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Defense Superior Service Medal
Defense Superior Service Medal
Type	Superior service medal
Awarded for	Superior meritorious service in a position of significant responsibility
Presented by	United States Department of Defense
Eligibility	United States Armed Forces service members
Status	Currently awarded
Established	6 February 1976
	; ; Service ribbon
Precedence
Next (higher)	Silver Star Medal
Next (lower)	Legion of Merit

The Defense Superior Service Medal (DSSM) is a military decoration of the United States Department of Defense, which is presented to United States Armed Forces service members who perform superior meritorious service in a position of significant responsibility.

It is most often presented to general and flag officers, followed by a lesser number of Army, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Space Force colonels and Navy and Coast Guard captains. Presented in the name of the United States Secretary of Defense, it was established by President Gerald R. Ford on February 6, 1976 in Executive Order 11904. It is analogous and senior to the Legion of Merit, albeit awarded for service in a joint duty capacity.

Criteria

The Defense Superior Service Medal is the United States Department of Defense's second-highest non-combat-related military award and the second-highest joint service decoration. It is given by the Secretary of Defense to members of the United States Armed Forces who render superior meritorious service in a position of great responsibility. This service must be part of a joint activity. The award is generally for a period of time exceeding 12 months and encompassing an entire joint assignment. 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. It has also been awarded to a small cohort of U.S. military officers serving as astronauts for service leading up to and during Space Shuttle missions carrying classified and unclassified Department of Defense payloads. In these cases, the 12-month time period was considered to include the training period prior to that flight, which typically exceeded a year in duration.

Members of service-specific units are eligible for awards of personal decorations from their parent service. The DSSM specifically recognizes exceptionally superior service, and to honor a person's accomplishments over a sustained period. Joint or Department of Defense awards, including the DSSM, may be awarded posthumously.^[2]

Appearance

At its time of creation, it was decided the DSSM would be obtained at the lowest possible cost and with as little involvement as possible. For these reasons, and because it would rank just below the Defense Distinguished Service Medal for similar service, it was decided to use the same design as the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, finished in silver rather than gold, and with the inscriptions on the medal's reverse appropriately modified.^[3]

The medal is made of a silver-colored metal with blue enamel, and is 1+7⁄8 inches (4.8 cm) high. The obverse depicts a silver American eagle superimposed over a medium blue pentagon. The eagle has outstretched wings, with the shield of the United States charged on its breast. In its talons are three crossed arrows in silver. The tips of the wings cover a surrounding arc of silver five-pointed stars encircling the top and sides of the pentagon, while the bottom is surrounded by a silver wreath encircling the base composed of a laurel branch on the left and an olive branch on the right.^[4]

The reverse is plain except for the inscription at the top, For Superior Service. Below in the pentagon is the inscription From The Secretary of Defense To.^[4]

The medal is suspended from a ribbon 1+3⁄8 inches (3.5 cm) wide composed of these vertical stripes: Golden Yellow 3⁄16 inch (0.48 cm), Bluebird 1⁄4 inch (0.64 cm), White 3⁄16 inch (0.48 cm), Scarlet 1⁄8 inch (0.32 cm), White 3⁄16 inch (0.48 cm), Bluebird 1⁄4 inch (0.64 cm) Golden Yellow 3⁄16 inch (0.48 cm).^[4]

Subsequent awards of the Defense Superior Service Medal are denoted by oak leaf clusters worn on the suspension and service ribbons of the medal.^[2]

Notable recipients

Vice Admiral David Architzel, Navy
Colonel Casey M. Beard, Space Force
General David H. Berger, 38th Commandant of the Marine Corps
Command Master Chief Petty Officer Rudy Boesch, Navy
Colonel Curtis Brown, Air Force
Vice Admiral Nancy Elizabeth Brown, Navy
Captain Daniel Christopher Burbank, Coast Guard
General Michael P.C. Carns, Air Force
Sergeant Major of the Army Raymond F. Chandler, Army
Lieutenant Colonel Michael R. Clifford, Army
Colonel Eileen Collins, Air Force, NASA astronaut
Colonel Kim Campbell (pilot), Air Force
Senior Enlisted Advisor to the Chairman Ramon Colon-Lopez, Air Force
Brigadier General Jesse Cross, Army
Stephen E. Cross, Air Force
Brigadier General Susan Y. Desjardins, Air Force
Major General Sharon K.G. Dunbar, Air Force
Major General Charles J. Dunlap Jr. USAF
Colonel Patrick G. Forrester, Army
Lieutenant General Walter E. Gaskin, Marine Corps
Sergeant Major of the Army Julius W. Gates, Army
Lieutenant General John F. Goodman, Marine Corps
General Frank Gorenc, Air Force
Major General Wendell L. Griffin, Air Force
Rear Admiral Vincent L. Griffith, U.S. Navy
Sergeant Major of the Army Robert E. Hall, Army
Brigadier General Rebecca S. Halstead, Army
General Carter Ham, Army
Admiral Harry Harris, Navy
Lieutenant General Robert C. Hinson, Air Force
General Donald J. Hoffman, Air Force
Admiral Jonathan Howe, Navy
Lieutenant General Kenneth W. Hunzeker, Army
General Charles H. Jacoby Jr., Army
Major General Rodney P. Kelly, Air Force
Lieutenant General Frank Klotz, Air Force
Colonel W. Patrick Lang
Colonel Mark C. Lee, Air Force, NASA astronaut
Captain Rick Miller, Navy
Admiral Michael Mullen, Navy, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Major General Dennis J. Murphy, Marine Corps
Brigadier General Rafael O'Ferrall, U.S. Army
General Peter Pace, Marine Corps, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Major General Susan Pamerleau, Air Force
General David Petraeus, Army
General Colin Powell, Army
Brigadier General Chad Raduege, Air Force
Brigadier General John W. Raymond, Air Force
Vice Admiral Ann E. Rondeau, Navy
Colonel Jack Warren Russell, Army
Vice Admiral Joe Sestak, Navy
General John J. Sheehan, Marine Corps
Rear Admiral Jacob L. Shuford, Navy
Brigadier General Donald B. Smith, Army
Commander Guy Snodgrass, Navy
Rear Admiral Joseph C. Strasser, Navy
Brigadier General John Tree, Air Force
Lieutenant General David P. Valcourt, Army
Colonel James Voss, Army, NASA astronaut
General Glenn M. Walters, Marine Corps
Major General H. Marshal Ward, Air Force
Rear Admiral Edward F. Welch, Jr., Navy
Vice Admiral Frank D. Whitworth, Navy
Lieutenant General Frances C. Wilson, Marine Corps
Admiral James A. Winnefeld, Jr., Navy
Vice Admiral James P. Wisecup, U.S. Navy
Colonel Fred H Wisely, U.S. Air Force
Major General Walter H. Yates, Jr., Army
General Anthony Zinni, Marine Corps
Colonel Todd W. Burnley, U.S. Army

References

^ "Issuances" (PDF). www.esd.whs.mil. 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-09-12. Retrieved 2018-09-29.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Department of Defense Manual 1348.33, Volume 1 Manual of Military Decorations and Awards" (PDF). Department of Defense. Defense Technical Information Center. 12 October 2011. pp. 40–41. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 22, 2011. Retrieved 29 October 2012.
^ "Defense Superior Service Medal factsheet". US Air Force. Air Force Personnel Center. Archived from the original on 14 October 2012. Retrieved 28 October 2012.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Defense Superior Service Medal". The Institute of Heraldry. Archived from the original on 18 May 2013. Retrieved 28 October 2012.