Secretary Ash Carter in early 2016, the release said. Carter made the review request “to ensure service members who performed valorously were recognized at the appropriate level,” the release said.
Most branches of the armed forces have completed their review processes of awards, the Army review is still ongoing. “The Awards and Decoration Board recommended 8 percent of the awards be further examined for possible upgrade,” the release said.
Many awards given this year were upgraded after review from the board. “The Navy and Marine Corps recommended the upgrade of 30 awards, including two to the Medal of Honor, and former Navy Secretary Ray Mabus presented some of them earlier this month,” the release said.
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