Changes to service medals announced

[Eye In The Sky]

Did the existing GCS/GSM-SWA not cover the territory of the Op IMPACT AOR?

General Campaign Star - SOUTH-WEST ASIA (GCS-SWA)

in the theatre of operations consisting of the political boundaries of Afghanistan, the Persian Gulf, the Gulf of Oman, the Gulf of Aden, the Red Sea, the Suez Canal, and those parts of the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea that are west of sixty-eight degrees East longitude and north of five degrees South latitude, as well as the airspace above those areas

General Campaign Star - EXPEDITION (GCS-EXP)

- within the political boundaries and airspace of Iraq; and/or
- within the political boundaries of Syria, its airspace and territorial waters

Why award the "EXP" versions of medals when there already were medals in the system?

The GCS-Exp had already been identified for service inside Iraq before IMPACT;  it wasn't created because of it.  Before IMPACT, though, there was only a handful of them awarded; 6 or so IIRC.  Eligible service pre-IMPACT was from as early as 1 January 2003.

 

[Jarnhamar]

Well we need something more readily memorable than General Campaign Star-Sykes Picot"

I would like to see RA/HA be adjustable in a more timely manner than once a year (from my understanding) and by someone a bit more accessable than the mysterious treasury board.


As for the medals I would guess most of us would say we don't care all that much about bling and I think most of us are honest about that.

At an institutional level we really look down on anyone who doesn't have medals.
Sgt/WO or Senior Captain/Major without some medals? Good luck getting respect. People will talk shit about you behind your back or even have the audacity to question your service to your face.

I don't sympathise with people wearing medals they didn't warn but I certainly recognize the pressure.

"Earning" them will always be a point of contention.
30 days driving a bus back and forth from the kitchen (which practically anyone in the caf can do) vs aircrew and specialists risking getting shown down and star in a YouTube torture video.
Almost being murdered on a daily basis seeing people mangled for 7 months vs a 14 day trip that's more sight seeing than anything (or whatever timeline).

We're never going to get away from tour tourists.

The best I'd hope for is something that gets tourists in and out of theater as quick as possible to get their medal and keep out of the way of the rest of us.

If someone's only in theater for 2 or 3 weeks and does something meaningful then that's great they get a medal.

 

[eliminator]

Danger isn't the criteria for medals, service is.

Found this quote from the official GSM-EXP page at https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/services/medals/medals-chart-index/general-service-medal-expedition-gsm-exp.html

"To be eligible to be awarded the Medal, direct support must be performed under Exceptional circumstances and the person must have been deployed specifically to provide this support on a full-time basis to the operations. Only when there is a certain level of risk, threat, hardship, or operational intensity can recognition be provided. Any support which is comparable in nature to normal duty or which is performed from the relative safety of a country distant from the theatre shall be excluded from eligibility."

 

[daftandbarmy]

Found this quote from the official GSM-EXP page at https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/services/medals/medals-chart-index/general-service-medal-expedition-gsm-exp.html

"To be eligible to be awarded the Medal, direct support must be performed under Exceptional circumstances and the person must have been deployed specifically to provide this support on a full-time basis to the operations. Only when there is a certain level of risk, threat, hardship, or operational intensity can recognition be provided. Any support which is comparable in nature to normal duty or which is performed from the relative safety of a country distant from the theatre shall be excluded from eligibility."

Which is weird, because I assume this presumes that someone way back in the echelon will never deploy forward during the campaign.

Not very 'agile' IMHO....

 

[eliminator]

Which is weird, because I assume this presumes that someone way back in the echelon will never deploy forward during the campaign.

Not very 'agile' IMHO....

I tend to agree; specifically it seems like the context of "aircrew" non-permanence over GCS-qualifying territory being one of the complicating factors.

Personally, three of my medals are related to service in SWA (GCS-SWA, GSM-EXP, SSM-EXP) with each one of my tours experiencing various levels of "suck" and WiFi connectivity quality that seem to match the associated medal's order of precedence.

 

[daftandbarmy]

and WiFi connectivity quality that seem to match the associated medal's order of precedence.

Gold, Jerry!  :rofl:

 

[Kilted]

I think that it is unfortunate how medals can be treated now a days. I think that we could go on and create different medals for every different type or level of overseas duty you shake a stick at and people would still complain about someone getting the same medal as them. And it's not new, when the CD was introduced the RCN was very upset that the sailors would get the same medal (with post-nominals) as officers. I'm actually surprised that there aren't more people complaining about it going to everyone in the CAF. Medals are supposed to be something that you can have pride in, not something for other people to judge you (some times based on jealousy) over based on what medals you have, or don't have, or what rank you receive them at.

 

[brihard]

I think that it is unfortunate how medals can be treated now a days. I think that we could go on and create different medals for every different type or level of overseas duty you shake a stick at and people would still complain about someone getting the same medal as them. And it's not new, when the CD was introduced the RCN was very upset that the sailors would get the same medal (with post-nominals) as officers. I'm actually surprised that there aren't more people complaining about it going to everyone in the CAF. Medals are supposed to be something that you can have pride in, not something for other people to judge you (some times based on jealousy) over based on what medals you have, or don't have, or what rank you receive them at.

Troops have been dick measuring for as long as there have been dicks, or measuring.