DA Form 638, Recommendation for Award: Narrative and IPPS-A Submission

To fill out DA Form 638, you identify the Soldier and the award in the top blocks using data pulled straight from the Official Record Brief or Enlisted Record Brief, write a measurable narrative in Block 20 and a citation within the line limits in Block 21, sign as the recommender, and route the form through the chain of command — almost always in IPPS-A — for endorsement and approval under Army Regulation 600-8-22.¹ The recommendation has to reach official channels within two years of the act being recognized for most decorations, so the sequence below matters as much as the content of any single block.

Pick the Award Before You Open the Form

The award you select decides who can approve the recommendation, how long the citation may run, and whether the narrative fits inside Block 20 or has to go on a separate page. Awards fall into three broad categories:

Achievement awards, such as the Army Achievement Medal and Army Commendation Medal, for a specific accomplishment or short-term contribution.
Service awards, such as the Meritorious Service Medal and Legion of Merit, for sustained meritorious performance over a defined period.
Valor awards, such as the Bronze Star Medal with “V” device and Army Commendation Medal with “V” device, for heroism in connection with military operations against an armed enemy.

Recommending too high adds approval layers and invites a downgrade. Recommending too low shortchanges the Soldier. Match the award to the scope and measurable impact of what actually happened.

Blocks 1–19: Soldier and Recommender Information

Administrative errors in the top of the form are the single most common reason recommendations get returned before anyone reads the narrative. Pull every data point from the Soldier’s ORB or ERB rather than relying on memory.²

Block 1: address of the final approval authority for the award you selected, not the Soldier’s immediate supervisor.
Block 2: address of the Soldier’s immediate commander, meaning the command actually sending the recommendation up.
Block 3: auto-fills once you sign Block 19, so skip it for now.
Block 4: Soldier’s complete name. Use the “SET NAME” button if you are working in the fillable PDF.
Block 5: Soldier’s current rank.
Blocks 6–7: SSN or DoD ID Number, and unit designation.
Block 8: all previous individual decorations, including oak leaf clusters or numerals (for example, “AAM-2OLC”). If the Soldier has no prior awards, enter “NO AWDS.” This list must match the current ORB or ERB.
Block 9: used only when recommending a member of another U.S. Armed Service branch or foreign military personnel. For foreign personnel, enter the country name.
Block 10: the specific award being recommended, including the oak leaf cluster number if applicable (a second MSM is entered as “MSM-1 OLC”).
Block 11: period covered by the proposed award, in YYYYMMDD format. Do not overlap with the period of any previously awarded decoration.
Blocks 12–19: recommender identification, signature, and administrative data. Fill in your own rank, position, and contact information to establish authority to initiate the recommendation.

Block 20: The Narrative

Block 20 is where most recommendations succeed or fail. The narrative is the only evidence available to leaders who never saw the Soldier’s actions firsthand, so vague praise like “performed above and beyond” does almost nothing. Every bullet should answer three questions: what did the Soldier do, how did they do it, and what measurable result did it produce?

For the Army Achievement Medal, Army Commendation Medal, and Meritorious Service Medal, write the narrative directly in the Block 20 space using bullet format.² Lean on hard numbers: dollars saved, personnel trained, hours invested, percentage improvements in readiness scores. A bullet like “managed a $2.3 million property book with zero losses across a 15-month deployment” carries far more weight than “expertly managed organizational property.”

For the Bronze Star Medal and above, the narrative moves to a separate typed page with one-inch margins and double spacing, limited to a single page for most awards. Recommendations for the Distinguished Service Medal and above may exceed one page.

Block 21: The Citation

The citation is the formal text read at the award ceremony and printed on the certificate. For the AAM, ARCOM, and MSM, the citation goes directly in Block 21 and cannot exceed six lines.² The limit is rigid. If your citation spills over, the form comes back.

For the Bronze Star Medal, Air Medal, and higher awards, the citation is prepared on a separate page with one-inch margins, limited to 18 lines in 12-point font. Keep the tone dignified but specific enough that someone hearing it understands what the Soldier actually accomplished. Many recommenders draft the citation and narrative together, since the citation is essentially a compressed version of the narrative.

Extra Requirements for Valor Awards

Valor recommendations demand more documentation than achievement or service awards. The narrative must address:

Terrain and weather conditions during the action.
Enemy situation, including proximity, firepower, and casualties.
The direct effect the Soldier’s actions had on the enemy.
What nearby comrades were doing and their level of involvement.
Whether the act was voluntary and how far it exceeded what was normally expected.
For actions in flight, the aircraft type and the individual’s crew position.

Valor packages must also include DA Form 7791, the eyewitness statement enclosure. Notarized eyewitness statements from others present during the action add credibility. Medal of Honor recommendations require a complete Army Regulation 15-6 investigation.

Blocks 22–25 and the Approval Chain

Block 22 is signed by the staff section administrative clerk, who verifies the Soldier’s eligibility for the recommended decoration before routing continues. After the recommender signs, the form moves upward through intermediate commanders who each indicate concurrence or non-concurrence in Blocks 23 through 25.² Each endorser can add comments or recommend a different award level if they believe the proposed decoration doesn’t fit the achievement.

The approval authority depends on the specific award and the Soldier’s rank. A company commander typically has authority for achievement-level medals; a battalion or brigade commander handles awards like the Meritorious Service Medal; the Medal of Honor is awarded by the President.¹ If you aren’t sure who holds approval authority, check the tables in Chapter 3 of AR 600-8-22. Submitting to the wrong authority adds weeks. Blocks 26 through 31 are completed by the orders-issuing authority after approval, not by the recommender.

Submitting the Recommendation in IPPS-A

Most units now process award recommendations electronically through the Integrated Personnel and Pay System–Army rather than routing paper. The workflow:

Log in to the IPPS-A portal and select “My Personnel Action Request,” then “My Buddy PARs.”
Choose “Create Personnel Action” and select “Award Recommendation” as the action type.
Pick the award from the dropdown and enter the period-of-award start and end dates. Do not overlap with any previously awarded decoration.
Enter a proposed presentation date. State-approved awards (MSM and below) generally require a presentation date at least 45 days out.
Add the citation text, narrative (if required for the award level), and any supporting documents.
Run the eligibility check and validation tools before submitting.
Preview the approval chain for accuracy. A wrong routing chain is one of the most fixable but most common delays.

After submission, IPPS-A tracks the recommendation as it moves through each approval level.³

Deadlines You Cannot Miss

For most decorations, the recommendation must be signed by the initiating official and endorsed by a higher official within two years of the act, achievement, or service being recognized.⁴ Miss that window and you lose the ability to submit through normal channels.

The Medal of Honor, Distinguished Service Cross, and Distinguished Service Medal follow a tighter standard: the recommendation must enter official channels within three years of the act and be awarded within five years.¹

Exceptions to the two-year rule:

The Purple Heart is not subject to any time limit because it is awarded based on meeting wound criteria rather than a recommendation.
If the recommender or the Soldier was a prisoner of war, missing in action, or medically incapacitated and could not submit within two years, the Silver Star or a lesser decoration may be approved regardless of time passed.
Campaign and service medals are based on service record verification and have no time limit.
If the Secretary of the Army determines a recommendation was properly submitted on time but never acted on due to loss or oversight, the decoration may be awarded within two years of that determination.⁴

For recommendations that have completely missed the deadline, a Member of Congress can request the Secretary of the Army to review the case under 10 U.S.C. 1130. The Secretary then reports the determination to the Armed Services Committees of both chambers and to the requesting Member.⁵

Timing for Retirement and End-of-Service Awards

Recommendations tied to a retirement or farewell need far more lead time than routine awards. Award recommendations requiring Director of the Army National Guard approval should be submitted no later than 90 days before the proposed presentation date and no earlier than 120 days before it. Recommendations routed to Headquarters, Department of the Army must be submitted between 120 and 150 days before the presentation date.⁶

Submitting outside those windows requires a letter of lateness signed by the first colonel in the chain of command. Start the recommendation as soon as a retirement date is confirmed.

After Approval: Orders, Certificate, and iPERMS

Once the approval authority signs off, the recommendation becomes a Permanent Order. The S-1 assigns an order number and generates the certificate for presentation. The approved award documentation is then uploaded into the Soldier’s Army Military Human Resource Record through iPERMS.⁷

Processing speed varies by award level, component, and how clean the original submission was. Soldiers should check their AMHRR after the ceremony to confirm the decoration appears. If it doesn’t, contact the S-1 with the order number, because documents occasionally fail to upload and need to be manually scanned into iPERMS.

If the Award Is Disapproved or Downgraded

When a recommendation is disapproved or downgraded, the recommender or chain of command gets one shot at reconsideration by the approval authority, and that single reconsideration is final.⁸ The request must be placed in official channels within one year of the approval authority’s decision.

A reconsideration package must include:

The original DA Form 638 with all chain-of-command endorsements and supporting documentation. If the original is unavailable, request copies from the National Archives or the relevant S-1, G-1, or J-1 section.
New, substantive information that changes the scope or significance of the Soldier’s actions. Restating the same facts or attaching irrelevant material does not justify reconsideration, and allegations of bias or improper processing are not grounds for an upgrade.
A letter of justification no longer than two single-spaced typed pages describing what new information was not previously known or considered.
A new DA Form 638 for the proposed award, signed by a qualified living recommender, with the new information reflected in the narrative and citation. The former chain of command must endorse the new form in Blocks 23 through 25.
For valor awards, official documentation such as After Action Reports, S2/S3 journals, unit histories, and notarized eyewitness statements.

If more than one year has passed since the approval authority’s decision, the normal reconsideration window is closed. The only remaining path is a referral by an active Member of Congress under 10 U.S.C. 1130, routed through the HRC Awards Branch.⁵

1
Department of the Army. Army Regulation 600-8-22 – Military Awards
2
U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command. DA Form 638, Recommendation for Award Instructions
3
Rhode Island National Guard. DA Form 638 Recommendation for Award Procedures – IPPS-A Awards Submission Process
4
U.S. Army Human Resources Command. Title 10 USC 1130 Processing Guidance
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 10 USC 1130 – Consideration of Military Decorations
6
National Guard Bureau. Army National Guard Submission Procedures for Title 32 Federal Awards in Recognition for Service, Achievement, and Retirement
7
U.S. Army Human Resources Command. Soldiers and the Record Review
8
U.S. Army Human Resources Command. Basic Information and Documentation Required for Submission of a Request for Reconsideration of an Approved, Disapproved, or Downgraded Award Recommendation