Gerald,

I believe this is strictly a contrivance of Ancestry.Com. I thought at one time that this term "Distinguished Service" diffentiated between men who deserted and those who did not. I did a lookup on Ancestry.Com for a member of the 39th GA Infantry, a unit dear to you, and found this:

Name: Meredith M Kile ,
Residence: Murray County, Georgia
Enlistment Date: 10 March 1862
Distinguished Service: DISTINGUISHED SERVICE
Side Served: Confederacy
State Served: Georgia
Unit Numbers: 388
Service Record: Deserted
Enlisted as a Private on 10 March 1862
Enlisted in Company B, 39th Infantry Regiment Georgia on 10 March 1862.
Received on 15 May 1864 at Dalton, GA (A Confederate deserter, estimated day)
Took Oath of Allegiance on 20 May 1864 at Military Prison, Louisville, KY (Released)

Source Information:
Historical Data Systems, comp. Military Records of Individual Civil War Soldiers. [database online] Provo, UT: Ancestry.com, 1999-. Data compiled by Historical Data Systems of Kingston, MA from the following list of works.
Copyright 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 - Historical Data Systems Inc.P.O. Box 196 Kingston, MA 02364

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This man definitely deserted, but is still listed as "Distinguished Service". Every Civil War soldier I've looked up on Ancestry.Com has this designation.

Jim