§ 578.38 - Army Reserve Components Achievement Medal.

(a) Criteria. The Army Reserve Components Achievement Medal (ARCAM) was established by the Secretary of the Army on March 3, 1971 and amended by Department of the Army General Orders (DAGO) 4, 1974. It is awarded for exemplary behavior, efficiency, and fidelity while serving as a member of an Army National Guard (ARNG) or USAR troop program unit (TPU) or as an individual mobilization augmentee (IMA). The first design bears the inscription “United States Army Reserve,” the other design bears the inscription, “Army National Guard.”

(b) Personnel eligible. The ARCAM is authorized for award to Army personnel including Active Guard Reserve (AGR) officers in the rank of colonel and below. Individual must have been a member of an ARNG unit or USAR TPU, excluding enlisted soldiers in an AGR status. AGR enlisted soldiers are eligible for the AGCM under the provisions of § 578.37(b). The medal is also awarded to USAR soldiers serving as IMA after completing qualifying service and on recommendation of the unit commander or HQDA official to which the IMA is assigned.

(c) Award approval authority. Approval authority for award of the ARCAM for ARNG units and USAR TPU soldiers is the soldier's unit commander. Commander, USA HRC-St. Louis, One Reserve Way, St. Louis, MO 63132-5200, is the approval authority for award of the ARCAM to USAR IMA soldiers. Orders are not published for the award of this medal. Approved ARCAM is announced using an official memorandum. The records custodian will then annotate the records.

(d) Peacetime and wartime applicability. The ARCAM is awarded to eligible Army Reserve Component soldiers during times of peace and war. However, during periods of war, the length of qualifying service is subject to change at the discretion of the Secretary of the Army.

(e) Basis or criteria for approval. (1) Between March 3, 1972 and March 28, 1995, the medal was authorized on completion of 4 years' service with a Reserve Component unit. Individual must have completed 4 years of qualifying service on or after March 3, 1972 and before March 28, 1995. A qualifying year of service is one in which a Reserve soldier earns a minimum of 50 retirement points during his/her retirement year. Qualifying service for computation purposes is based only by retirement ending year dates.

(2) Effective March 28, 1995, the period of qualifying service for award of the ARCAM is reduced from 4 to 3 years. That is, soldiers completing 3 years of qualified service on or after March 28, 1995 are eligible for ARCAM consideration. This change is not retroactive.

(3) All awards of the ARCAM must be made under the following conditions:

(i) Such years of qualifying service must have been consecutive. A period of more than 24 hours between Reserve enlistments or officer's service will be considered a break in service. Credit toward earning the award must begin anew after a break in service. Service while attending Officer Candidate School or Warrant Officer Candidate school will be considered enlisted service, and termination will occur when the soldier is commissioned or appointed a warrant officer.

(ii) Although only unit service may be credited for award of this medal, consecutive Ready Reserve service between periods of unit service will not be considered as a break in service and service in the first unit may be added to service in the second unit to determine total qualifying service.

(iii) Soldiers who are ordered to active duty in the AGR program will be awarded the ARCAM if they have completed 2 of the 3 years required (Army Good Conduct Medal eligibility starts on the effective date of the AGR order). Soldiers with less than 2 years will not receive an award. Service lost may be recovered if the soldier is separated honorably from the AGR program and reverts to troop program unit service, for example, a soldier serves 1 year and 6 months of qualifying service and is ordered to an AGR tour. This service is not sufficient for award of the ARCAM. When the soldier leaves the AGR program that 1 year and 6 months is granted towards the next award of the ARCAM. Only the State adjutant general may determine that the AGR service was not sufficiently honorable enough to revoke the previously earned time, regardless of the type of separation given.

(iv) The member must have exhibited honest and faithful service as is in accordance with the standards of conduct, courage and duty required by law and customs of the service, of a member of the same grade as the individual to whom the standard is being applied.

(4) A member must be recommended for the award by his or her unit commander whose recommendation is based on personal knowledge of the individual and the individual's official records of periods of service under prior commanders during the period for which the award is made.

(5) A commander may not delay award or extend the qualifying period for misconduct. A determination that service is not honorable as prescribed negates the entire period of the award.

(f) Unqualified service. (1) Service performed in the Reserve Components of the U.S. Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, or Coast Guard may not be credited for award of the ARCAM.

(2) Release from Army Reserve Component status for entry into service as a cadet or midshipman at any U.S. service academy or discharge from Army Reserve Component for immediate entry in the Regular Army, in an officer or enlisted status, is considered termination of service for the purpose of qualifying for the ARCAM.

(3) Service while in an enlisted AGR status may not be credited for award of the ARCAM.

(g) Subsequent awards and Oak Leaf Clusters. Second and succeeding awards of the ARCAM are denoted by Oak Leaf Clusters.

(h) Description. The medal is Bronze, 11/4 inches in diameter, consisting of a faceted twelve-pointed star with a beveled edge, the points surmounting a wreath of laurel and bearing on a disc within a smaller wreath of laurel, a torch between two swords crossed saltirewise, points up and flanked by two mullets. The reverse has the cuirass from the DA seal centered below “ARMY NATIONAL GUARD” or “UNITED STATES ARMY RESERVE” and above “FOR ACHIEVEMENT”. The ribbon is 13/8 inches wide ribbon consisting of the following stripes: 5/16 inch Old Gold 67105; 1/8 inch Ultramarine Blue 67118; 1/16 inch White 67101; center 3/8 inch Scarlet 67111; 1/16 inch White; 1/8 inch Ultramarine Blue; and 5/16 inch Old Gold.