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Eligible periods In the years since the creation of the National Defense Service Medal, it is authorized only for the following time periods.
Iraq Campaign Medal According to the way the award is written, you get 1 bronze star for serving in Iraq during a specific period. The following are the established combat campaigns authorized for service stars to the Iraq Campaign Medal[1].
GWOT Expeditionary and Service Medals A similar decoration, known as the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, also was created under the same Presidential Order that authorized the GWOT Service Medal. The primary difference between the two awards is that the service medal is intended for those who performed duty within the United States while the expeditionary medal recognizes those who were deployed to foreign countries. Service members may be awarded both the GWOTEM and the GWOTSM if they meet the criteria for both awards; however, the qualifying period used to establish eligibility for one award cannot be used to justify eligibility for the other award.[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_..._Service_Medal Your post above indicates you have been in the service for 4 years. You have deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq and been deployed stateside? Not sure of deployment lengths for Marines but it would appear you have been very busy. You also imply that this is your second tour in Iraq. Can you explain? |
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I've read and laughed through some of these posts. When i joined it was rare to someone with more than 3 or 4, unless he was a real old sweat! Now our guys are in and out of combat zones like billy'o', so they're racking them up at an alarming rate, shame that it has to happen that way, but that is the nature of active service.
I have a couple of active service medals, of which I'm immensly proud and a couple of gizzits, which I like, but overall the best accolade I ever had was my troop buying my beer all night - did they pay that night!! It's not the medals, but the soldiers which make it all, they can show their respect or lack of it in so many ways. To my mind a medal is reflection of other peoples endeavour. For those that receive the award, I'm always pleased to see that they recognise other peoples efforts, for those that don't, do not worry, you're efforts arfe always appreciated, I for one will raise a glass to all of you, just let me know how many glasses I need to raise and I'll get started. |
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When I came from Active duty to ROTC the cadets were ooohed and aaahed by my fruit salad. Many times I had to explain to them that I rated most of the awards because I simply went to combat. Nothing more, nothing less. Or that many of them were "I showed up" ribbons. Very few of my awards actually mean anything, but my most coveted are my combat action badge and my 3rd Infantry Division Combat patch from the invasion of Iraq (and the PUC that came with it.)
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