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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 medal
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 decorations (such as the Medal of Honor, Achievement
Medals, and Commendation Medals) are older still but are classified under
separate award criteria from service medals.
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
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 (in good standing) or National
Guard are awarded the NDSM when called to active duty service. Inactive
Ready Reserve and Retired Reserve are not eligible to be awarded the NDSM
unless called to active duty. 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; nor is it authorized for Reserve
Officer Training Corps (ROTC) Cadets who enlisted in the reserve during
qualifying periods.
The National Defense Service Medal ranks
eleventh out of twenty-nine in the order of precedence of service 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. 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
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