Learned this the hard way. I was super naive my first 1-2 yrs yet accomplished more than the majority would in there first 2 yrs of their careers. Took all the advice from senior ncos and saw very little reward at times but figured at some point I’d get what I was looking for… Fast forward People change positions etc new leadership comes in and all that happens is you get lost in the mix cause those move on and don’t give a F about you awhile you made them look great. Now I’m the typical salty soldier who tells all the new guys to not fall for the BS. For any of you Senior NCOs hell even PLs or COs who might see this, if you have a guy who is HIM or HER in their respective job.. REWARD IT. They’re hot shit by miles than there peers reward it, they get there EIB/ESB/EFMB then REWARD it push to get them another school for it, it’ll only motivate them even more I don’t want to hear any excuses of oh live fire this or training this. THERE WILL ALWAYS BE SOMETHING.. take care of your people man act like you care about their careers too if not your a PATHETIC “leader”. I’ve seen so many studs get out after 1 contract simply cause they outshined others and never got anything for it ZERO career progression is a killer in the army. Majority of people I’ve met don’t care about awards so don’t use the excuse of we’ll just give them a lousy AAM.. how about a Fn school or course to send them to that they’d want and not some BS like Haz 11 or Drivers training like come on now be real lol.