The Defense Meritorious Service Medal (DMSM) is an award bestowed upon members of the

United States military The United States Armed Forces are the Military, military forces of the United States. U.S. United States Code, federal law names six armed forces: the United States Army, Army, United States Marine Corps, Marine Corps, United States Navy, Na ...

by the

United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and superv ...

. In the order of precedence of the United States Armed Forces, it is worn between the

Purple Heart The Purple Heart (PH) is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the president to those wounded or killed while serving, on or after 5 April 1917, with the U.S. military. With its forerunner, the Badge of Military Merit, ...

and the Meritorious Service Medal. The medal is awarded in the name of the Secretary of Defense to members of the Armed Forces who, while serving in a joint activity, distinguish themselves by meritorious service, but not of a degree to warrant award of the Defense Superior Service Medal. The medal is not the same as the Meritorious Service Medal, which is a separate federal military decoration. Both have virtually identical award criteria, but the DMSM is awarded to service members assigned to joint, multi-service organizations, while the MSM is awarded to service members in traditional military units within their respective individual services.

Criteria

The medal was first created on 3 November 1977 by President

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...

under to recognize non-combat meritorious achievement or service while serving in a joint assignment. The recognized service is typically for a period of time greater than 12 months, encompassing a recipient’s entire joint assignment, including extensions. The required achievement or service, is of a lesser degree than that required for award of the Defense Superior Service Medal, but must have been accomplished with distinction. A joint assignment "connotes activities, operations, or organizations in which elements of more than one Armed Forces of the United States, as reflected in joint manpower documents or the Joint Duty Assignment List, perform joint missions under the auspices of the

Office of the Secretary of Defense The Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) is a headquarters-level staff of the United States Department of Defense. It is the principal civilian staff element of the U.S. Secretary of Defense, and it assists the Secretary in carrying out au ...

; the

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS) is the presiding officer of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). The chairman is the highest-ranking and most senior military officer in the United States Armed Forces Chairman: appointment; gra ...

; or the commander of a Combatant Command". Service members assigned to or attached to a Joint Task Force as individuals, not members of a specific military service's unit, can be eligible for the DMSM. Members of service specific units are eligible for awards of personal decorations from their parent service. Personnel serving with jointly manned staffs within Allied Command Europe, Allied Command Atlantic, the

NATO Military Committee The NATO, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)'s Military Committee (MC) is the body that is composed of Member states of NATO, member states' Chief of Defence, Chiefs of Defence (CHOD). These national CHODs are regularly represented in the M ...

, and military agencies associated with functions of the military or other joint activities as may be designated are also included. In 2014, President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

with extended eligibility of the DMSM to include any member of the armed forces of a friendly foreign nation, thus authorizing recognition of those

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, Allied and Coalition officers and senior enlisted personnel assigned to/embedded in the

Joint Staff The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) is the body of the most senior uniformed leaders within the United States Department of Defense, which advises the president of the United States, the United States Secretary of Defense, secretary of defense, ...

, the Unified Combatant Commands and associated Joint Task Forces.

Appearance

Medal description

The Defense Meritorious Service Medal is made of

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 metalloid ...

and is in diameter. The

obverse The obverse and reverse are the two flat faces of coins and some other two-sided objects, including paper money, flags, seals, medals, drawings, old master prints and other works of art, and printed fabrics. In this usage, ''obverse'' ...

design consists of a circular wreath of laurel leaves tied with a ribbon at base. In the center is a

pentagon In geometry, a pentagon () is any five-sided polygon or 5-gon. The sum of the internal angles in a simple polygon, simple pentagon is 540°. A pentagon may be simple or list of self-intersecting polygons, self-intersecting. A self-intersecting ...

shape which slightly overlaps the wreath. Superimposed over the pentagon is an eagle with wings upraised standing at the base of the pentagon. The eagle is symbolic of the United States while the pentagon shape alludes to the Department of Defense, and the laurel wreath represents achievement. The reverse of the medal bears the inscription, ''Defense Meritorious Service'' in three horizontal lines while around the bottom are the words, ''United States of America''. In between the inscriptions is space for engraving the name of the recipient.

Ribbon description

The ribbon for the medal is in width composed of the following vertical stripes: White , Crimson , White , Bluebird , White , Bluebird , White , Bluebird , White , Crimson , White . The colors, crimson and white, are duplicates of the colors of the

Legion of Merit The Legion of Merit (LOM) is a Awards and decorations of the United States military, military award of the United States Armed Forces that is given for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievemen ...

ribbon. The stripes of blue (Bluebird) is the color associated with the Department of Defense. Additional awards of the Defense Meritorious Service Medal are denoted by bronze

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 spec ...

s, with a silver oak leaf cluster representing six awards. As a joint award, oak leaf clusters traditionally associated with Army, Air Force, and Space Force awards are also used for multiple awards of the DMSM to Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard personnel. These oak leaf clusters are attached to the suspension and service ribbons.

References

External links