For the first year of its existence, the United States Air Force adopted the Army’s Exceptional Civilian Service Award for use in recognizing the outstanding efforts of civilians in furtherance of the fledgling service’s missions. Just a year later, in 1948, the Air Force established its own version, the Decoration for Exception Civilian Services (DECS), to honor the superior achievements, exceptionally meritorious performance, and noteworthy leadership displayed civilians working the service. It remains the highest award given to civilian employees within the Air Force.
The award can only be given to those Air Force personnel defined as employees by U.S. Code, specifically Title 5 Section 2105, whose service is exceptionally meritorious and of major significance to the Air Force, performed in a manner that is clearly above and beyond that of other employees. These services must have been rendered as part of their assigned duties for at least one year, and must have yielded results that have a profound, Air Force-wide impact on program or projects; this must be documented by the provable development of improved procedures or methodologies, the introduction of revolutionary ideas that can be exploited to further the Air Force’s missions or to provide benefits to the government.
Employees who have previously received the Meritorious Civilian Service award may be recommended for this award. Recommendations should be presented as a narrative describing specific accomplishments and include a draft citation written in the third-person that includes job designation or organization, the period for which the award is being recommended, a summary of achievement (this citation should not exceed 90 words).
The recommendation and citation should be presented to the installation incentive awards committee within three months of the act or achievement to be recognized. The final approving authority for the DECS is the Secretary of the Air Force.