New Operational Service Medal Announced

[armyvern]

It is for this reason why the SSM seemed to make sense. Everyone would get the same medal regardless of which organization they served under. Point to note the commander of the Task Force received the CMM or the OMM for his work on the mission.

There is a very large difference in the 2 tours (MIF and MINUSTAH) and it is for this reason that a standard UN medal (MINUSTAH) or SSM does not make sense:

Op Halo: Deployed under a 90 day chapter VII UN Mandate to implement peace, stability and rule of law back into the region. You will recall these pers wore home Unit berets. Their mandate was as Peacemakers. Once they had 'stabilized' the region, they were requested to remain in place until another group could deploy into theatre with a different mandate.

In Jun 04, Haiti was considered 'stabilized' and MIF (Op Halo) handed over to:

MINUSTAH (Op Hamlet) whose had a UN Chapter VI madate in the country. These personnel wore UN Blue as their mandate was to maintain the stability and assist with aid, relief etc. They were (and those who currently serve their under the Ch VI mandate still are) peacekeepers.

A chapter VII mission (Peacemaking/MIF-Op Halo) is higher in the order of precedence than a Chapter VI mission (Peacekeeping/MINUSTAH-Op Hamlet).

UN Chapter VI peacekeeping missions are typically awarded with a UN medal to denote the tour.

Chapter VII missions are treated much differently due to their order of precedence such as the case for previous Chapter VII deployments such as Somalia. Many levels of approval are required for UN chapter VII missions/medals.

 

[Patrolman]

O.K. it has now been 7 months since I first posted this topic. I was wondering if anyone has any new info on the subject. Since I have left the battalion I am now out of the loop. O-groups on such things are few and far between.

Van Grognard, have you sent that memo yet? Vern has your husband heard anything?

In five months it will be three years since the first soldiers departed for Haiti. Is it time for someone to stir the pot? By this I mean should someone start asking questions about the situation outside the military chain of command. Is Col.Davis still asking questions? If not.Who is?

 

[Gunner]

It is my understanding members deployed on Op HALO will only receive the CPSM, no other medal will be issued.

 

[AmmoTech90]

Hate to say it but I can believe what Gunner says.

Both infantry components were there less than 90 days which seems to be the threshold for non-warfighting mission medals other than the CPSM.  So they probably realize that they are not going to be successful in petitioning for anything other than the CPSM which has a 30 day criteria.

430 ETAH was awarded a a CF Unit Commendation.  They are probably going to leave it at that.

That leaves the 200-250 members of the NSE/NSE who were there for up to 150 odd days.  As it was an adhoc unit they have not got a parent organization to fight for them so that the end of that.  Pity but we're left with good memories of a good job.  But if I happen to run into the CDS I'll ask him about it.

 

[Patrolman]

Thanks for the info. I was afraid this might happen,I guess all our hard work will go unrecognized.

 

[Gunner]

Thanks for the info. I was afraid this might happen,I guess all our hard work will go unrecognized.

Patrolman, there are lots of deployments not seeing medals but the actions of its members are recognized (including Op HALO).  We have teams training (IMATT) the Sierra Leone Army (RSLAF) who do not receive medals, we have soldiers on their 2nd or 3 rd tour of Afghanistan under Op ARCHER or Op ATHENA and have the SWASM or GSC.  They are all recognized as important contributors to the mission but they don't receive a numeral on their medal or another medal for the same mission.  If you want recogniztion for everything that you do, you are going to have to join the US Army and obtain your "fruit salad" for passing courses and going to work.

Cheers,

 

[Patrolman]

Gunner

No thanks on the American army. You see my piont is this. Over 600 pers deployed on this mission not a handful. The CO has been recognized,430 Etah has been recognized, now what about the boots on the ground doing the dirty work? This was a full fledged  mission. Have you deployed over seas on a Nato or U.N. mission and never recieved a medal for it ? I am not asking for numerals here or medals for other things I have done in the CF.  Ihave picked up the pieces from Swiss Air(human and plane) and only got a certificate, deployed to the Ice Storm and got nothing, competed in the Cambrian Patrol an recieved the Land Forces Achievement Award. That is all fine but, I believe the contribution I made along with all of the others from Task Force Haiti deserves more recognition than what we have recieved.

 

[George Wallace]

Patrolman

I think your mention of the commander of the Task Force having received the CMM or the OMM for his work on the mission, is a non-issue.  That is a 'generic' medal presented to persons of that rank basically for performance, not Tours.  He could have just as easily been awarded that for being able to find his office, as for being on that Tour. 

What you are proposing is a re-evaluation of our Awards System to satisfy any group of disgruntled members who feel they have been wronged if they do not meet the criteria as laid out in the Awards System for an Award.  Where would you place the cut off for any other group who may feel they should have an Award?  I know of some who were in Eritrea for the Setup and the Teardown, putting in more time than those deployed, but due to broken time, were not eligible.  Do we go back and change the criteria for all Awards to make their dates shorter, and/or to include accumulated time?  You are basically demanding a total revamping of the Awards System.  That is what you seem to be saying.

[Edit to add:]

In another discussion on Medals and Awards, some are feeling discriminated against when people of rank or 'lesser' Trades show up in Theatre for a TAV and do the minimum amount of time to meet the criteria for a Medal and go home. 

We can't have it both ways.

 

[McG]

Have you deployed over seas on a Nato or U.N. mission and never recieved a medal for it ?

Do you mean like many Op ARCHER soldiers that did not receive a medal because they had done Op APOLLO?

 

[Gunner]

Do you mean like many Op ARCHER soldiers that did not receive a medal because they had done Op APOLLO?

Exactly MCG.  There are many soldiers from LFCA who served in Kabul (some twice) and received the General Campaign Star.  These soldiers are now serving for their second or third tour in Afghanistan, down in Kandahar, and they will be recognized as having completed two or three tours in Afghanistan but they still will only have the one medal.  This was a concern raised over the development of the GCS, it is possible for a soldier to have 10 tours to various theatres of operation yet he only has a CD and GCS on his DEU tunic.  There was some discussion about bringing back into service, overseas stripes (1 stripe per six months service overseas) but I don't know where this stands. 

 

[Infanteer]

The GCS seems like a rather lazy award (to clarify; in its creation, not the effort to get one).  If we were able to give our guys 4 or 5 different medals for service in the Balkans (UNPROFOR, Former Yugo, Kosovo, Macedonia, Non-Art 5, etc, etc) why couldn't we create a specific medal for Afghanistan, with numerals perhaps?  Just as the Balkans was -the- theater of the 90's, Afghanistan is -the- theater of the first decade of the new millenia.  I think we can come up with something better than an ugly, generic catch-all.  Even the SWASM with Afghan Bar would be better than a GCS, no?

 

[armyvern]

  I think we can come up with something better than an ugly, generic catch-all.  Even the SWASM with Afghan Bar would be better than a GCS, no?

I'd agree with your sentiments on the generic catch-all Infanteer.

But a point on the SWASM with the Afghan bar is that there are those from Op Apollo who received this, who returned for future tours to a SWASM with Afghan Bar (therefore nothing as there is no post nominal with this medal or the GCS). Then again there are those 2 medal tours from 2003/04 where the soldiers were presented both the GCS and the SWASM with bar. Guess it all depends on what dates you actually serve in theatre.

I kind of like the suggestion of "overseas" stripes made somewhere in this thread.

Guy with the SWASM and Bar X 2 tours (1 year overseas) with same medal awarded for both gets 2 stripes;
Guy from 2003/2004 receiving both SWASM with bar & the GCS (for one 6 month tour) gets 1 stripe.

 

[Infanteer]

A numeral would satisfy this requirement without creating anything new, no?

As well, it seems as if the guys with ISAF's new mission should be getting the SWASM, just as the guys they replaced did.  I saw a CANFORGEN that was issued a couple weeks ago stating that wasn't the case, but last week a CANFORGEN came up cancelling that one.  Something's up I guess.

 

[armyvern]

A numeral would satisfy this requirement without creating anything new, no?

Yes it certainly would but then the Dress Committee would have to take some time (  ;D ) trying to come up with how to properly wear your SWASM ribbon bar with both a leaf and a numeral !!

 

[Gunner]

A numeral would satisfy this requirement without creating anything new, no?

As well, it seems as if the guys with ISAF's new mission should be getting the SWASM, just as the guys they replaced did.  I saw a CANFORGEN that was issued a couple weeks ago stating that wasn't the case, but last week a CANFORGEN came up cancelling that one.  Something's up I guess.

Numerals are used by the UN but not by NATO (except the original FRY medal). Moreover, our history and heritage did not permit numerals for campaign medals (Ever see a northwest Europe Campaign Star with a 2 or 3 on it?). 

The SWASM was awarded and is still awarded (denoted with Afghanistan Bar) for personnel serving with the US led coalition.  The GCS has been approved for issue for those serving with ISAF (denoted with an ISAF Bar). 

I should mention the GCS was created based on feedback received from soldiers complaining to various commanders about not being recognized in a timely manner for their tour overseas.  With the GCS, a new bar can be awarded whereever it is deemed appropriate.  For instance, if we follow the advice of the NDP and invade Sudan, a new bar could be created for the GCS (Sudanese Security Force - SSF Bar).

 

[Infanteer]

What's going to happen when guys fill their GCS up with bars?

 

[Gunner]

What's going to happen when guys fill their GCS up with bars?

When you are CDS you can sort it out for us!

 

[Infanteer]

When you are CDS you can sort it out for us!

By that time, medals will be replaced with holographic stickers or something....

 

[Gunner]

Keep the faith brother, keep the faith.

 

[warrickdll]

Numerals are used by the UN but not by NATO (except the original FRY medal). Moreover, our history and heritage did not permit numerals for campaign medals (Ever see a northwest Europe Campaign Star with a 2 or 3 on it?). 
...

You'll have to check out the Africa Star (it had numerals - but not for counting tours/time).

Afghanistan went from General to Specific many years ago. There is no point having the SWASM for some and the GCS for others. Bars on the SWASM can be used to indicate the different missions or even tours (after all, the GCS has a way to indicate multiple bars, and so could the SWASM).

Just say no to stripes.