Canadian Liberation of Kuwait medal

[Hill677]

Just released  (March 28th 2006)    "Canadian Liberation of Kuwait medal "

Canadian soldiers and veterans have been awarded the Liberation of Kuwait medal by the Kuwaiti government, 15 years after they helped liberate the country from Iraqi occupation in the first Gulf War....

See photo here http://army.ca/cgi-bin/album.pl?photo=Insignia/Medals/Liberation_of_Kuwait_medal_resized_.jpg

Read more here http://www.jetnet.ab.ca/gulfwarva/halifax.htm

 

[Five-to-One]

Im not very familiar with Canadians in Kuwait, exactly what did we commit?

 

[Baloo]

Im not very familiar with Canadians in Kuwait, exactly what did we commit?

Off the top of my head, we committed two destroyers, a dozen C-130 planes, a squadron of CF-18s, a field hospital and...not sure about actual troop strength.

 

[Franko]

Ummm....IIRC that medal was awarded right after the war ended.

Members cannot wear it on thier uniforms due to it not being awarded by Canada though.

Regards

 

[the 48th regulator]

Sorry Crusader,

It can be worn if approved by the Government of Canada,  see page 11 of this pdf link

http://www.gg.ca/honours/pdf/wearing_e.pdf

Has it been approved, though?

dileas

tess

 

[Danjanou]

Ummm....IIRC that medal was awarded right after the war ended.

Members cannot wear it on thier uniforms due to it not being awarded by Canada though.

Regards

If that's the case there, then someone better tell this guy.

 

[Franko]

I stand corrected.

Was there a medal issued by Kuwait that isn't allowed, with exception to this one, by the CF to be worn?

Regards

 

[Gunner]

http://www.cda-cdai.ca/symposia/1998/98gimblett.htm

When hostilities ceased three days later, on 28 February 1991, there were about 2,700 Canadian sailors, soldiers and aircrew serving in the theatre of operations.

How much sunscreen did 2,700 personnel use up?

 

[Teddy Ruxpin]

Neither the Kuwaiti nor the Saudi Arabian medals have been approved for wear.  However, I seem to recall a handful of pers who were issued them very very early on who were permitted to retain them - maybe that's the case for the AF BGen... 

Before the bleating starts, this is standard procedure for the Canadian honours system - only medals awarded by Canada are typically authorized to be worn.  Other foreign awards have to have permission for wear granted in each individual instance and have to be awarded by the foreign head of state (in other words, my US Army Wombat Shooting Medal can't be authorized).  Moreover, such foreign awards can't "compete" with a Canadian award.  Thus in this case, there's already a Canadian Gulf and Kuwait gong - the foreign awards recognize exactly the same service.

 

[3rd Horseman]

If memory serves me correct all troops got a gong they could not wear plus the Canadian one they could for same service. A few like the navel commander and his aid that I know of got the medal direct from the King and wear them to this day. Just drop by the Halifax mess and look around. As for the airforce general he may have been at the same party and got the gong direct, in these cases they get to wear them. It is much like the US MSM if the president gave it to ya you get to wear if your unit did like in my case you get to look at it but not wear (until your out).

 

[warrickdll]

Where Ottawa failed (based on the content of related articles) was in not sending out the medals to the eligible personnel - a simple task made into a complicated mess.

As for the wearing of the medals: I don't believe any foreign (or international organization) medal or badge should be worn by members of the CF nor should Ottawa be issuing Canadian military medals to foreign forces.

If Ottawa decides an operation or individual action deserves recognition then it should be up to Ottawa to produce and issue the medal. All foreign awards should be treated as keepsakes and never worn on the uniform.

 

[AmmoTech90]

As for the wearing of the medals: I don't believe any foreign (or international organization) medal or badge should be worn by members of the CF nor should Ottawa be issuing Canadian military medals to foreign forces.

If Ottawa decides an operation or individual action deserves recognition then it should be up to Ottawa to produce and issue the medal. All foreign awards should be treated as keepsakes and never worn on the uniform.

You do realize that the CF has personnel serving as normal members of foreign countries units right?  And that these personnel deploy with the foreign units?  So if we have one person go off with the their unit to a mission in a country for six months and the country they are serving with awards a campaign/mission medel that is roughly in line with Canadian regulations the Canadian member on that mission shouldn not wear it?  What would your option be?  Ignore the contribution of that member completely, start the entire awards process to generate a medal for a single person, or use the current system of the member asks and his request is reviewed and allowed or not allowed.

D

 

[warrickdll]

We have a whole system now for this: GCS; GSM; SSM; and even the CPSM. All you need to generate is a bar - and that would only be on the rare occasion where Canada had no service already in that region (how often is that?).

 

[AmmoTech90]

Ops TELIC and Iraqi Freedom spring to mind.

The GCS and GSM apply to Canadian Forces operations, so they don't apply.  I guess you could hand out SSMs but I personally dont think it would be appropriate.  The fact that it happens rarely but is possible I believe fosters respect and friendship between the countries militaries.  The fact that a country wants to recognize a CF member with an award from the nation is an honor and I think it would be small of us to refuse.

 

[warrickdll]

Ops TELIC and Iraqi Freedom spring to mind.

The GCS and GSM apply to Canadian Forces operations, so they don't apply.  I guess you could hand out SSMs but I personally dont think it would be appropriate.
...

The point in the case of Iraq is that it isn't a CF operation so I would see a few possible solutions:
1. A generic bar (Foreign Operations on Exchange) for such things for the GCS/GSM/SSM.
2. A foreign conflict that has enough Canadians on exchange that it rates a bar for GCS/GSM/SSM.
3. A foreign conflict that has enough Canadians on exchange that it rates modifying the SWASM eligibilities.
4. A foreign conflict that requires no medals for Canadians on exchange.

Any of those options is better than the abstract determination of which foreign medal (or whose service) is worthy of an exception to wearing foreign medals.

...
The fact that it happens rarely but is possible I believe fosters respect and friendship between the countries militaries.  The fact that a country wants to recognize a CF member with an award from the nation is an honor and I think it would be small of us to refuse.

It would be small not allow the soldiers to receive them, but whether we are allowed to wear them is something altogether different. I'm pretty sure the US and the UK aren't holding their breaths over whether or not Canada wears their medals. We might have a small military, but it's large enough to issue our own medals.

Exchanges might test the system, but the Gulf War was a CF operation and there was a Canadian medal given - that Ottawa failed/refused to issue the foreign medals to the troops is small - that Ottawa issued the foreign medals to the Top Brass with permission to wear them is just embarrassing.

My knowledge of what the CDN military actually did is a little hazy, exactly how many combat troops were involved in the liberation of Kuwait?....gunner might be onto something 

From http://www.forces.gc.ca/hr/dhh/honours_awards/engraph/lib_kuwait_e.asp?cat=3

Recipients of the Canadian Gulf & Kuwait Medal (both with and without Bar), as well those Canadians who received the UN Iraq - Kuwait Observer Mission (UNIKOM) Medal are eligible for the Kuwaiti medal.

From http://www.forces.gc.ca/hr/dhh/honours_awards/engraph/honour_awards_e.asp?cat=3&Q_ID=32

4,109 medals have been issued, including 3,604 with the bar.

I don't know the UNIKOM numbers.

 

[gaspasser]

    Having yet to recieve mine and seeing our top brass wearing one is an overstated embarrassment.  15 years is a long wait for a "shiny" to arrive from a gov't that refused the gong in the first place, the embassy lost them initially. The process to recieve it is long and arduous, having to register and wait.  I spent days in Kuwait City, the day after the ceasefire, having to endure the faces of a proud people ask for water.  I got Scudded in Riyadh.  And I have to wait for my kudos?  But I'm a proud soldier who asks not for his laurals.
    What also irks me is the fact that many aircrew only had to fly into the zone once and they get one.  Albeit without bar that denotes being there during hostilities. The Sailors out to sea did an excellent job of providing AOR support and interventions, that was commended by the Americans.  Our fighters pilots also did an outstanding job in the air, only to get lambasted in the media when they actually did their job and shot one down!  I was part of the Canadian Field Hospital "up north" which very few people knew about or cared about.  That was the "army's" contribution.  Accordingly, our doctors and medics did an outstanding job of providing medical support to allied and "opposing force" troops.  The new medal will be placed alongside my other one from the Saudi King, in a shadow frame on my "hero wall"!
    That's just my humble opinion      for this, we fight

 

[bilton090]

     Having yet to receive mine and seeing our top brass wearing one is an overstated embarrassment.  15 years is a long wait for a "shiny" to arrive from a gov't that refused the gong in the first place, the embassy lost them initially. The process to receive it is long and arduous, having to register and wait.  I spent days in Kuwait City, the day after the ceasefire, having to endure the faces of a proud people ask for water.  I got Scudded in Riyadh.  And I have to wait for my kudos?  But I'm a proud soldier who asks not for his Laural's.
    What also irks me is the fact that many aircrew only had to fly into the zone once and they get one.  Albeit without bar that denotes being there during hostilities. The Sailors out to sea did an excellent job of providing AOR support and interventions, that was commended by the Americans.  Our fighters pilots also did an outstanding job in the air, only to get lambasted in the media when they actually did their job and shot one down!  I was part of the Canadian Field Hospital "up north" which very few people knew about or cared about.  That was the "army's" contribution.  Accordingly, our doctors and medics did an outstanding job of providing medical support to allied and "opposing force" troops.  The new medal will be placed alongside my other one from the Saudi King, in a shadow frame on my "hero wall"!
     That's just my humble opinion      for this, we fight

                            Was there on Desert Shield in Qatar was part of the construction of Canadian Dry # 1 & 2 , And the con. of parking area for all 18- CF18's in theather, Was there long enf for the Gulf & Kuwait medal, I didn't get envy outher ? :warstory:​