I need some info on army medals.?

Question

I would like to find out about 2 army medals,and what they are for.the first is a "national defense service medal" and the other is"armed forces expeditionary medal" any one got a clue?

Answer 1

Your Items are US Military Medals and not just for the Army, but Navy, Air-force as well!

http://www.history.navy.mil/medals/afem.htm

20 June 1998

Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal

With major worldwide conflicts like World War II and Korea giving way to the Cold War's smaller regional conflicts, the Department of Defense developed the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal to recognize such duty.

The medal was authorized through Executive Order 10977 signed by President Kennedy on 4 Dec. 1961 and amplified later by Executive Order 11231 on 08 July 1965.

The Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal can be earned through U.S. military operations, operations in direct support of the United Nations and U.S. operations of assistance to friendly foreign nations.

A minimum of 30 days consecutive or 60 days nonconsecutive service is required for the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, unless the full period of an operation is less than 30 days, for which participation for the entire period is required. Personnel engaged in combat or a duty which is equally as hazardous, qualify for award without regard for time in the area.

Those who qualify for award of more than one Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal are awarded a bronze service star for each successive qualifying period.

Originally, the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal was designated to replace the Navy and Marine Corps expeditionary medals. This was the case from 1962 until 1978, when the two services' medals once again entered their inventory for service-specific operations.


The National Defense Service Medal.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Defense_Service_Medal

The National Defense Service Medal is a military decoration of the United States military originally commissioned by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Created in 1953, the National Defense Service Medal was intended to be a “blanket campaign medal” awarded to any member of the United States military who served honorably during a designated time period of which a “national emergency” had been declared.

In the fifty years since the creation of the National Defense Service Medal, it is only authorized for the following time periods.

* June 27, 1950 to July 27, 1954 for service during the Korean War
* January 1, 1961 to August 14, 1974 for service during the Vietnam War
* August 2, 1990 to November 30, 1995 for service during the Gulf War
* September 11, 2001 to a date to be announced for service during the War on Terrorism

The National Defense Service Medal is awarded to anyone who serves on active duty in the United States military during the above time periods. For service in the Gulf War and War on Terrorism, it is also authorized for members of the military reserve or national guard who are ordered to active duty for reasons other than military training. The National Defense Service Medal is further authorized to students at the service academies after they are sworn in as military officers, but is not granted to discharged or retired veterans who did not serve in one of the above time periods. The decoration is not authorized to members of the inactive reserve component.

Since the National Defense Service Medal has no other award criteria, except that a recipient must simply join the military, it is generally considered a low ranking service medal in the order of precedence for wear and display of U.S. military medals.

There is also not a time limit imposed for the medals issuance, meaning that someone who joins the military for simply a few days, and then receives an entry level discharge, would technically be entitled to the National Defense Service Medal. Although, in practice, military clerks will not add the NDSM on a DD Form 214 if the service member performed duty for less than 30 days. This accounts for the medal being omitted from a large number of "Uncharacterized" and "Entry Level" Separation Documents when in fact the veteran would be entitled to the decoration.

Multiple awards of the National Defense Service Medal are authorized for members of the military who served in more than one of the eligible time periods; such additional awards are denoted by service stars.

A second award of the medal is not granted for re-enlisting during the same time period or transferring between branches of service.

Answer 2

The medals you listed are not unique to the army, they apply to all branches.

One good web site to review criteria for medals is www.military.com or the web sites for each branch.

The NDSM has been issued several times over the years during periods of national emergency. Basically, if a person served in the military during one of those periods of time, they would be awarded the medal.

The AFEM is awarded to individuals who were assigned to units which supported certain missions or campaigns which were of national interest. An example could be a service member who served in Somalia in the early to mid 90s. Another example could be a service member who served with a unit which participated in the assault on Panama in 1989.

It is possible to be awarded one of these medals without being awarded the other one.

However, to learn more about medals and unit awards, visit www.military.com

Hope that helps you.

Answer 3

Starting back in the 80s everyone got the national defense medal for making it through recruit training. It was very disconcerting to see all of those ribbons on all of those boot camps.

The armed forces expeditionary is for someone who is in an area which has been designated a place in harm's way. It could be disignated as west asia, or the persian gulf specifully, or southeast asia.

I've got both and a few more.

Answer 4

National Defense is issued during a time of War. The Expeditionary medal means you were in a place you could have got shot at!

Answer 5

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Defense_Service_Medal

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armed_Forces_Expeditionary_Medal

Answer 6

type them into yahoo and look them up