Afghan Campaign Stars (Additional Awards)

[Zulu 36]

In case anyone cares, DoD just came out with a new Afghan campaign phase. The release also has all of the official Afghan campaign phase dates.

http://www.defense.gov/releases/rele...eleaseid=14899

[Sgt Leprechaun]

Good stuff Zulu. Moved to the Uniform reference section

[thezero]

Thanks for this. I've been searching up and down for this since there's been a lot of people in the squadron saying we rate 2 stars on our Afghan medal. The underground was talking about it since last Thursday but there was no one who could pull an order out and the only one I could find was MCO 424/11 which came out July 27, 2011. The worst thing is trying to get everything updated before the ball.

[nrml1]

Good Afternoon gentlemn... I'm wondering what all this means? What does Phase mean? I just got back from Afghanistan and I'm getting my uniforms updated (promotion/ribbons) so I'm overhere making sure I'm squared away.

[Zulu 36]

Good Afternoon gentlemn... I'm wondering what all this means? What does Phase mean? I just got back from Afghanistan and I'm getting my uniforms updated (promotion/ribbons) so I'm overhere making sure I'm squared away.

"Phase" would probably mean the possible phases of the Afghanistan campaign that you served in.

See: http://www.defense.gov/releases/rele...eleaseid=14899

These are the latest, most up-to-date phases of the Afghan campaign for number of stars for the Afghan Campaign Medal. Your unit admin should have this info so it can be properly annotated in your SRB. Everyone automatically rates one star once you've earned the medal. Subsequent stars are earned only if you serve in different phases in-country. Check your SRB to make certain you're covered before sticking on stars.

As an example. I served in Vietnam and rate one small bronze star for my Vietnam Campaign Medal as I only served in country during one phase. I also served in Desert Storm, but I rate three small bronze stars for the SE Asian Campaign Medal as I served in theater for three phases of the campaign.

[AoN]

I'm sorry for resurrecting this older thread, but I figured I could go ahead and provide the lastest information on it, as well as ask a question about the awards system.

http://www.marines.mil/news/messages...MIN030-12.aspx

The Afghanistan campaigns were finally updated by HQMC per the DoD update from back in November.

Now, I deployed twice spanning Consolidatoin II, III, and Transition I. I understand that means I rate three stars on the medal to represent the three phases I deployed under. My concern is in my service record (MOL and OMPF) where it reflects two awardings for the two awardings of the medals. Word is circulating around me that a PAR must be submitted to rate wearing the third star, but my understanding was that the PAR was for the awarding of the medal, not an update to the campaigns.

Can anyone provide me with a little better guidance on this?

[Zulu 36]

I'm sorry for resurrecting this older thread, but I figured I could go ahead and provide the lastest information on it, as well as ask a question about the awards system.

http://www.marines.mil/news/messages...MIN030-12.aspx

The Afghanistan campaigns were finally updated by HQMC per the DoD update from back in November.

Now, I deployed twice spanning Consolidatoin II, III, and Transition I. I understand that means I rate three stars on the medal to represent the three phases I deployed under. My concern is in my service record (MOL and OMPF) where it reflects two awardings for the two awardings of the medals. Word is circulating around me that a PAR must be submitted to rate wearing the third star, but my understanding was that the PAR was for the awarding of the medal, not an update to the campaigns.

Can anyone provide me with a little better guidance on this?

I can't speak for today's regs, but in my Vietnam day you would rate three stars. Also, I might point out that my SW Asia (Desert Storm) medal and three stars was earned as an Air Guardsman and so issued under Air Force regs.

[AoN]

I can't speak for today's regs, but in my Vietnam day you would rate three stars. Also, I might point out that my SW Asia (Desert Storm) medal and three stars was earned as an Air Guardsman and so issued under Air Force regs.

Yeah, I figured as much, and I doubt anyone in my command will question if I wear it. My concern is in the paperwork side, which can ruin a career for having the wrong information. Everything I've been taught tells me that the system only keeps track of the awarding of the medal, not the campaigns covered, and that the phases are simply a matter of honesty in the individual based upon their deployments. Now, I'm being told by my peers and seniors that the individual campaigns are represented in the records, not the medal awardings, and that I have to submit a PAR to update the records.