"For Service Personnel to receive an MSM, an individual must have performed good, faithful, valuable and meritorious service, with conduct judged to be irreproachable."
a candidate must be nominated by their commanding officer
only the most worthy and deserving candidates are nominated. Candidates’ service and conduct must have been of the highest order throughout their career, acting as an example to others and reflecting credit on themselves and their Service.
http://defenceintranet.diiweb.r.mil....orEmployee.htm
MERITORIOUS SERVICE MEDAL
There are 201 medals available for award to Regular Forces’ non-commissioned candidates in each calendar year in the following ratios: Naval Service (Royal Navy, Royal Marines, QARNNS) 52, Army 89, and RAF 60.
0606.0601.The prestige of this medal merits personal notification to recipients that they have been selected to receive the medal. Commanding officers of Army and RAF personnel will be directed by the chain of command to notify recipients. Royal Navy and Royal Marine recipients will be notified by a personal letter from the Naval Secretary which commanding officers will be invited to hand to the recipient.
0615.0610.Personnel data processed for conferring by the Crown of any honour or dignity (ie. the grant of a State award) need not be disclosed. It is given a specific exemption at Schedule 7 paragraph 3 of the Data Protection Act (DPA). Furthermore the Freedom Of Information (FOI) Act does not apply as recommendations are classified as ‘Personal Data’.
0616.0611.The recipient of any honour may request sight of the full recommendation, references, and any other documentation relating to the issue of the award. Such requests for personal data made by the data subjects may explicitly cite the DPA, or it may be implicit in what they are requesting. In either case, the request should be considered under the DPA. Such requests can be refused, citing the exemption in Schedule 7 paragraph 3, namely ‘Personal data processed for the purposes of the conferring by the Crown of any honour or dignity.’ Likewise, a request from anyone who has been considered for an honour which was not awarded (or not considered for an honour at all) may be refused under the same exemption.
PS
The correct papa number is RED. If the link does not work then search for MSM on the intranet.