Operational Service Medal for Afghanistan

Operational Service Medal for Afghanistan
File:Operational Service Medal for Afghanistan.JPG Operational Service Medal for Afghanistan
Type	military decoration
Description	Comes in one class
Eligibility	members of the United Kingdom armed forces
Status	Currently awarded
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.

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. Pakistan, Oman and Qatar to name but a few.

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).

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. The medal is issued without the clasp for service outside Afghanistan in support of ongoing operations, i.e Pakistan and Oman.

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.

The War has claimed the lives of 135 British soldiers and over 1800 wounded to date.

References

• http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/DefenceFor/Veterans/Medals/
• Online tool to identify British military medals

See also

• OSM Democratic Republic of Congo
• OSM Sierra Leone