R 011336Z MAY 13
UNCLASSIFIED/
MARADMIN 233/13
MSGID/GENADMIN,USMTF,2007/CMC WASHINGTON DC PA(UC)/F002//
SUBJ/2013 AMERICAN LEGION SPIRIT OF SERVICE AWARD//
REF/A/MSGID:DOC/MCO P1070.12K/YMD:20000714//
REF/B/DESC:MSG/MARADMIN 003-09/YMD:20090106//
NARR/REF A IS THE MARINE CORPS INDIVIDUAL RECORDS ADMINISTRATION MANUAL (IRAM).  REF B IS MARADMIN 003-09 TRANSMISSION AND FILING OF DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHS TO THE OFFICIAL MILITARY PERSONNEL FILE (OMPF).//
POC/M. A. ANGEL/SGT/UNIT:CMC WASHINGTON DC PA/NAME:DIV PA PAC/TEL:703-692-1529//
GENTEXT/REMARKS/1.  THE PURPOSE OF THIS MARADMIN IS TO ANNOUNCE AND SOLICIT NOMINATIONS FOR THE 13TH ANNUAL AMERICAN LEGION SPIRIT OF SERVICE AWARD.  SPONSORED BY THE NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS OF THE AMERICAN LEGION, THIS AWARD IS PRESENTED ANNUALLY TO AN ENLISTED MEMBER (E5 AND BELOW) FROM EACH OF THE MILITARY SERVICES FOR OUTSTANDING VOLUNTEER SERVICE PERFORMED OFF DUTY IN THE LOCAL COMMUNITY.  THE AWARDS ARE PRESENTED DURING THE LEGION'S 95TH NATIONAL CONVENTION AND WILL BE PRESENTED FROM NATIONAL COMMANDER JAMES E. KOUTZ.  THE CONVENTION WILL TAKE PLACE IN HOUSTON, TX, 23 - 29 AUG 13.
2.  THE AMERICAN LEGION IS A NON-PROFIT, NATIONAL COMMUNITY SERVICE ORGANIZATION OF MORE THAN 2.4 MILLION MEMBERS WITH MORE THAN 14,000 LEGION POSTS WORLDWIDE.
3.  NOMINATION CRITERIA.  NOMINATIONS MUST BE FULLY SUBSTANTIATED AND REFLECT A CAREFUL AND CONSCIENTIOUS EVALUATION OF THE NOMINEE.  EACH NOMINATION PACKAGE SHALL:
A.  INCLUDE ALL APPROPRIATE ENDORSEMENTS, TO INCLUDE, AT A MINIMUM, AN ENDORSEMENT FROM THE FIRST GENERAL OFFICER IN THE NOMINEE'S CHAIN OF COMMAND.
B.  BE ADDRESSED FROM THE NOMINATING UNIT TO THE COMMANDANT OF THE MARINE CORPS (DIVPA/PAC) VIA THE CHAIN OF COMMAND.
C.  INCLUDE A STATEMENT THAT, IF SELECTED, THE NOMINEE WILL BE AVAILABLE TO RECEIVE THE AWARD AT THE AMERICAN LEGION'S NATIONAL CONVENTION.
D.  SHOULD CITE SPECIFIC EXAMPLES OF VOLUNTEER COMMUNITY SERVICE PERFORMED OFF DUTY AND SHOW HOW THE COMMUNITY BENEFITED FROM THAT SERVICE.  WHILE VOLUNTEER SERVICE WITHIN CY 2012 SHOULD BE INCLUDED, NOMINATIONS CAN REFLECT CUMULATIVE VOLUNTEER SERVICE DURING AN ENTIRE MILITARY CAREER.  FURTHER, NOMINATIONS MUST ALSO REFLECT OUTSTANDING MILITARY PERFORMANCE.
4.  NOMINATION FORMAT.  THE NOMINATION MUST BE IN STANDARD LETTER FORMAT AND INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION:
A.  NOMINEE'S FULL NAME, RANK, MOS, CURRENT DUTY STATION AND ADDRESS, HOME ADDRESS, WORK AND HOME PHONE NUMBERS, HOME OF RECORD, AND EMAIL ADDRESS.
B.  A NOMINATION JUSTIFICATION SECTION IN PARAGRAPH OR BULLETIZED FORMAT.
C.  NAME AND ADDRESS OF THE UNIT IN WHICH NOMINEE WAS SERVING WHEN CONTRIBUTION WAS MADE.
D.  A BY-NAME UNIT OIC AND HIS/HER CONTACT PHONE NUMBER AND EMAIL ADDRESS.
E.  ALL PERSONAL INFORMATION REQUESTED ABOVE IS NEEDED BY THE AMERICAN LEGION FOR COORDINATION OF TRAVEL AND TO ENSURE LOGISTICS OF AWARD RECOGNITION ARE MET.
5.  ADDITIONAL ENCLOSURES.  IN ADDITION TO THE NOMINATION LETTER AND PHOTOGRAPH, EACH SUBMISSION MUST INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING AS SEPARATE ENCLOSURES:
A.  NOMINEE'S BIOGRAPHY, CONTAINING PERTINENT MILITARY BACKGROUND INFORMATION.
B.  A PROPOSED CITATION IN STANDARD PARAGRAPH FORMAT TO BE READ AT AWARDS PRESENTATION.
C.  A WRITTEN AND SIGNED STATEMENT OF EXPRESS CONSENT BY THE NOMINEE, AUTHORIZING RELEASE OF INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THE NOMINATION, PER THE PRIVACY ACT OF 1974.  THE FOLLOWING STATEMENT IS A SAMPLE OF WRITTEN CONSENT:  "I, RANK/FULL NAME, DO HEREBY AUTHORIZE THE RELEASE OF ALL INFORMATION ENCLOSED IN THIS NOMINATION PACKAGE TO THOSE PERSONS INVOLVED IN THE SELECTION PROCESS."
D.  A FULL-LENGTH PHOTO OF THE NOMINEE AT LEAST 5X7 IN SIZE FOR USE IN DETERMINING MILITARY APPEARANCE.  PHOTO MUST BE OF HIGH RESOLUTION QUALITY, AT LEAST 300 DPI.  THE PRESCRIBED UNIFORM IS SERVICE 'C' FOR MALES AND SERVICE 'C' WITH SLACKS FOR FEMALES.  FOR DEPLOYED MARINES WHO DO NOT HAVE THE SERVICE 'C' UNIFORM, UNIFORM IS UTILITIES MINUS THE UTILITY BLOUSE, WITH LEFT SHOULDER FORWARD.  THIS IS AN OFFICIAL PHOTO, AND MUST ADHERE TO THE GUIDELINES ESTABLISHED IN REFERENCES A AND B.  ONLY AN ELECTRONIC VERSION OF THE PHOTOGRAPH IS ACCEPTABLE.  DIGITAL PHOTOS MUST BE SENT AS SEPARATE FILES FROM THE NOMINATION PACKAGE, PREFERABLY AS A JOINT PHOTOGRAPHIC EXPERTS GROUP (JPEG) FILE.  NOMINATING COMMANDS ARE ENCOURAGED TO UTILIZE LOCAL COMBAT CAMERA SERVICES FOR PHOTO PRODUCTION.
6.  A SAMPLE NOMINATION PACKAGE IS AVAILABLE VIA THE MARINE CORPS WEBSITE AT:  HTTP:(SLASH)(SLASH)COMMUNITY.MARINES.MIL/COMMUNITY.  CLICK ON "RESOURCES", THEN "LINKS".  ANY SUBMISSIONS WHICH DO NOT FOLLOW THE ABOVE GUIDELINES OR ARE RECEIVED AFTER THE DEADLINE (SEE PARA. 9) WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED.
7.  HQMC PAC WILL CONVENE A BOARD TO MAKE A RECOMMENDATION FOR THE MARINE CORPS RECIPIENT OF THE 2013 SPIRIT OF SERVICE AWARD.  FINAL AWARD SELECTION, HOWEVER, WILL BE MADE BY THE AMERICAN LEGION.  UPON COMPLETION OF THE SELECTION PROCESS, THE COMMAND AND SELECTED AWARDEE WILL BE NOTIFIED BY THE AMERICAN LEGION.  ADDITIONALLY, A MARADMIN ANNOUNCING THE MARINE CORPS AWARD RECIPIENT WILL BE RELEASED.  THE AWARD RECIPIENT SHOULD PLAN ON ARRIVING AT THE CONVENTION NLT 24 AUG, AND DEPART NET 28 AUG.
8.  SUBMISSIONS.  ALL NOMINATIONS SHOULD BE SENT ELECTRONICALLY VIA EMAIL TO:  HQMC.COMREL(AT)USMC.MIL USING BOTH PDF AND JPEG FILES WITH THE FOLLOWING SUBJECT LINE:  "2013 AMERICAN LEGION SPIRIT OF SERVICE AWARDS PROGRAM; ICO OF RANK/NAME."  MAILED, HARD COPY NOMINATIONS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.
9.  DEADLINE.  HEADQUARTERS, U.S. MARINE CORPS, DIVISION OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS MUST RECEIVE NOMINATION PACKAGES NLT 30 JUN 13.  NO EXTENSIONS OR EXCEPTIONS WILL BE GRANTED.
10.  LOGISTICS AND EXPENDITURES.  THE AMERICAN LEGION WILL PROVIDE TRANSPORTATION TO AND FROM THE NATIONAL CONVENTION IN HOUSTON, TX, WITHIN THE CONTINENTAL UNITED STATES, AS WELL AS ACCOMMODATIONS AND MEALS FOR AWARD RECIPIENTS.  ANY ADDITIONAL ACCOMPANYING GUESTS WILL NOT BE COVERED BY THE AMERICAN LEGION.  USING THIS MESSAGE AS A REFERENCE, COMMANDS ARE ENCOURAGED TO ISSUE TAD ORDERS SO AWARD RECIPIENTS MAY ATTEND THE CONVENTION.  SPECIFIC COORDINATING DETAILS, TO INCLUDE TRAVEL ARRANGEMENTS AND UNIFORM REQUIREMENTS, WILL BE SENT TO THE AWARD RECIPIENT BY THE AMERICAN LEGION FOLLOWING THE SELECTION PROCESS.  FOR ADDITIONAL LOGISTICS INFORMATION ABOUT THIS PROGRAM, CONTACT MR. JOE MARCH OR MS. DEBRA MURRELL OF THE AMERICAN LEGION AT TEL: (317) 630-1253 OR VIA EMAIL: JMARCH(AT)LEGION.ORG, OR DMURRELL(AT)LEGION.ORG.
11.  AWARD RECIPIENTS ARE REMINDED THAT IF THE VALUE OF THE TRAVEL BENEFITS RECEIVED FROM THE AMERICAN LEGION EXCEEDS 250 DOLLARS, AWARD RECIPIENTS MUST REPORT ACCEPTANCE UPON COMPLETION OF THE TRAVEL TO THEIR LOCAL SJA.  THE LOCAL SJA MUST, IN TURN, REPORT THIS INFORMATION TO HQMC JUDGE ADVOCATE DIVISION'S CODE JAR FOR SEMI-ANNUAL DOD REPORTING PURPOSES.  SF 326 IS AUTHORIZED FOR USE FOR THIS REPORT.
12.  RELEASE AUTHORIZED BY BGEN P.J. KENNEDY, DIRECTOR, MARINE CORPS PUBLIC AFFAIRS. //