| Meritorious service medal | |
| Presenter: | Kingdom of Belgium |
| Type: | Medal |
| Eligibility: | Personnel of the Belgian Armed Forces or personnel of non-Belgian Armed Forces |
| Awarded For: | Exemplary behaviour or act |
| Status: | Active |
| Established: | 25 February 2005 |
| Higher: | Commemorative Medal for Missions or Operations regarding the operational defense of the territory |
| Lower: | Commemorative Medals for Army Marches |
The Meritorious service medal for personnel of the Belgian Defence Forces and Foreign Armed Forces (Dutch; Flemish: Medaille van Verdienste ten gunste van de personeelsleden van defensie en van vreemde legers|, French: Médaille du Mérite en faveur des membres du personnel de la défense et d’armées étrangères) is a military decoration of Belgium. It was established on 23 February 2005[1] as a more rewarding successor of an earlier Medal of Military Merit (created in 1988) and is awarded to members of the Belgian Armed Forces and civilians working for the Belgian Defence who show an exemplary meritorious behaviour in the completion of their duties or who have accomplished an exemplary meritorious act.
The medal may also be awarded to foreign military and civilian members of a foreign Armed Force who have provided exceptional support to the Belgian Defence.[2] The Meritorious service medal is awarded by royal decree.
The original Medal for Military Merit was created in 1988 by ministerial decree and awarded internally within the Ministry of Defence. However, the creation of the medal was presented to the Council of State under the form of a ministerial decree[3] and the Council ruled that the creation of such an award should be done by the King, thus via a Royal Decree.[4] Therefore a new Meritorious Service Medal with a slightly different official name was created in its place in 2005, that was to be awarded by the King of Belgium. As the original Medal for Military Merit had already been awarded a number of times, the Royal Decree provided retroactively that the original medal is to be considered as equivalent to the new one.[1]
The Meritorious Service Medal is awarded by the King based on a proposal from the Secretary of Defence, the Chief of Defence or an officer with the authority of Corps Commander or above, for award to a person who:
One cannot be awarded the Meritorious Service Medal if one has already been awarded the Civic Decoration, the Military Decoration for gallantry or exceptional devotion or the medal of the Carnegie Hero Fund for the same acts.[2]
Award ceremonies are usually held only once a year, the medal is rare, with barely four to eleven yearly recipients. In the period 2009-2013, the Medal for Military Merit was awarded 55 times.The medal can only be awarded once to the same individual.When personnel receives a severe punishment, multiple light punishments or when they act in a way that is deemed unbecoming and has been punished accordingly, the King can revoke the award of the meritorious service medal.
The meritorious service medal may be awarded to military and civilian personnel of non-Belgian armed forces when they have collaborated exceptionally with and provided extraordinary support to the Belgian Defence.The Belgian regulation stipulate explicitly that such an award is exceptional.[2] In order to receive the award, the awardee must:
The award of the medal to a foreign service member can be done by:
The medal is circular and struck from bronze, the obverse bears the Escutcheon-only version of the Coat of arms of Belgium, the plain reverse usually bears the engraved name of the recipient and date of the award. The medal is suspended to the ribbon by a ring though the suspension loop. The ribbon is light blue with four vertical white stripes. The original Medal for Military Merit had the same design and hung from the same ribbon as the new one, only the statute differs.[1]