New stars for soldiers
Awards distinguish Iraq and Afghanistan campaigns
Campaign stars have been approved for wear on the Afghanistan and Iraq Campaign Medals authorized for the nearly 805,000 soldiers who have served in those combat theaters.
The campaign stars recognize service members for participating in designated campaign phases — not multiple deployments — within the areas of eligibility. the two campaign medals were established in 2005 as replacements for the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal.
Basic eligibility criteria requires that soldiers must have been assigned, attached or mobilized to units operating in the area of eligibility for 30 consecutive days, or 60 nonconsecutive days, to be eligible for the medals.
Aircrew members accrue one day of eligibility for each day they fly into, out of, or over the area of eligibility in direct support of military operations.
Soldiers also are eligible if they engage in combat, or are wounded or injured and require medical evacuation, regardless of the time, in a designated area.
The medals can be awarded posthumously.
Army leaders will issue implementation guidance by the end of May at the latest, said Lt. Col. Kevin Arata, spokesman for Human Resources Command.
“Our intent is to make sure the soldiers know the guidance as soon as possible,” he said.
Sgt. 1st Class Michael Deliberti of Fort Stewart, Ga., who recently completed his third tour in Iraq, said the new policy for campaign stars will be a morale-booster for his soldiers.
“For my guys I think it would be really good because a lot of them are young and a lot of them have done multiple tours,” said Deliberti, platoon sergeant for 2nd Platoon, Company C, 2nd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment. He took part in the initial invasion of Iraq, serving primarily in Baghdad from February 2003 to September 2003. He returned to Iraq in January 2005 for a year in Tikrit and spent 15 months in Ramadi beginning in January 2007.
Of the 19 men in his platoon during this most recent deployment, only four were in Iraq for the first time.
“I think it’ll be good … when anybody checks into a unit, at least their first sergeant or sergeant major knows they’re getting somebody with experience,” he said. “Of course, the younger guys get bragging rights, too.”
Other soldiers were nonchalant about the new policy.
“It’s not the badge or the medals that make the person,” said Staff Sgt. Mark Spainhour, a combat medic who served in Afghanistan from 2004-05 and now is stationed at Fort Benning, Ga.
“You could take all that away and you’re still going to have the exact same guy.”
Some soldiers interviewed at Fort Benning, Ga., downplayed the importance of campaign medals, noting they are not worn on the Army Combat Uniform and that other items, such as combat patches, signify war-zone duty.
“It is kind of overkill. It kind of gets to the point when you don’t even wear this stuff because we wear ACUs most of the time,” said Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Noell, who served as a platoon sergeant in Afghanistan from 2004 to 2005 and in Iraq from 2006 to 2007. “I think it’s vanity.”
Information maintained by the Defense Manpower Data Center and Army Forces Command indicates that 666,000 soldiers have deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq, and that 139,000 now are deployed to those areas — 24,000 in Afghanistan and 115,000 in Iraq.
Virtually all these soldiers are eligible for the medals and campaign stars.
Because the stars are authorized for service during specific phases of the wars, soldiers who have served multiple tours do not qualify for multiple stars unless their tours occurred during different campaign phases.
The Afghanistan Campaign Medal is authorized for soldiers who have served in direct support of Operation Enduring Freedom on, or after, Sept. 11, 2001, to a future date to be determined by the secretary of defense. The area of eligibility includes the land mass of Afghanistan and all airspace above that land.
Soldiers who qualify for the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal by reason of having served in Afghanistan during Sept. 11, 2001-April 30, 2005, remain qualified for that medal, but can elect to have it replaced by the ACM, which is now eligible for campaign stars.
However, soldiers are not entitled to both medals for the same period of service.
Soldiers qualify for the Iraq Campaign Medal if they have served in direct support of Operation Iraqi Freedom on, or after, March 19, 2003, until a date to be determined.
The qualifying area includes the land mass of Iraq, the contiguous water area out to 12 nautical miles, and the airspace above those land and water areas.
And, soldiers who are qualified to wear the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal as a result of service in Iraq during March 19, 2003-April 30, 2005, have the option of replacing it with the Iraq Campaign Medal and any campaign stars they may be eligible for as a result of the new policy.
When worn on a uniform, the ACM should be positioned below the Kosovo Campaign Medal and above the Iraq Campaign Medal.
The ICM should be positioned below the Afghanistan Campaign Medal and above the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal.
The campaign stars authorized for these medals are bronze or silver five-pointed stars, and are 3/16 of an inch in diameter. A silver star is worn in lieu of five bronze campaign stars.
A directive issued April 16 by Michael L. Dominguez, deputy undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, designates three phases of Operation Enduring Freedom and four phases of Operation Iraqi Freedom as qualifying for a campaign star, from the beginning of those wars to current operations.
The Defense Department has directed that the Joint Staff, in coordination with combatant commanders, review Afghanistan and Iraq Campaign Medal criteria annually to determine closure and opening dates for campaign phases.
In authorizing the service secretaries to award the campaign medals and stars, Dominguez stipulated that “under no condition” shall soldiers receive separate campaign medals, the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal or the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal for the same action, time period or service.
Stars have been authorized for wear on campaign and service medals and ribbons for nearly a century, beginning with the World War I Victory Medal, and including the Asiatic-Pacific and European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medals of World War II, the Korea Service Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal and the Southwest Asia Service Medal.
According to the Army’s awards regulation, 13 separate campaigns identified for World War I, 40 for World War II, 10 for the Korean War, 17 for the Vietnam War, three for the first Persian Gulf War, and two for the Kosovo campaign.
Campaign medals date even farther back, and over the years have been awarded for the Civil War, the Indian wars, the Spanish-American War, the Philippine Insurrection, the China Campaign, Cuban Pacification and Mexican Border Service.
Staff writers Gina Cavallaro, Brendan McGarry and Michelle Tan contributed to this report.