The commendations system is very similar to the permissions system as a whole, but there are certain exceptions.
1. Recommendations
Unlike the permissions system, where you can only promote those that you have command over, anyone in TAW can recommend a medal for anyone else. If this is performed by a Commanding Officer on a member of his unit, the award will be automatically approved (providing you fulfill the requirements of #2) and will be applied to the member's dossier. If, however, the Commanding Officer of a North American battalion tries to award a medal to someone in their division's European battalion, the medal will not be approved and will instead be sent up to the people that have command over both battalions (the Division Commander and Division Officer) for approval.
2. Special Awarding Restrictions
In addition to the permission based restrictions, there are also position associated restrictions applied to all medals, badges and tabs. For instance, while a Commanding Officer can award a tab, they would not be able to award the CIC's Unit Citation, which can obviously only be approved by the CIC. For more information on these "class" restrictions, please see the full explanation of commendations and citations.
3. Commenting on an Award
Anyone in TAW can comment on an award, but only those holding a position in the unit will be automatically notified via the admin menu that someone in their unit has an award on which they can comment. If, for example, a Gump Medal is awarded for something that many members have witnessed, an officer may want to share the link to the commenting section so the other members can add their own congratulations!