National Defense Service Medal

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Defense Medal)

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National Defense Service Medal

Awarded by United States

Type

Service medal

Eligibility

Member of the United States military during qualifying periods of
national emergency

Awarded for

Military service during periods of national emergency

Campaign

1) Korean War
2) Vietnam War
3) Gulf War
4) War on
Terrorism

Status

Active

Description

Obverse: Shows the American bald eagle, perched on
a sword and palm. Above this, in a semicircle, is the inscription
"National Defense".
Reverse: Shows a shield, as it
appears in the Great
Seal of the United States; it is half encircled below with an oak leaf
to the left and a laurel
spray to the right, knotted in the center.

Ribbon: The ribbon has a wide yellow stripe in the center,
flanked by narrow stripes of red, white, blue, white and wide red
stripes.

Clasps

Service star for
subsequent awards

Statistics

Established

Executive Order 10448, April 22, 1953 (as amended by E.O. 11256,
January 11, 1966

First awarded

June 27, 1950 - July 27, 1954 (Korean War)

Last awarded

September 11, 2001 - present (War on Terrorism)

Precedence

Next (higher)

Navy: Navy
Occupation Service Medal
Marine Corps: Navy
Occupation Service Medal
Army: Army of
Occupation Medal
Air Force: Army of
Occupation Medal
Coast Guard: Navy
Occupation Service Medal

Next (lower)

Korean Service
Medal

Related

Global
War on Terrorism Service Medal

Ribbon for the 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.[1]. 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 reenlisting during the same time period or
transferring between branches of service.

[edit]
Legal

Any false verbal, written or physical claim to the National Defense Service
Medal, by an individual to whom it has not been awarded, is a federal felony
offense punishable by up to 6 months in jail and up to a $5000 fine.

[edit]
Source

SECNAVINST 1650.1G (Navy Awards Manual)

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Defense_Service_Medal"

Category: Military
awards and decorations of the United States

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This page was last modified 16:09, 11 December 2007.

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