Ranked sixth in the order of precedence of awards issued by the Coast Guard Auxiliary, the Auxiliary Medal of Operational Merit (AMOM) was established to recognize Auxiliarists who have displayed outstanding skill in performing a meritorious operational service such as a rescue or an assist. For purposes of the award, “operational” is defined as involving direct or hands-on action or underway, surface, or airborne aviation activity.
The AMOM can be awarded for a single meritorious action of an operational nature, but the eligibility criteria have been worded so that it can also be used to honor a history of operational services that, if taken separately, would not merit an award, but which considered in toto are indeed worthy of acknowledgement.
Another important aspect of the award’s eligibility criteria is that while skill is necessarily required to perform any type of operational service, it need not be extreme skill, i.e., performing the operation does not have to involve any risk to the Auxiliarist’s life.
Auxiliarists who receive more than one AMOM are authorized to denote these additional awards with gold stars (each representing one awarding of the AMOM) and silver stars (worn instead of five gold stars).