GyG1345
01-22-03, 02:13 PM
This Week's Marine Corps Times
Issue Date: January 27, 2003
Korean service medal may take up to a year to bring to fruition
By Vince Crawley
Times staff writer
The Defense Department will need up to a year to create and distribute a congressionally ordered medal recognizing military service in Korea since the end of the Korean War, officials said in mid-January.
“We are currently reviewing the best means to expeditiously award the Korean Defense Service Medal,” Pentagon officials said in a written response to questions Jan. 13.
Congress ordered the creation of the medal in the 2003 Defense Authorization Act, which President Bush signed into law Dec. 2. The medal would be awarded to those who have served in Korea since July 28, 1954. The law also says the defense secretary would decide an “appropriate” end date for terminating eligibility for the medal.
Defense Department officials said they expect it will take four to six months to design, fund and develop a process to issue the medal, as well as to figure out how to determine eligibility.
“Given the sheer volume of anticipated recipients, the time when one can expect to be awarded the Korean Defense Service Medal is difficult to estimate because of how long it will take to identify, notify and award the medal to eligible former service members,” the statement said.
Based on previous experience with creating service medals, the entire process “can be up to a year,” officials said.
A few years ago, Congress suggested the Defense Department create a Korea medal, but the Pentagon’s official position has been that a specific medal was unnecessary for peacetime service there. Most campaign medals are awarded for wartime service. Lawmakers then issued their more-pointed directive ordering the Pentagon to make it happen.
The Korean War cease-fire was agreed to in July 1953, but a peace treaty between democratic South Korea and communist North Korea never was signed, and the two nations technically remain at war.
Tensions along the demilitarized zone flared all through the Cold War. They most recently intensified late last year when the North acknowledged it was developing nuclear weapons in violation of a 1994 disarmament agreement.
The new law notes that more than 40,000 U.S. military members have served in Korea, or just offshore, each year since the 1953 cease-fire.
In addition, according to congressional language accompanying the law, “an estimated 1,200 members of the United States armed forces have died as a direct result of their service in Korea since the cease-fire agreement of July 1953.”
Posted on Jan 22, 2003, 3:10 PM
from IP address 209.130.219.186
Issue Date: January 27, 2003
Korean service medal may take up to a year to bring to fruition
By Vince Crawley
Times staff writer
The Defense Department will need up to a year to create and distribute a congressionally ordered medal recognizing military service in Korea since the end of the Korean War, officials said in mid-January.
“We are currently reviewing the best means to expeditiously award the Korean Defense Service Medal,” Pentagon officials said in a written response to questions Jan. 13.
Congress ordered the creation of the medal in the 2003 Defense Authorization Act, which President Bush signed into law Dec. 2. The medal would be awarded to those who have served in Korea since July 28, 1954. The law also says the defense secretary would decide an “appropriate” end date for terminating eligibility for the medal.
Defense Department officials said they expect it will take four to six months to design, fund and develop a process to issue the medal, as well as to figure out how to determine eligibility.
“Given the sheer volume of anticipated recipients, the time when one can expect to be awarded the Korean Defense Service Medal is difficult to estimate because of how long it will take to identify, notify and award the medal to eligible former service members,” the statement said.
Based on previous experience with creating service medals, the entire process “can be up to a year,” officials said.
A few years ago, Congress suggested the Defense Department create a Korea medal, but the Pentagon’s official position has been that a specific medal was unnecessary for peacetime service there. Most campaign medals are awarded for wartime service. Lawmakers then issued their more-pointed directive ordering the Pentagon to make it happen.
The Korean War cease-fire was agreed to in July 1953, but a peace treaty between democratic South Korea and communist North Korea never was signed, and the two nations technically remain at war.
Tensions along the demilitarized zone flared all through the Cold War. They most recently intensified late last year when the North acknowledged it was developing nuclear weapons in violation of a 1994 disarmament agreement.
The new law notes that more than 40,000 U.S. military members have served in Korea, or just offshore, each year since the 1953 cease-fire.
In addition, according to congressional language accompanying the law, “an estimated 1,200 members of the United States armed forces have died as a direct result of their service in Korea since the cease-fire agreement of July 1953.”
Posted on Jan 22, 2003, 3:10 PM
from IP address 209.130.219.186