Brand New US Marine Original "National Defense Medal" Full Size
The National Defense Service Medal is a military service medal 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.
As of 2010, with an issuance span of sixty years, the National Defense Service Medal is the oldest service decoration still in circulation by the United States armed forces, followed second by the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal which has been active since 1961. Combat and meritorious medals (such as the Medal of Honor, Achievement Medals, and Commendation Medals) are older still but are classified under separate award criteria from service medals.
Eligible periods
In the years since the creation of the National Defense Service Medal, it is authorized only 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
[edit] Award criteria
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, members of the military reserve or National Guard are awarded the NDSM for performing "reserve service in good standing" which implies regular participation in weekend drills and annual training.[dead link][1] The medal is not authorized for members of the inactive reserve component. The National Defense Service Medal is authorized to students at the service academies after they are sworn into service, but is not granted to discharged or retired veterans who did not serve in one of the above time periods.
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 no time limit imposed 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.[2] 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.
