Army Foreign Area Officers Association

The Military Order of Lafayette

The Military Order of Lafayette – AFAOA Honorary Society

The Military Order of Lafayette is the honorary society of the Army Foreign Area Officer Association. The association currently has three levels to its honorary award system, with additional areas expected to be introduced in the upcoming months/years, including a spouse award.  

The award cycle begins each year in January with an annual award call-out message to all Army FAOs worldwide. Nominations are accepted through May 30th of each year for Hall of Fame nominations and a rolling nomination cycle for the other awards. Hall of Fame awardees are notified by July 1st. Nominees are responsible for purchasing their medallions as the association neither makes a profit nor incurs a debt for the awards. Nominators are permitted to buy the awards for the individuals they are nominating.

Nomination form – Military Order of Lafayette Nomination Form

The Military Order of Lafayette comes in four levels: 

The Honorable Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Nicholson Award (Bronze)

The Honorable Brigadier General Charles Young Award (Silver)

The Hall of Fame Award (Gold)

The Spouse Award (Currently under development) 

 

Each award has specific criteria and they must address minimum to all three of the following questions: 

1)How has the nominee substantially advanced U.S. national security by authoring, supporting, or leading the development of foreign area officers or plans to tackle U.S. national security threats?

2) How has the nominee mentored and grown current or future army foreign area officers?

3)How has the nominee significantly improved the Army’s FA48 institution(s)?

Criteria: 

The Honorable Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Nicholson Award (Bronze) – minimum one tour as a FAO (IRT is not equivalent to a FAO tour), must fulfill one of three questions above, and must be an active member of AFAOA. 

The Honorable Brigadier General Charles Young Award (Silver) – minimum two tours as a FAO (IRT is not equivalent to a FAO tour), must fulfill two of three questions above, and must be an active member of AFAOA. 

The Hall of Fame Award (Gold) – minimum two tours as a FAO (IRT is not equivalent to a FAO tour), must fulfill three of three questions above, must be retired from active duty, and must be an active member of AFAOA.