Operational Service Medal for Afghanistan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article does not cite any references or sources. (November 2007)
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

Operational Service Medal for Afghanistan
Operational Service Medal for Afghanistan
Awarded by United Kingdom
Type	military decoration
Eligibility	members of the United Kingdom armed forces
Awarded for	campaign medal
Status	Currently awarded
Description	Comes in one class
Statistics
Established	1 January 2000

The Operational Service Medal for Afghanistan is a campaign medal currently awarded by the Ministry of Defence of the United Kingdom.

1 Qualifying criteria
2 Medal
- 2.1 Clasp
3 Ribbon
4 References
- 4.1 See also

[edit] Qualifying criteria

The award of this medal is complex; depending on length and area of service:

To qualify for the clasp, personnel must have either 5, 21, or 30 days continuous service between various dates, depending on the operation, for example between 11/09/2001 and 1/08/2002, or for a period later specified, on Operation Veritas, Operation Fignal and Operation Landman.

To qualify for the medal without the clasp depends on service of varying lengths on operations, for example operation(s) Landman, Oracle, Ramson or Damien. Alternatively the medal is awarded for service in other middle eastern countries during specific dates.

[edit] Medal

The medal is silver and circular in shape and designed as follows:

Obverse shows the crowned effigy of Queen Elizabeth II.

Reverse bears the Union Flag, surrounded by the inscription ‘For Operational Service’ and the four major points of the compass, with four Coronets: Royal (top left), Naval (top right), Mural-Army (bottom left), and Astral-Royal Air Force (bottom right).

[edit] Clasp

The "Afghanistan" Clasp is awarded for service specifically in Afghanistan. Rosette on ribbon denotes clasp when no medal is worn.

[edit] Ribbon

The ribbon consists of a broad central red stripe, flanked each side by a stripe of royal blue and one of light blue, to represent the three services, with an outer stripe of light brown, to represent the Afghan landscape.