National Defense Service Medal

The National Defense Service Medal (NDSM) is a military service medal of the United States Armed Forces 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 Armed Forces who served honorably during a designated time period of which a "national emergency" had been declared.

As of 2010, with an issuance span of sixty years, the National Defense Service Medal is the oldest service medal still being awarded by the United States Armed Forces, followed second by the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal which has been awarded since 1961. Combat and meritorious decorations (such as the Medal of Honor, Silver Star, Purple Heart and Commendation Medals) are older still, but are considered personal decorations and are classified under separate award criteria from service medals.

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

Award criteria
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, members of the military Reserve (in good standing) or National Guard were initially awarded the NDSM when called to active duty service, but this was later expanded to include all members of the Reserve or National Guard in good standing on the Reserve Active Status List (or equivalent) during the eligibility period.

For service in the War on Terrorism, Selected Reserve and National Guard members need only to have been in good standing to receive the NDSM, and no active duty service is required. Inactive Ready Reserve and Retired Reserve are not eligible to be awarded the NDSM unless called to active duty.

The National Defense Service Medal is authorized to Cadets and Midshipmen at the service academies after they are sworn into service, as well as pre-commission officer candidates/trainees at the Officer Candidate Schools or Officer Training Schools of the various U.S. services; but is not granted to discharged or retired veterans who did not serve in one of the above time periods; nor is it authorized for Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) Cadets and Midshipmen at colleges and universities who enlisted in the inactive reserve (i.e., Obligated Reserve Section or ORS) during qualifying periods.

The National Defense Service Medal ranks eleventh out of twenty-nine in the order of precedence of service medals. There is no time requirement for the medal's 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 NDSM; in practice, however, military clerks will not add the NDSM on a DD Form 214 if the service member performed duty for less than 90 days from the completion of their initial entry training. This accounts for the medal's omission from a large number of "uncharacterized" and "entry level" separation documents. Veterans who have this medal so omitted may apply to the military service departments to have the NDSM added to records via a DD Form 215.

Multiple awards
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.

Source

 * National Personnel Records Center (Training package for awards & decorations)