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National Defense Service Medal
National Defense Service Medal
Awarded by United States
Type	Service medal
Eligibility	Member of the United States military during qualifying periods of national emergency
Awarded for	Military service during periods of national emergency
Campaign	1) Korean War 2) Vietnam War 3) Gulf War 4) War on Terrorism
Status	Active
Description	Obverse: Shows the American bald eagle, perched on a sword and palm. Above this, in a semicircle, is the inscription "National Defense". Reverse: Shows a shield, as it appears in the Great Seal of the United States; it is half encircled below with an oak leaf to the left and a laurel spray to the right, knotted in the center. Ribbon: The ribbon has a wide yellow stripe in the center, flanked by narrow stripes of red, white, blue, white and wide red stripes.
Clasps	Service star for subsequent awards
Statistics
Established	Executive Order 10448, April 22, 1953 (as amended by E.O. 11256, January 11, 1966
First awarded	June 27, 1950 - July 27, 1954 (Korean War)
Last awarded	September 11, 2001 - present (War on Terrorism)
Precedence
Next (higher)	Navy: Navy Occupation Service Medal Marine Corps: Navy Occupation Service Medal Army: Army of Occupation Medal Air Force: Army of Occupation Medal Coast Guard: Navy Occupation Service Medal
Next (lower)	Korean Service Medal
Related	Global War on Terrorism Service Medal
Ribbon for the National Defense Service Medal

The National Defense Service Medal is a military decoration of the United States military originally commissioned by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Created in 1953, the National Defense Service Medal was intended to be a “blanket campaign medal” awarded to any member of the United States military who served honorably during a designated time period of which a “national emergency” had been declared.

In the fifty years since the creation of the National Defense Service Medal, it is only authorized for the following time periods.

• June 27, 1950 to July 27, 1954 for service during the Korean War
• January 1, 1961 to August 14, 1974 for service during the Vietnam War
• August 2, 1990 to November 30, 1995 for service during the Gulf War
• September 11, 2001 to a date to be announced for service during the War on Terrorism

The National Defense Service Medal is awarded to anyone who serves on active duty in the United States military during the above time periods. For service in the Gulf War and War on Terrorism, it is also authorized for members of the military reserve or national guard who are ordered to active duty for reasons other than military training. The National Defense Service Medal is further authorized to students at the service academies after they are sworn in as military officers, but is not granted to discharged or retired veterans who did not serve in one of the above time periods. The decoration is not authorized to members of the inactive reserve component.

Since the National Defense Service Medal has no other award criteria, except that a recipient must simply join the military, it is generally considered a low ranking service medal in the order of precedence for wear and display of U.S. military medals.[1]. There is also not a time limit imposed for the medals issuance, meaning that someone who joins the military for simply a few days, and then receives an entry level discharge, would technically be entitled to the National Defense Service Medal. Although, in practice, military clerks will not add the NDSM on a DD Form 214 if the service member performed duty for less than 30 days. This accounts for the medal being omitted from a large number of "Uncharacterized" and "Entry Level" Separation Documents when in fact the veteran would be entitled to the decoration.

Multiple awards of the National Defense Service Medal are authorized for members of the military who served in more than one of the eligible time periods; such additional awards are denoted by service stars. A second award of the medal is not granted for reenlisting during the same time period or transferring between branches of service.

Any false verbal, written or physical claim to the National Defense Service Medal, by an individual to whom it has not been awarded, is a federal felony offense punishable by up to 6 months in jail and up to a $5000 fine.

• SECNAVINST 1650.1G (Navy Awards Manual)