Meritorious Service Medal (with Oak Leaf Cluster)

Meritorious Service Medal (with Oak Leaf Cluster)

In 1977, Major Clark was awarded his first Meritorious Service Award as leader of the operations and training program for US Army Europe’s 35th Armor Unit and was responsible for improving the tank battalion’s skills and efficiency to make them combat-ready.

According to Battalion Commander, Lieutenant Colonel L. G. Nowak, Clark

“Upgraded individual, unit and battalion training programs to best in Division as demonstrated on [the] ARTEP [Army Training and Evaluation Program] Evaluation.”

Novak added in Clark’s evaluation report,

“The most brilliant and gifted officer I’ve known…Tough minded, forceful, yet sensitive to soldiers. Sets the highest standards, demands and gets results…Excellent rapport with Battalion officers who frequently sought his advice on personal and professional matters.”

Brigadier Commander Colonel Charles Prather added

“He was singularly outstanding, notably superb. The battalion’s operations improved continuously with his guidance and leadership. Training became so significantly better that word of Major Clark’s exceptional talent spread throughout the division…He is unquestionably one in a million…I have never been more impressed with an officer’s talent and dedication.”

Wesley Clark received an oak leaf cluster, or second Meritorious Service Award, in 1985 as commander of the operations group at the National Training Center in Fort Irwin, California.

During his tenure at the NTC, Clark revised the overall training program by improving scenarios, enhancing After Action Reports, and developing the first Brigade-level training exercise and the first heavy-light rotations, thus making the training more closely resemble actual battle situations.

At the end of Clark’s post at the National Training Center, Colonel Carl Vuono rated him “an absolute superstar among a crowd of great colonels in our army.”

About the Meritorious Service Medal

The Meritorious Service Medal is a military award presented to members of the United States Armed Forces who distinguished themselves by outstanding non-combat meritorious achievement or service to the United States subsequent to January 16, 1969. 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.

In 1968, there was a discussion on the need for a third meritorious award to provide appropriate recognition for non-combat achievement or service comparable to the Bronze Star Medal for combat achievement or service. It was felt that the Legion of Merit's prestige was slipping because it was being used with increasing frequency to reward service below the Legion of Merit's intended standard, but higher than that required for the Commendation Medal.

President Lyndon B. Johnson established the Meritorious Service Medal in January 1969. The Executive Order was amended by President Ronald Reagan in 1981 to authorize award to members of the armed forces of friendly foreign nations.

Source:

http://www.nato.int/cv/saceur/clark.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meritorious_Service_Medal_%28United_States%29
Wesley K Clark, A Biography, Antonia Felix