Meritorious Service Medal (United States)
Meritorious Service Medal | |
---|---|
Type | Military medal (Decoration) |
Awarded for | Outstanding meritorious achievement or service to the United States |
Presented by | United States Department of the Army[1] United States Department of the Navy[2] United States Department of the Air Force[3] United States Department of Homeland Security[4] |
Eligibility | Military Personnel Only |
Status | Currently Awarded |
Established | 1969 |
Precedence | |
Next (higher) | Defense Meritorious Service Medal |
Next (lower) | Air Medal |
The Meritorious Service Medal (MSM) is a
Introduced in 1969, the MSM was long awarded as a decoration for peacetime achievement. Since 2004, it has also been bestowed in lieu of the Bronze Star Medal for meritorious achievement in a designated combat theater.[5] Normally, the acts or services rendered must be comparable to that required for the Legion of Merit but in a duty of lesser, though considerable, responsibility.
A higher award and decoration, the
Recipients
The Meritorious Service Medal is given to all ranks for meritorious service in the
Within the U.S. Army, according to AR 600-8-22, Paragraph 3-17, the MSM may not be upgraded to or downgraded from a recommended Bronze Star Medal. In the Army, an MSM recommendation that is downgraded will be approved as an Army Commendation Medal (ARCOM).
The
For enlisted ranks, the Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard typically limit the award of the MSM to pay grades E-8 (e.g., USN/USCG senior chief petty officer and USMC master sergeant or first sergeant) and E-9 (e.g., USN/USCG master chief petty officer and USMC sergeant major or master gunnery sergeant). Awarding the MSM to pay grade E-7 (e.g., USN/USCG chief petty officer and USMC gunnery sergeant) and below is very rare and by exception. In the Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard, the awarding authority for the MSM must be either a
Foreign military personnel in the ranks of NATO OF-5 (US O-6 equivalent) and below and people who have displayed a level of service that warrants an award of such magnitude may also be eligible to be awarded the MSM, if approved by a U.S. flag officer or general officer. To receive this medal, the individual must exhibit exceptionally meritorious service at that level of responsibility.[5]
Design and devices
The Meritorious Service Medal is a bronze medal, 1.5 inches in diameter overall, consisting of six rays issuant from the upper three points of a five-pointed star with beveled edges and containing two smaller stars defined by incised outlines; in front of the lower part of the star an eagle with wings upraised standing upon two upward curving branches of laurel tied with a ribbon between the feet of the eagle. The reverse has the encircled inscriptions "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA" and "MERITORIOUS SERVICE". The suspension ribbon is 1 3/8 inches wide and consists of the following stripes: 1/8 inch Crimson 67112; 1/4 inch White 67101; center 5/8 inch Crimson; 1/4 inch White; and 1/8 inch Crimson.[8]
The medal was designed by Jay Morris of the
Additional awards of the Meritorious Service Medal are denoted by bronze
History
At the Tri-Department Awards Conference (February 5, 1968), there was a discussion about the need for a third meritorious award to provide appropriate recognition for non-combat achievement or service comparable to that of the Bronze Star Medal for combat achievement or service. It was felt that the Legion of Merit's prestige was slipping because it was being used with increasing frequency to reward service below the Legion of Merit's intended standard, but higher than that required for the Commendation Medals of the various military services.[9]
An ad hoc committee was formed by the Secretary of Defense (M&RA) to select a name. On November 8, 1968, the committee unanimously approved the name "Meritorious Service Medal". President Lyndon B. Johnson established the MSM in Executive Order 11448, dated January 16, 1969. The Executive Order was amended by President Ronald Reagan per Executive Order 12312, dated July 2, 1981, to authorize the award for members of the armed forces of friendly foreign nations.
Until 2003, the MSM could only be awarded for peacetime service and could not be awarded in a combat zone; the MSM equivalent for those zones was the Bronze Star Medal (BSM). As in 1968 when the MSM was created, there were concerns that the prestige of the BSM was also slipping during combat operations in Southwest Asia that had essentially been continuous since 1990. In 2003, authority to award the MSM for combat zone service was authorized, retroactive to September 11, 2001.
See also
- Coast and Geodetic Survey Meritorious Service Medal, an award of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey
- Merchant Marine Meritorious Service Medal, an award of the United States Merchant Marine
- Meritorious Civilian Service Award – a comparable award given to civilian employees of the United States Departments of Defense and its agencies.
References
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-01-11. Retrieved 2018-01-10.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-09-18. Retrieved 2018-01-10.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Production publication" (PDF). static.e-publishing.af.mil. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-01-27. Retrieved 2018-01-10.
- ^ "Data" (PDF). media.defense.gov. 2017.
- ^ a b "Meritorious Service Medal". edocket.access.gpo.gov.
- ^ a b "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-22. Retrieved 2011-07-26.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "AWARDING AUTHORITY FOR MERITORIOUS SERVICE MEDALS > the Official United States Marine Corps Public Website > Messages Display". Archived from the original on 2015-11-21. Retrieved 2015-11-20.
- ^ "Institute of Heraldry Meritorious Service Medal". Archived from the original on 2011-01-13. Retrieved 2011-06-05.
- ^ Air Force Personnel Center Meritorious Service Medal Archived 2011-06-16 at the Wayback Machine
External links
- US Army Institute of Heraldry: Meritorious Service Medal (archived 13 January 2011)