Operational Service Medal for Afghanistan

Operational Service Medal for Afghanistan
Operational Service Medal for Afghanistan
Awarded by United Kingdom

Type	Military Campaign Medal
Eligibility	Members of the United Kingdom armed forces
Awarded for	Campaign service
Campaign(s)	Afghanistan 2001-to date
Status	Currently awarded
Description	Silver disk, 36mm diameter.
Clasps	Afghanistan
Statistics
Established	2003

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

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 Fingal and Operation Landman.^[1]
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. Pakistan, Oman and Qatar to name but a few.^[1]

Medal

The medal is silver and circular in shape and designed as follows:^[1]

The obverse shows the crowned effigy of Elizabeth II.
The 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 (Navy, top right), Mural (Army, bottom left), and Astral (Royal Air Force, bottom right).

Clasp

The "Afghanistan" Clasp is awarded for service specifically in Afghanistan. Rosette on ribbon denotes clasp when no medal is worn. There are two types of 'Afghanistan' clasps to date, the first initial issue from 2002–2004 the clasp had a smooth background behind the writing and from Op Herrick onwards (2005 to present) the clasp has a 'dappled' effect behind the writing, just like the 'Northern Ireland' clasp on the 1962–2007 General Service Medal. A third type of background can be found on 1,000 medals awarded during 2009. These were manufactured by Gladman & Norman Ltd under a one-off contract to help with increased medal demand. The medal is issued without the clasp for service outside Afghanistan in support of ongoing operations, i.e. Pakistan and Oman.^[1]

The medal is also awarded to UK civilians employed on Ministry of Defence contracts in support of the British Forces in Afghanistan. Qualifying criteria are the same as HM Forces. The recipient's name and title (Mr, Mrs etc.) are engraved on the edge of the medal, whereas the military recipients have their rank, name and service number.

Ribbon

The ribbon consists of a broad central red stripe, flanked each side by a stripe of navy blue and one of light blue, to represent the three services, with an outer stripe of light brown, to represent the Afghan landscape.^[1]

References

1 2 3 4 5 "Operational Service Medal for Afghanistan". MOD Medal Office. Retrieved 2010-05-22.

External links

British campaign medals
19th Century	Naval General Service Medal (1793–1814) Naval Gold Medal (1793–1840) Military General Service Medal (1793–1814) Army of India Medal (1803–26) Army Gold Cross (1806–1814) Army Gold Medal (1806–1814) Waterloo Medal (1815) South Africa Medal of 1854 (1834–6, 1846–7, 1850–3) Ghuznee Medal (1839) First China War Medal (1839–42) Jellalabad Medals (1841–2) Candahar, Ghuznee, Cabul Medal (1842) Medal for the Defence of Kelat-I-Ghilzie (1842) Scinde Medal (1843) Gwalior Star (1843) Sutlej Medal (1845–6) New Zealand Medal (1845–7, 1860–6) Punjab Medal (1848–9) India General Service Medal of 1854 (1852–95) Crimean War Medal (1854–6) Baltic Medal (1854–5) Second China War Medal (1856–60) Indian Mutiny Medal (1857–8) Canada General Service Medal (1866–70) Abyssinian War Medal (1867–8) Ashantee Medal (1873–4) South Africa Medal of 1880 (1877–9) Afghanistan Medal (1878–80) Kabul to Kandahar Star (1880) Cape of Good Hope General Service Medal (1880-1, 1896–7) Egypt Medal (1882–9) North West Canada Medal (1885) East and West Africa Medal (1887–1900) British South Africa Company Medal (1890–7) Central Africa Medal (1891–8) India Medal (1895–1902) Ashanti Star (1895–6) Queen's Sudan Medal (1896–8) East and Central Africa Medal (1897–9) Queen's South Africa Medal (1899–1902) Queen's Mediterranean Medal (1899–1902) Transport Medal (1899–1902) (for South Africa or China) China War Medal (1900) Ashanti Medal (1900)
20th Century Pre-First World War	King's South Africa Medal (1902) Africa General Service Medal (1902–56) Tibet Medal (1905) Natal Native Rebellion Medal (1906) India General Service Medal (1909)
First World War	1914 Star 1914–15 Star British War Medal Victory Medal (United Kingdom) Victory Medal (South Africa) Territorial War Medal Mercantile Marine War Medal
Inter World War	Naval General Service Medal (1915) General Service Medal (1918) India General Service Medal (1936)
Second World War	1939–1945 Star Atlantic Star Arctic Star Air Crew Europe Star Africa Star Pacific Star Burma Star Italy Star France and Germany Star Defence Medal War Medal 1939–1945 Canadian Volunteer Service Medal Africa Service Medal India Service Medal New Zealand War Service Medal Australia Service Medal
Post War	Korea Medal (1951) General Service Medal (1962) Rhodesia Medal (1980) South Atlantic Medal (1982) Gulf Medal (1992)
21st Century	OSM for Sierra Leone (2000) OSM for Afghanistan (2002) OSM for Democratic Republic of Congo (2003) Iraq Medal (2004) Iraq Reconstruction Service Medal (2004) Civilian Service Medal (Afghanistan) (2011) Ebola Medal (2015) General Service Medal (2008) (2015)

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