Army Awards: AAM, ARCOM & MSM
Practical, regulation-aware guidance for writing Army Achievement Medal, Army Commendation Medal, and Meritorious Service Medal recommendations. Every example here is validated against AR 600-8-22 rules and the IPPS-A field constraints — correct openings, mandatory closings, the AAM serial-comma convention (ARCOM and MSM keep the comma), quantified bullets, and no generic placeholders.
Awards are no longer hand-written onto a paper DA Form 638. A recommendation is created in IPPS-A as a Buddy Personnel Action Request (My Personnel Action Requests, then My Buddy PARs, then Award Recommendation). The recommender fills two text fields: the Achievement field (the bulleted accomplishments) and the Citation field (the certificate paragraph). These pages show exactly what belongs in each, organized by award and by context — ETS, PCS, or a single achievement.
The AwardMe generator produces both blocks from your plain-language notes and enforces these rules automatically — quantified bullets, correct citation opening and mandatory closing, the AAM serial-comma convention (ARCOM and MSM keep the comma), and no placeholders. AAM, ARCOM, and MSM, for ETS, PCS, retirement, or a single achievement. (MSM packets often include a Narrative field at the approving general-officer headquarters; AwardMe v1 generates the Achievement and Citation — narrative generation is a planned follow-up.)
Generate Award Content →Example AAM Achievement bullets & citation
A real, AR 600-8-22-validated single-achievement example — these paste into the IPPS-A Achievement and Citation fields. ARCOM, MSM, and the ETS / PCS / retirement variants are in the guides below.
Army Achievement Medal (AAM)
How to write a strong Army Achievement Medal recommendation: the Achievement block, the citation, the AAM no-comma rule, and how it submits in IPPS-A under AR 600-8-22.
Write an AAM for a Soldier separating at ETS: a sustained-service Achievement block and a date-range citation that meets AR 600-8-22 and pastes into IPPS-A.
Write an end-of-tour AAM for a Soldier on PCS: a tour-spanning Achievement block and meritorious-service citation that meets AR 600-8-22 and pastes into IPPS-A.
Write an impact AAM for a single act, exercise, or project: an event-anchored Achievement block and citation meeting AR 600-8-22, ready for IPPS-A.
Army Commendation Medal (ARCOM)
How to write a strong ARCOM recommendation: the Achievement block, the citation, the serial-comma rule, and IPPS-A submission under AR 600-8-22, paragraph 3-18.
Write an ARCOM for a Soldier separating at ETS: a sustained-impact Achievement block and date-range citation meeting AR 600-8-22, ready for IPPS-A.
Write an end-of-tour ARCOM for a Soldier on PCS: a high-scope Achievement block and meritorious-service citation meeting AR 600-8-22, ready for IPPS-A.
Write a high-impact ARCOM for a single act, exercise, or operation: an event-anchored Achievement block and citation meeting AR 600-8-22, ready for IPPS-A.
Meritorious Service Medal (MSM)
Guides & Examples
AAM vs ARCOM vs MSM under AR 600-8-22: which Army award is higher, the precedence order, when to use each, and the impact-vs-service (impact AAM / impact ARCOM) distinction.
The IPPS-A award workflow: My Personnel Action Requests, My Buddy PARs, Award Recommendation, and exactly which text goes in the Achievement and Citation fields.
Validated Achievement-block bullet examples for AAM and ARCOM across ETS, PCS, achievement, and retirement contexts. Action-verb, quantified, IPPS-A-ready.
Validated AAM and ARCOM citation examples for ETS, PCS, achievement, and retirement contexts — correct openings, mandatory closings, and the serial-comma rule.
What award a Soldier receives at retirement under AR 600-8-22, why most are MSM or higher, and how a culminating-tour ARCOM citation is written for IPPS-A.
Generate award content now
AwardMe produces AR 600-8-22-compliant Achievement and Citation blocks from your notes — ready to paste into IPPS-A. AAM, ARCOM, and MSM, for ETS, PCS, retirement, or a single achievement.
Open AwardMe →EvalMe is an independent private service and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by the U.S. Army, the Department of Defense, or any U.S. Government agency. Award criteria are summarized from AR 600-8-22; consult the regulation and your servicing awards office for authoritative guidance.