Posted on May 5, 2014
Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal - Should a specific time-frame/hours be established for award?
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**25 June 2015 UPDATE** There is no specific time period to qualify for award of the MOVSM; however, volunteer service must exceed 3 years and/or 500 hours of service.
The Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal (MOVSM) was established by Executive Order 12830, 9 January 1993, as amended by Executive Order 13286, 28 February 2003. It may be awarded to members of the Armed Forces of the United States and their reserve components, who subsequent to 31 December 1992, perform outstanding volunteer community service of a sustained, direct and consequential nature.
While there is no specific time period to qualify for the MOVSM (for example, 500 hours of community service within 24 calendar months), approval authorities will ensure the service to be honored merits the special recognition afforded by this medal. The MOVSM is intended to recognize exceptional community support over time and not a single act or achievement. Further, it is intended to honor direct support of community activities.
The Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal (MOVSM) was established by Executive Order 12830, 9 January 1993, as amended by Executive Order 13286, 28 February 2003. It may be awarded to members of the Armed Forces of the United States and their reserve components, who subsequent to 31 December 1992, perform outstanding volunteer community service of a sustained, direct and consequential nature.
While there is no specific time period to qualify for the MOVSM (for example, 500 hours of community service within 24 calendar months), approval authorities will ensure the service to be honored merits the special recognition afforded by this medal. The MOVSM is intended to recognize exceptional community support over time and not a single act or achievement. Further, it is intended to honor direct support of community activities.
Volunteering
Medals
Service
Edited >1 y ago
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 31
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Quality not Quantity. Let Commanders decide. You can volunteer 1000 hours picking up trash on the side of the road. Who cares? Chris Brown does the same thing. I'd rather see 10 hours that has an impact on someones life.
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SFC (Join to see)
prisoners have no choice but to do what they are told to clean up the community. volunteers are sacrificing their time by choice. Yes you are correct that building houses may have more of a impact but not everyone has that opportunity or skill to just go out and build a house. Volunteers cleaning the community save money which can in turn be used to help buy the supplies for the house that you have the awesome skills to build.
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SFC (Join to see)
Okay but in 10 hours do you really feel like anything can be done to truly impact people's lives? Outstanding volunteer service does not correlate to 10 hours. I think it's important to stress that while working for an organization like habitat for humanity, homes for heroes or the wounded warrior or any such organization is a great thing so is cleaning up the community. The purpose behind this award is to recognize great work done within the community while representing the military. I think a lot of people have this very skewed opinion that things like boss or the audie murphy club should be rewarded. There is a large difference in volunteer work and suggested service to the community at Large
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Big Army does enough to micro-manage local commanders. Keep it the way it is.
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I think the regulation is clear, that the approval authorities need to ensure the service to be honored merits the special recognition afforded by this medal. A few hours on a time-sensitive mission to find a missing child/adult are worth more in my mind than volunteering for a few hours at a pet shelter, however helpful that might be. If it was an Army standard, that would no longer be the case.
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