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 contributed significantly to the mission categories of mobility, countermobility, survivability, general engineering, or geospatial Army engineer operations.
Army Engineer School Awards
The Army Engineer Association recognizes and supports the U.S. Army Engineer School in recognizing outstanding performance and excellence in both individual and unit recipients at annual Regimental and Castle Balls.
This includes the SMAD, The Sapper and Miner Award of Distinction.
Award Criteria
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 grade of COL or higher (active or retired).
Submitting for Award
Anyone may submit an individual for consideration for the Sapper and Miner Award of Distinction, but the nomination must be endorsed by an AEA lifetime member in the grade of COL or higher.
In addition to the AEA nomination form, an SMAD nomination is expected to have the following attached to the nomination:
- 1–2-page biography (or curricula vitae)
- 2–4-page narrative that clearly outlines the nominees’ accomplishments and explains how the accomplishments contributed to both the Army Engineer 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
Timeline. The 2025 Sapper and Miner Award of Distinction process will begin on 1 January 2025. The timeline for this process is:
- 1 January – 31 January 2025: Receive nominations.
- 1 February – 15 February 2025 Review nominations for completeness.
- 16 February – 1 March 2025 AEA Awards Committee votes and ranks candidates.
- March 2025 Recommendations submitted to AEA BoD.
- March 2025 AEA President approves winner.
AEA Award POC
The submission should be made to the AEA Executive Director or the AEA Operations Officer at Fort Leonard Wood.
