No More National Defense Service Medal (NDSM)
You read that right, the National Defense Service Medal (NDSM) is no longer going to be given to new recruits. The Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin signed a memorandum stating that the medal will no longer be awarded to service members after Dec 31, 2022. He wrote “Termination is based on the United States no longer conducting large-scale combat operations in designated geographic locations as a result of the terrorist attacks on the United States that occurred September 11, 2001,”
The NDSM is only awarded during periods of “national emergency” and the current operations around the world do not qualify as a “national emergency”.
The NDSM was established and first awarded in 1953 for the Korean War, then again for the Vietnam War, and once again between 1990 and 1995 for Desert Storm. Since September 11, 2001, the medal has been awarded to recruits coming out of basic training and it was starting to be treated like a participation trophy for those enlisting in the U.S. armed services.
U.S. troops are authorized to wear the medal if they served during one of the following time periods.
| Era | From | To |
|---|---|---|
| Korean War | June 27, 1950 | July 27, 1954 |
| Vietnam War | January 1, 1961 | August 14, 1974 |
| Persian Gulf War | August 2, 1990 | November 30, 1995 |
| Global War on Terrorism | September 11, 2001 | December 31, 2022 |
When I joined the Corps and graduated boot camp (in 1988), there was not a stripe or ribbon on my uniform. But when I decided to call it enough, there was an NDSM on my uniform as I served during Desert Storm, aka the Persian Gulf War, and three stripes and a rocker.
