The NATO Medal is an international military decoration which is awarded to various militaries of the world under the authority of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). It is manufactured by Eekelers-Centini Intl, of Hemiksem , Belgium.
47-704: The NATO Medal was first established in 1996 to recognize individuals who had served in the Implementation Force (IFOR) as part of Operation Joint Endeavor in Former Yugoslavia. A new ribbon was established in 1999 for participants in Operation Allied Force in Kosovo . As NATO operations became more common, different ribbons were established for each operation. In early 2003 NATO settled on only three ribbon styles - one for
94-570: A blue background with gold, silver and three narrow white stripes on each outer most portion of the ribbon, and the medallion color is changed from bronze in appearance to a silver medallion for this medal only. All medals except North Macedonia's NATO Medal have corresponding campaign clasps , however some militaries (such as the United States) prohibit the wearing of the medal with a clasp and instead authorize service stars for wear on any NATO Medal while wearing any US military uniform (although
141-468: A blue background with two thin golden colored stripes surrounded by white stripes. The Non-Article 5 Medal for the Balkans operations consists of a blue background with a central silver stripe surrounded by white stripes. The Non-Article 5 Medal for both ISAF and NTM-I operations consists of a blue background with two silver stripes surrounded by white stripes. The NATO Meritorious Service Medal consists of
188-479: A difference both to their colleagues, and to NATO as an organisation. The Medal is the personal award of the Secretary General of NATO, who signs each citation. Although authorized up to 150, fewer medals are awarded each year and it remains the only significant award for individual personal effort for NATO staff; this Medal can be awarded to military and civilian staff alike. When assessing nominations for
235-574: A different ribbon for each mission, though there have been some notable exceptions. In some countries where the UN Security Council determines a mission in the same geographic region, but changes the mission mandate by way of Security Council Resolution, there may be a number of missions which have identical campaign ribbons and then later will change the ribbon to reflect the changing environment. The United Nations Mission in Haiti (UNMIH)
282-411: A mixed blue and white stripped ribbon, with white stripes on the side as well as a wide white central stripe. The NATO Medal for North Macedonia service appears as a blue and white mixed ribbon with four white stripes. The Article 5 NATO Medal for Operation Eagle Assist has a blue background with a thin central golden stripe surrounded by white stripes. The Article 5 Medal for Operation Active Endeavour has
329-674: Is an international decoration awarded by the United Nations (UN) to the various world countries members for participation in joint international military and police operations such as peacekeeping, humanitarian efforts, and disaster relief. The medal is ranked in militaries and police forces as a service medal . The United Nations awarded its first medal during the Korean War (1950–1953). Since 1955, many additional United Nations medals have been created and awarded for participation in various United Nations missions and actions around
376-491: Is true for the U.S. Army). The basic NATO Medal ribbon bar worn will be the first NATO campaign medal awarded, with subsequent campaigns indicated with a bronze service star. Most military services besides the U.S. will allow multiple service and mission-related NATO medal decorations to be worn simultaneously as they are considered separate awards. NATO medals authorized for wear include the NATO Medal for Former Yugoslavia,
423-530: The Adriatic Sea ). In the initial phases of the operation, much of the initial composition of IFOR consisted of units which had been part of UNPROFOR but remained in place and simply replaced their United Nations insignia with IFOR insignia. NATO member states that contributed forces included Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Turkey,
470-643: The Armed Forces are allowed to wear United Nations medals if they choose to. Such medals shall be worn after National and Presidential decorations, decorations of the Ministry of Defense , decorations of the General Staff , decorations of other military units, Ministries and departments and before decorations of the European Union and NATO in order of award. Other countries, in particular
517-801: The Netherlands are awarded the medal for service to January 1, 1955, while the armed forces of Thailand and Sweden grant the award to July 27, 1955. In 1956, to maintain the peace which brought the end of the Suez Crisis the United Nations Emergency Force was established. This was the first Peacekeeping operation of the United Nations. To reward the service of troops from Brazil , Canada , Colombia , Denmark , India , Norway , Sweden and Yugoslavia those troops who completed ninety days of service with
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#1732776383226564-640: The United Kingdom , permit British citizens to receive the relevant United Nations medal and authorization for it to be worn is given by the FCDO (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office). Numerals may be added to denote multiple tours to one mission, the medals are worn in order of award and take precedence alongside British campaign medals. In the United States Armed Forces , prior to 13 October 1995, all US military personnel wore
611-466: The "Afghanistan" clasp. The British government does not allow its personnel to accept or wear the medal, as a separate British Operational Service Medal for Afghanistan has been issued and, due to a long-standing ruling, British personnel are not allowed to wear two medals for the same campaign or operation. NATO campaign medals where a British decoration has not been issued, such as the award for Operation Unified Protector , may be worn. On 24 July 2012,
658-586: The Argentinian Armed Forces are allowed to wear the different UN medals as separate decorations. However, authorization for use must be formally requested for every single medal, and is granted on an individual basis. Regulations for the use of either medals or ribbons apply for each uniform. In the Argentinian Army, a national-issued, maroon-and-white bar showing the number of tours of duty may be worn in lieu of (but not together with)
705-671: The Joint Operations Area taking part in operations in Afghanistan. The area of eligibility is delineated by ISAF's political boundaries. The service must be a minimum of 30 days either continuous or accumulated, from 1 June 2003 to 31 December 2014. Effective 1 January 2015, service members receive the Non-Article 5 Medal for service in Afghanistan for the Resolute Support mission. The medal is awarded with
752-545: The NATO MSM is considered a foreign personal decoration and would be placed in the order of receipt within that category, followed by foreign unit awards, then non-U.S. service and campaign awards (such as the standard NATO Medal). This arrangement may lead to some U.S. military personnel with the NATO MSM separated by the United Nations Medal from the standard NATO Medal. As it is a personal foreign decoration,
799-434: The NATO MSM is the only NATO medal that can be worn concurrently with the standard NATO Medal. To differentiate between the versions of the NATO Medal, a different ribbon pattern scheme is used for each of the decorations. The NATO Medal for Yugoslavia service consists of a blue ribbon with two thin white stripes on each side, very similar in appearance to the United Nations Medal . The NATO Medal for Kosovo service appears as
846-790: The NATO Medal for Kosovo Service, both of the Article 5 Medals, the Non-Article 5 medals for the Balkans and Afghanistan (ISAF), The NATO Meritorious Service Medal and the North Macedonia NATO Medal and the Non-Article 5 Medal for service in Iraq, under the NTM-I. The reverse of the medals state "IN SERVICE OF PEACE AND FREEDOM" in English and French, as well as the full name of NATO in English and French. The ribbon bar and suspension bar are both chiefly blue, specifically Reflex Blue on
893-590: The NATO Meritorious Service Medal, one for Article 5 operations, and one for non-Article 5 operations. Participation in specific operations is distinguished by bars worn on the ribbons with the name of the operation. This change affects those who began a tour of duty after 2 December 2002. As a result, an individual who began his or her tour of duty in one of the Balkan NATO operational areas after 2 December 2002 will qualify only for
940-428: The Non-Article 5 medal for the Balkans. United States Armed Forces regulations do not permit the wearing of operation bars on the NATO Medal ribbon. Instead, the recipient wears the ribbon without a bar attached to it. In the event that a U.S. service member is entitled to more than one NATO medal, they wear the ribbon of the first NATO medal they received and the appropriate number of bronze service stars to indicate
987-555: The Pantone Matching System. For U.S. forces, eligibility for the Non-Article 5 Medal for the Balkans remains the same as those previous NATO medals with the exception of the dates of service. Those members entering the Balkan theatre on or after 1 January 2003 will be eligible for the Non-Article 5 medal. The service must be 30 days either continuous or accumulated. Aircrew members will accumulate one day of service for
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#17327763832261034-576: The UNEF were awarded the United Nations Emergency Force Medal . The mission lasted from November 1956 until June 1967. It is unique from other United Nations Medals in that instead of saying UN on the obverse, it says UNEF . Subsequent missions did not use the mission’s abbreviation on its medals. In most nations, the standard United Nations Medal is awarded in lieu of a campaign-specific medal. Most operations utilize
1081-663: The United Kingdom, and the United States. Non-NATO nations that contributed forces included; Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Morocco, New Zealand, Pakistan, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden, Russia, and Ukraine. The tasks of the Land Component were carried out by three Multi National Divisions: On 20 December 1996,
1128-697: The United Nations Department of Humanitarian Affairs Accelerated De-Mining Programme (MADP) in Mozambique, work with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and more. Some nations, such as France , the Commonwealth of Australia , Canada and New Zealand permit members of the military and police to receive and display multiple United Nations Medals as separate decorations. Personnel of
1175-794: The United Nations Medal for service in a different mission. No more than one UN medal or ribbon may be worn at a time. On US uniforms, the UN Medal is worn before the NATO Medal , except for the United Nations Korea Medal , which is worn as a campaign medal just before the Vietnam Campaign Medal . US military personnel are eligible to wear the medal from one of the following United Nations operations as their one approved medal: Members of
1222-413: The United Nations Medal. These devices vary depending on the regulations of the various armed forces. The UN has authorised the award of numerals to be attached to the medal ribbon. The qualification for these numerals is not to indicate the number of campaigns served in, but rather the number of qualifying periods of service. Which are counted as 180 days after the initial qualifying period of 90 days if
1269-616: The United States Department of Defense announced that NATO medals for operations in Libya and Africa have been approved for acceptance and wear by eligible U.S. service members and DOD civilian personnel. Implementation Force The Implementation Force ( IFOR ) was a NATO -led multinational peace enforcement force in Bosnia and Herzegovina under a one-year mandate from 20 December 1995 to 20 December 1996 under
1316-505: The award, there are several criteria taken into consideration: the performance of acts of courage in difficult or dangerous circumstances; showing exceptional leadership or personal example; making an outstanding individual contribution to a NATO sponsored programme or activity; or enduring particular hardship or deprivation in the interest of NATO. The NATO Meritorious Service Medal is now authorized for wear on U.S., Canadian and British military uniforms. For Canadian and U.S. military members,
1363-481: The blue and white United Nations Ribbon regardless of the ribbon awarded. On 13 October 1995, the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Personnel and Readiness) approved a change to the wear policy of the United Nations Medal. Effective on that date, personnel who are awarded the United Nations Medal may wear the first medal and ribbon for which they qualify, adding a bronze service star for subsequent awards of
1410-788: The codename Operation Joint Endeavour . NATO was responsible to the United Nations (UN) for carrying out the Dayton Peace Accords . The Dayton Peace Accords were started on 22 November 1995 by the presidents of Bosnia, Croatia , and Serbia , on behalf of Serbia and the Bosnian Serb Republic . The actual signing happened in Paris on 14 December 1995. The peace accords contained a General Framework Agreement and eleven supporting annexes with maps. The accords had three major goals: ending of hostilities, authorization of military and civilian program going into effect, and
1457-646: The establishment of a central Bosnian government while excluding individuals who are serving sentences or under indictment by the International War Crimes Tribunals from taking part in the running of the government. IFOR's specific role was to implement the military Annexes of The General Framework Agreement for Peace (GFAP) in Bosnia and Herzegovina . IFOR relieved the UN peacekeeping force UNPROFOR , which had originally arrived in 1992, and
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1504-580: The failures of EU-led peace plans , the August 1995 Croat Operation Storm and expelling 200,000 Serb civilians, the Bosnian Serb war crimes, in particular the Srebrenica massacre , and the seizure of UNPROFOR peace-keepers as human shields against NATO's Operation Deliberate Force . U.S. Secretary of Defense William Perry and his Russian counterpart, Pavel Grachev agreed on October 8 that
1551-675: The first Joint Force Commander for the operation, also known as Commander IFOR (COMIFOR). He commanded the operation from IFOR's deployment on 20 December 1995 from headquarters in Zagreb , and later from March 1996 from the Residency in Sarajevo . Admiral Thomas J. Lopez commanded the operation from 31 July to 7 November 1996, followed by General William W. Crouch until 20 December 1996. Lt Gen Michael Walker , Commander Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC), acted as Land Component Commander for
1598-590: The first sortie during any day of the operation. Additional sorties on the same day will receive no further credit. The Balkans area is delineated as the political boundaries and airspace of Bosnia and Herzegovina , Croatia , Yugoslavia (including Kosovo ), the Republic of North Macedonia, and Albania , based on the detailed description contained in the SFOR , KFOR , and Task Force Fox Operational Plans. Service members who are entitled to more than one NATO medal during
1645-546: The former Yugoslavia, NTM-I, and clasps designating Article 5, and Non-Article 5 designations. There is also a NATO Meritorious Service Medal, with a "Meritorious Service" clasp as well. However, U.S. military personnel do not wear the clasps on the NATO Medals, since the U.S. has its own devices that are used instead. The NATO Meritorious Service Medal (MSM) was first awarded in 2003 to commend NATO staff whose personal initiative and dedication went beyond their duty to make
1692-461: The number of NATO medals they have been awarded. For example - a service member who served in Former Yugoslavia, Kosovo and ISAF in Afghanistan would wear the Former Yugoslavia ribbon with one bronze service star to denote the award of the second NATO medal. In contrast, the Armed Forces of the United Kingdom permit a service member to wear most of the NATO medals they are entitled to, provided that
1739-724: The operation the NATO Medal is awarded for is not recognized by another medal awarded by the United Kingdom. The NATO Africa medal and NATO Training Mission Iraq may not be worn by UK service persons. There are currently fourteen versions of the NATO Medal in existence, for service in the former Yugoslavia , Kosovo , North Macedonia , two for service during Article 5 operations ( Eagle Assist , Active Endeavour ), and eight for Non-Article 5 NATO operations (International Security Assistance Force Afghanistan ( ISAF ), Resolute Support, Balkans , NATO Training Mission-Iraq (NTM-I) , Africa, AMIS, OUP-Libya, and Pakistan ). In addition, there are corresponding clasps for operations such as ISAF , Kosovo,
1786-699: The operation, commanding from HQ ARRC (Forward) based initially in Kiseljak , and from late January 1996 from HQ ARRC (Main) in Ilidža . This was NATO's first ever out-of-area land deployment. The Land Component's part of the operation was known as Operation Firm Endeavour. At its height, IFOR involved troops from 32 countries and numbered some 54,000 soldiers in-country (BiH) and around 80,000 involved soldiers in total (with support and reserve troops stationed in Croatia , Hungary , Germany , and Italy and also on ships in
1833-735: The peacekeeping operation name will be Implementation Force of the Peace Agreement on Bosnia-Herzegovina, that is without reference to NATO; other differences were unresolved at that time (chain of command, area of command and control). On October 27 they agreed that "the Russian unit will not be part of the NATO peacekeeping force, but will perform special engineering, transport and construction activites". Admiral Leighton W. Smith Jr. , Commander in Chief Allied Forces Southern Europe (CINCSOUTH), served as
1880-582: The same period will only be awarded one NATO Medal. The NATO chain of command will deem which medal is appropriate. This medal may also be awarded with the "ISAF" clasp for service in Afghanistan , as well as the "NTM-I" clasp for service in Iraq with NATO forces. For U.S. forces the eligibility for the Non-Article 5 Medal for service with the ISAF is thus: those who are members of units or staffs as set out in
1927-608: The same ribbon as UNMIH. In East Timor, the medals awarded for UNAMET , UNTAET and UNMISET all have the same ribbon. For 90 days of service with a United Nations mission or organization where there is no specific approved United Nations medal, personnel may be eligible for the United Nations Special Service Medal (UNSSM). Some examples of qualifying service are the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq, or
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1974-672: The service is performed as 270 days consecutive. For two or more deployments, each deployment has to be at least 90 consecutive days each. The first United Nations medal to be created was the United Nations Service Medal, also known as the United Nations Service Medal Korea , was awarded to any military service member, of an Armed Force allied with South Korea , who participated in the defense of South Korea from North Korea between 27 June 1950 and 27 July 1953. The military forces of
2021-472: The task of IFOR was taken over by SFOR . In turn, SFOR was replaced by the European EUFOR Althea force in 2004. NATO began to create service medals once it began to support peacekeeping in the former Yugoslavia, which led to the award to IFOR troops of the NATO Medal . [REDACTED] Media related to IFOR at Wikimedia Commons United Nations Medal A United Nations Medal
2068-486: The transfer of authority was discussed in Security Council Resolution 1031 . Almost 60,000 NATO soldiers in addition to forces from non-NATO nations were deployed to Bosnia. Operation Decisive Endeavor (SACEUR OPLAN 40105), beginning 6 December 1995, was a subcomponent of Joint Endeavor. IFOR began operations on 20 December 1995. The Dayton Agreement resulted from a long series of events, notably,
2115-409: The various clasps may be accepted from NATO and retained by the service member as a memento). For the U.S. military, a bronze service star indicates additional awards of the service and mission-related NATO Medals. As of May 2013, only the NATO MSM ribbon bar (as a personal foreign decoration) and the basic NATO ribbon (as a non-US service and campaign medal) may be worn for U.S. services (at least this
2162-410: The world. The most common United Nations medal is the standard UN decoration known simply as the United Nations Medal . Most countries bestow this award for any action in which a member of the military participated in a joint UN activity. In situations where a service member participated in multiple UN operations, service stars , campaign clasps , or award numbers are authorized as attachments to
2209-536: Was originally established by United Nations Security Council Resolution 867 on 23 September 1993 and lasted until in June 1996. This mission was an effort to end the conflict and instability caused by the 1991 Haitian coup d'état . Subsequent missions to maintain stability and train the Haitian National Police were undertaken under UNSMIH, UNTMIH, MIPONUH, and MICAH. These subsequent missions all used
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