Senior Chief Warrant Officer of the SA Army's Medallion for Excellence

Article by Warrant Officer 1 Trevor Wright
Warrant Officer South African Army Reserves

The Senior Chief Warrant Officer of the South African Army has recently instituted an informal award for good service in the form of a medallion in the shape of a teardrop, which is the shape of the Badge of Rank of Warrant Officers from Warrant Officer 1 upwards.

Each of the nineteen members of the Chief of Army’s Senior Sergeant Major’s group (CASSM) has a medallion to hand out while the CASSM collectively also has a medallion.

The idea is that, if any one of the CASSM members notices anyone doing a good job, that person can immediately be rewarded. The CASSM members will publicly hand the medallion to the person concerned and then make it his own responsibility to inform that person’s superior of the award.

The medallion can be awarded to any member of the SA National Defence Force or civilian who has rendered service that is deemed to be worthy of being awarded a medallion. The award is envisaged to be an incentive for people to strive to collect all twenty medallions. During a social function, any recipient may challenge any other recipient to produce his or her medallion or forfeit a drink to the challenger.

The medallion will be awarded to persons who better the image of the South African National Defence Force, especially the SA Army, merely by doing their duty to the best of their ability and going the extra mile.

We, the Senior Warrant Officers of the SA Army, encourage all members of the SA National Defence Force to endeavour to collect all twenty medallions.

Show us you are proud to be a South African Soldier.