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Meritorious Service Medal (United States)
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. A higher award and decoration, the Defense Meritorious Service Medal (DMSM), is intended for similar services performed under joint duty within the United States Department of Defense, including the Joint Staff, the Unified Combatant Commands, and joint task forces under their cognizance. Recipients The Meritorious Service Medal is given to all ranks for meritorious service in the U.S. Army, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United States Department Of The Army
The United States Department of the Army (DA) is one of the three military departments within the United States Department of Defense. The DA is the Federal government of the United States, federal government agency within which the United States Army (U.S.) is organized. It is led by the United States Secretary of the Army, secretary of the Army, a civilian official appointed by the president and confirmed by the United States Senate, Senate. The highest-ranking military officer in the department is the Chief of Staff of the United States Army, chief of staff of the Army, who is also a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Other senior officials of the department are the United States Under Secretary of the Army, under secretary of the Army (principal deputy to the secretary) and the Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Army, vice chief of staff of the Army (principal deputy to the chief of staff.) The DA is a successor to the United States Department of War, Department of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flag Officer
A flag officer is a commissioned officer in a nation's armed forces senior enough to be entitled to fly a flag to mark the position from which that officer exercises command. Different countries use the term "flag officer" in different ways: * In many countries, a flag officer is a senior officer of the navy, specifically one holding any of the admiral ranks; the term may or may not include the rank of commodore. * In some countries, such as the United States, India, and Bangladesh, the designation may apply in all armed forces, not just in the navy. This means generals can also be considered flag officers. * In most Arab armies, ''liwa'' (Arabic: لواء), which can be translated as "flag officer", is a specific rank, equivalent to a major general. However, "ensign" is debatably a more exact literal translation of the word. In principle, a ''liwa'' commands several units called "flags" or "ensigns" (i.e. brigades, also called ''liwa''). * Russian navies refer to the app ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oak Leaf Cluster
An oak leaf cluster is a ribbon device to denote preceding decorations and awards consisting of a miniature bronze or silver twig of four oak leaves with three acorns on the stem. It is authorized by the United States Armed Forces for a specific set of decorations and awards of the Department of Defense, Department of the Army, and Department of the Air Force. The bronze oak leaf cluster represents one additional award, while the silver oak leaf cluster is worn in lieu of five bronze oak leaf clusters. Criteria and wear Oak leaf clusters are worn with the stems of the leaves pointing to the wearer's right. For medals, oak leaf clusters are worn on the medal's suspension ribbon. For service ribbons, oak leaf clusters are worn, with no more than four oak leaf clusters being worn side by side. If the number of authorized oak leaf clusters exceeds four, a second ribbon is authorized for wear and is worn after the first ribbon. The second ribbon counts as one additional ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Star
A star is a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by Self-gravitation, self-gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night sky, night; their immense distances from Earth make them appear as fixed stars, fixed points of light. The most prominent stars have been categorised into constellations and asterism (astronomy), asterisms, and many of the brightest stars have proper names. Astronomers have assembled star catalogues that identify the known stars and provide standardized stellar designations. The observable universe contains an estimated to stars. Only about 4,000 of these stars are visible to the naked eye—all within the Milky Way galaxy. A star's life star formation, begins with the gravitational collapse of a gaseous nebula of material largely comprising hydrogen, helium, and traces of heavier elements. Its stellar mass, total mass mainly determines it ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bay Laurel
''Laurus nobilis'' is an aromatic evergreen tree or large shrub with green, glabrous (smooth) leaves. It is in the flowering plant family Lauraceae. According to Flora Cretica (Kleinsteuber Books, 2024, ISBN 978-3-9818110-5-6) the stem can be 1 meter in diameter; the tree can be as high as 20 metres. It is native to the Mediterranean region and is used as bay leaf for seasoning in cooking. Its common names include bay tree (esp. United Kingdom), bay laurel, sweet bay, true laurel, Grecian laurel, or simply laurel. ''Laurus nobilis'' figures prominently in classical Greco-Roman culture. Worldwide, many other kinds of plants in diverse families are also called "bay" or "laurel", generally due to similarity of foliage or aroma to ''Laurus nobilis''. Description The laurel is an evergreen shrub or small tree, variable in size and sometimes reaching tall. The genus ''Laurus'' includes three accepted species, whose diagnostic key characters often overlap. The bay laurel is di ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eagle
Eagle is the common name for the golden eagle, bald eagle, and other birds of prey in the family of the Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of Genus, genera, some of which are closely related. True eagles comprise the genus ''Aquila (bird), Aquila''. Most of the 68 species of eagles are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just 14 species can be found—two in North America, nine in Central and South America, and three in Australia. Eagles are not a natural group but denote essentially any kind of bird of prey large enough to hunt sizeable (about 50 cm long or more overall) vertebrates. Etymology The word "eagle" is borrowed into English from and , both derived ultimately from ("eagle"). It is cognate with terms such as , and . It is broadly synonymous with the less common English term "erne" or "earn", deriving from , from , in which it acts as the usual word for the bird. The Old English term is turn derived from and is cognate with other synonymous ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Institute Of Heraldry
The Institute of Heraldry, officially The Institute of Heraldry, Department of the Army, is an activity of the Administrative Assistant to the Secretary of the Army solely responsible for furnishing heraldic services to the President of the United States and all federal government agencies. Title 18 of the United States Code, Chapter 33, Section 704 and Title 32 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 507 permit the institute to issue directives on how military insignia are displayed, the criteria for issuance, and how insignia will be worn on military uniforms. The activities of The Institute of Heraldry encompass research, design, development, standardization, quality control, and other services relating to official symbolic items—seals, decorations, medals, insignia, badges, flags, and other items awarded to or authorized for official wear or display by federal government personnel and agencies. Limited research and information services concerning official symbolic items ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bronze
Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloids (such as arsenic or silicon). These additions produce a range of alloys some of which are harder than copper alone or have other useful properties, such as strength, ductility, or machinability. The archaeological period during which bronze was the hardest metal in widespread use is known as the Bronze Age. The beginning of the Bronze Age in western Eurasia is conventionally dated to the mid-4th millennium BCE (~3500 BCE), and to the early 2nd millennium BCE in China; elsewhere it gradually spread across regions. The Bronze Age was followed by the Iron Age, which started about 1300 BCE and reaching most of Eurasia by about 500 BCE, although bronze continued to be much more widely used than it is in modern times. Because historica ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tulsi Gabbard
Tulsi Gabbard (; born April 12, 1981) is an American politician and military officer serving as the director of National Intelligence, director of national intelligence (DNI) since 2025. She has held the rank of Lieutenant colonel (United States), lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve since 2021, and previously served as U.S. representative for Hawaii's 2nd congressional district from 2013 to 2021. A former Democratic Party (United States), Democrat, she joined the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party in 2024. Gabbard was the youngest state legislator in Hawaii House of Representatives, Hawaii from 2002 to 2004. Gabbard joined the Hawaii Army National Guard in 2003 and was deployed to Iraq from 2004 to 2005, where she served as a Specialist (rank), specialist with the medical unit, and received the Combat Medical Badge. In 2007, Gabbard completed the Officer Candidate School (U.S. Army), officer training program at the Alabama Military Academy. She went to K ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Allison Black
Colonel Allison K. Black is an American retired military officer. She was given the nickname "Angel of Death" as an AC-130H gunship officer in the United States Air Force during the War in Afghanistan. She was the second woman to ever serve as command of the 1st Special Operations Wing at Hurlburt Field, from 2022 until her retirement in 2024. Military career In 1992, Black enlisted in the United States Air Force, serving as a Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape specialist for six years. She served as an SERE instructor at Fairchild Air Force Base. In 1998, she obtained her commission from Air Force Officer Training School after earning a bachelor's degree from Wayland Baptist University. She later obtained her pilot's wings from Undergraduate Pilot Training. Black later earned a master's degree in strategic communications from George Mason University and a master's degree in security studies from the National Defense University. In 2001, she was deployed as part of th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sergeant Major (United States)
Sergeant major is a senior non-commissioned rank or appointment in many militaries around the world. History In 16th century Spain, the ("sergeant major") was a general officer. He commanded an army's infantry, and ranked about third in the army's command structure; he also acted as a sort of chief of staff to the army's commander. In the 17th century, sergeant majors appeared in individual regiments. These were field officers, third in command of their regiments (after their colonels and lieutenant colonels), with a role similar to the older, army-level sergeant major (although obviously on a smaller scale). The older position became known as " sergeant major general" to distinguish it. Over time, the term "sergeant" was dropped from both titles, giving rise to the modern ranks of major and major general. The full title of sergeant major fell out of use until the latter part of the 18th century, when it began to be applied to the senior non-commissioned officer of an in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Master Gunnery Sergeant
Master gunnery sergeant (MGySgt) is the 9th and highest enlisted grade in the United States Marine Corps. Master gunnery sergeants are senior staff non-commissioned officers (SNCOs) with the pay grade of E-9, equivalent to sergeants major and the Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps. As E-9s, they tend to serve for about 15 to 30 years, and advise commanders on subjects relating to the enlisted. Etymology Master gunnery sergeants are sometimes referred to by the nicknames "Master Guns" or "Master Gunny". These nicknames are considered unacceptable in formal or ceremonial situations and, at the rank holder's discretion, may also be unacceptable for use by lower-ranking marines. The master gunnery sergeant insignia consists of an exploding bomb centered vertically between three chevrons and four rockers. History The grade was derived from another grade unique to the United States Marine Corps, the gunnery sergeant, and has been in use (though not continuously) since the time ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
