Type Service medal | Status Active | |
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Eligibility Member of the United States Armed Forces during qualifying periods of national emergency Awarded for Military service during periods of national emergency or any other periods designated by the Secretary of Defense. 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, taken from the Coat of Arms of the United States; it is half encircled below with an open wreath, the right side of oak leaves and laurel leaves the left.Ribbon: The ribbon has a wide yellow stripe in the center, flanked by narrow stripes of red, white, blue, white and wide red stripes. | ||
The National Defense Service Medal is a service medal of the United States Armed Forces established by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1953. The medal was first intended to be a "blanket campaign medal" awarded to service members who served honorably during a designated time period of which a "national emergency" had been declared during a time of war or conflict. It may also be issued to active military members for any other period that the Secretary of Defense designates.
Contents
Currently, the National Defense Service Medal is the oldest service medal in use by the United States Armed Forces. The oldest continuously issued combat medal is the Medal of Honor.
Eligible periods
The National Defense Service Medal is authorized for the following time periods:
Award criteria
The National Defense Service Medal (NDSM) is awarded to anyone who serves on active duty in the United States military during the above time periods. Reserve Component service during the Korean and Vietnam periods, other than those Reserve Component personnel in a full-time status or on active duty greater than 89 days, did not qualify for award of the NDSM.
For service in the Persian Gulf War, members of the Reserve Component (in good standing), to include the National Guard, were initially awarded the NDSM when called to active duty service, but this was later expanded to include all members of the Reserve or National Guard in good standing on the Reserve Active Status List (or equivalent) during the eligibility period.
For service in the Global War on Terrorism, Selected Reserve and National Guard members need only to have been in good standing to receive the NDSM and no active duty service is required. Inactive Ready Reserve and Retired Reserve are not eligible to be awarded the NDSM unless called to active duty.
The medal is authorized to Cadets and Midshipmen at the service academies after they are sworn into service, as well as pre-commission officer candidates/trainees at the Officer Candidate Schools or Officer Training Schools of the various U.S. services; but is not granted to discharged or retired military personnel who did not serve in one of the above time periods; nor is it authorized for Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) Cadets and Midshipmen at colleges and universities who enlisted in the inactive reserve (i.e., Obligated Reserve Section or ORS) during qualifying periods.
The NDSM ranks eleventh out of twenty-nine in the order of precedence of service medals. There is no time requirement for the medal's 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 NDSM; in practice, however, military clerks will not add the NDSM on a DD Form 214 if the service member performed duty for less than 90 days from the completion of their initial entry training. This accounts for the medal's omission from a large number of "uncharacterized" and "entry level" separation documents. Veterans who have this medal so omitted may apply to the military service departments to have the NDSM added to records via a DD Form 215.
Additional awards
Additional 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 3⁄16-inch bronze service stars (a six award is indicated by one 3⁄16-inch silver star). A second award of the medal is not granted for reenlisting during the same time period or transferring between branches of service.