Sapper and Miner Award of Distinction
Sapper and Miner Award of Distinction
The Sapper and Miner Award of Distinction (SMAD) is considered a lifetime service award (typically defined as 30 years) as a member of the Engineer Regiment, military and civilian, in any component. This year the award will be presented to up to eight highly qualified individuals. The award is targeted at individuals whose contributions were in the military engineering “green suit” portion of the Regiment and who contributed significantly to the mission categories of mobility, counter mobility, survivability, general engineering, or geospatial Army engineer operations.
Award Eligibility Criteria for Approval
- The individual must have had an extraordinary effect on the growth and mission performance of the entire Engineer Regiment, and not just a sub-element thereof.
- Since this is an AEA award, the person is expected to have a considerable background with AEA as evidenced by AEA membership history, service at the local chapter or at the national level, participation in AEA events, having been previously awarded a de Fleury medal
- The individual’s connection with and contributions to the Army Engineer Association are a key discriminator for the SMAD.
- The person nominated may be living or dead. Nominations must be endorsed by an AEA lifetime member in the grad of COL or highter (active or retired)
Requestor: Anyone may submit an individual for consideration for the Sapper and Minor Award of Distinction.
Nominee: The nominee must be endorsed by an AEA lifetime member in the grade of COL or higher.
In addition to the AEA nomination form, a Sapper and Miner Award of Distinction must have the following information:
- 1-2 page bigraphy (or curricula vitae)
- 2-4 page narrative that clearly outlines the nominees’ accomplishments and explains how the accomplishments contributed t both the Army mission and to support the Army Engineer Association goals, objectives, and programs.
- The nomination will clearly state who the recommender is and include their contact information in case additional information is required.
Deadlines for the 2026 SMAD
The 2026 Sapper and Miner Award of Distinction process begins on January 1st of each year. The timeline for this process is:
1 January – 21 January: Receive nominations.
26 January – 13 February: Review nominations for completeness.
16 February – 20 February: AEA Awards Committee votes and ranks candidates.
23 February – 06 March: AEA President selects winners.
Questions about awards?
POC for the 2026 Sapper and Miner Award of Distinction is AEA Executive Director James “Jim” Rector. He can be contacted via email at [email protected], or you can reach out to our awards team at 573.329.6678 Monday – Friday 0830 – 1530.
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