- Established
- 1969
- Awarded by
- All services
- Criteria
- Outstanding meritorious achievement or service in a non-combat setting.
- Precedence
- #15 of 18 in this guide · below Purple Heart · above Air Medal
A peacetime counterpart to the Bronze Star, commonly awarded for a successful command tour or at the end of a long career.
From Wikipedia
The Meritorious Service Medal (MSM) is a military award presented to members of the United States Armed Forces who distinguish themselves with outstanding meritorious achievement or service to the United States. 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. 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.
Excerpt from “Meritorious Service Medal (United States)” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Notable recipients
- John McCain1936–2018 · Vietnam War
- Grace Hopper1906–1992 · World War II
- Tulsi Gabbard1981 · Iraq War
- Lloyd J. Austin III1953 · Syrian Civil War
- Lindsey Graham1955–2026 · Gulf War
- Jim Mattis1950 · Gulf War
- Tammy Duckworth1968 · Iraq War
- Wesley Clark1944 · Vietnam War
- David M. Brown1956–2003
- Ellison Onizuka1946–1986
- Susan J. Helms1958
- Joseph Kittinger1928–2022 · Vietnam War
- Michael Fincke1967
- Joni Ernst1970 · Iraq War
- Timothy Kopra1963
Images: medal (CC BY-SA 4.0, Instant gratification); ribbon (Public domain), via Wikimedia Commons.
