Military Medals: Efforts to Expedite Their Distribution to Veterans

摘要

The armed forces are responsible for ensuring that former military members receive, upon application, all medals which were earned but never issued and any replacements needed. A surge of requests for medals in early 1983 resulted in significant delays in issuing the medals. GAO found that this problem has been largely corrected. However, the center that processes requests for medals from all except Army veterans has considered transferring its responsibility for the distribution of medals back to the individual services although they do not have the organizations or procedures in place to immediately perform this function effectively. This could cause additional delays, if implemented.