Reference · U.S. Air Force & Space Force

Order of Precedence

Personal military decorations and unit awards, in the order they are worn. Taken from the current Department of the Air Force instruction — including the award names most published charts still get wrong.

Source DAFI 36-2803, Table 2.1 and Table 2.4 Edition 3 May 2022, Change 3 of 21 January 2026 Criteria DAFMAN 36-2806

Four awards were renamed and nearly every chart online is still wrong. The Air Force Commendation Medal is now the Air and Space Commendation Medal. The Air Force Achievement Medal is now the Air and Space Achievement Medal. The Air Force Outstanding Unit Award and Air Force Organizational Excellence Award are now the Air and Space Outstanding Unit Award and Air and Space Organizational Excellence Award. The names changed when the instruction was rewritten to cover the Space Force.
The Distinguished Warfare Medal does not exist. It was established in 2013 and cancelled the same year, replaced by the Remote “R” device. It still appears on widely circulated precedence lists. It is not in the current instruction and cannot be worn.

Also available: Navy & Marine Corps order of precedence

Personal military decorations

DAFI 36-2803, Table 2.1, listed in order of precedence. Joint Department of Defense decorations — the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, Defense Superior Service Medal, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Joint Service Commendation Medal, and Joint Service Achievement Medal — are governed separately by DoDM 1348.33 Volume 4 and interleave with this list when worn.

    Unit awards

    DAFI 36-2803, Table 2.4, in order of precedence.

      Campaign, expeditionary, and service awards

      DAFI 36-2803 defines these three categories — campaign medals for long-duration combat operations, expeditionary medals for short-duration or imminent-threat operations, and service awards for support, time in service, or attainment of a requirement — but it does not publish their order of precedence. That sequence lives in DAFMAN 36-2806. It is deliberately not reproduced here rather than guessed at.

      Why this page is shorter than the others. The Army and Navy publish a single consolidated precedence list covering decorations, unit awards, and campaign and service medals together. The Department of the Air Force splits its awards guidance across DAFI 36-2803 and DAFMAN 36-2806, and only the first is reproduced here. Everything on this page is taken directly from the current instruction. Nothing has been filled in from memory or from secondary charts.

      Reproduced from DAFI 36-2803, Military Decorations and Awards Program, 3 May 2022, incorporating Change 3 dated 21 January 2026 — a work of the U.S. Government. It applies to the United States Space Force, Regular Air Force, Air Force Reserve, Air National Guard, and Civil Air Patrol where specified. Verify at e-publishing.af.mil and with your chain of command.

      Maintained by Hooyah Woodworks, Screven, Georgia. Veteran owned. Corrections: Jason@HooyahWoodworks.com