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Corps reinforces awards rules

In the latest awards update issued from Quantico, Va., manpower officials are reminding Marines who think they rate an Army or Air Force combat badge to verify their eligibility — but don’t even think about wearing those uniform decorations.

That reminder is contained in a short paragraph that amplifies existing policy that prohibits Marines from accepting, wearing or retaining one of the three combat decorations — the Army’s Combat Infantryman Badge, or CIB; the Combat Action Badge, or CAB; and the Air Force’s Combat Action Medal, or CAM.

In the update, released Aug. 4 as Marine administrative message 418/08, Marines “assigned either permanently or temporarily to Army or Air Force commands in combat are not eligible to accept, wear or retain the CIB, CAB or CAM.”

However, that won’t prevent those Marines from getting combat recognition. Their actions just might rate them the Combat Action Ribbon.

If a Marine’s actions “meet the eligibility criteria for the CIB, CAB or CAM, the U.S. Army or U.S. Air Force command must submit a personal award recommendation for the CAR to the CMC for approval,” the message reads.

The CAR is arguably the most revered ribbon among Marines, especially infantrymen, and it’s not handed out freely.

The Corps has strict eligibility rules for the CAR, a ribbon that retains the been there, done that image of war and warrior. In 2006, Marine officials broadened the rules to include a variety of engagements, such as roadside bomb ambushes.

A recent Navy message about the Army’s combat badges also might have contributed to the confusion.

Sailors who are awarded the CIB or Combat Medical Badge while assigned with Army units will convert those into Combat Action Ribbons, Navy officials announced in the May 5 message, AlNav 36/08.

Some sailors also might be eligible for converting the CAB or the CAM for the Combat Action Ribbon, under a revised policy on the CAR approved by Navy Secretary Donald Winter in April.

More eligible for NUC

In a change that could affect several thousand Marines, officials also approved the Navy Unit Commendation for additional members of units that served under I Marine Expeditionary Force (Reinforced) in Iraq from Aug. 2, 2004, to Feb. 1, 2005.

In 2006, the SecNav awarded the NUC to the Camp Pendleton, Calif.-based I MEF for the Operation Iraqi Freedom combat tour that included the initial and subsequent battles in Fallujah.

The initial announcement of the award, released Dec. 19, 2006, in MarAdmin message 609/06, listed scores of units and detachments eligible and authorized to wear the award.

Recently added were:

• 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines, from Camp Pendleton, Calif.

• 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines, from Camp Pendleton, along with 2nd platoon of Company B, 1st Combat Engineer Battalion; 2nd platoon of Truck Company, Headquarters Battalion; and a detachment of 1st Intelligence Battalion.

• Delta Company, 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, from Camp Lejeune, N.C.

• 3rd Battalion, 11th Marines, from Marine Air Ground Combat Center, Twentynine Palms, Calif.

• Marine Wing Support Squadron 273, of Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, S.C.

• Marine Wing Support Squadron 374 of Twentynine Palms.

• Marine Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron 4 from Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, N.C.

• Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 466 from MCAS Miramar in San Diego.

• Marine Attack Squadron 214 from MCAS Yuma, Ariz.

• Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 261 from MCAS New River, N.C.

• Marine Light-Attack Helicopter Squadron 775, a reserve unit at Camp Pendleton.

• Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 764, a reserve unit from Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.

• 3rd Battalion, 24th Marines, a reserve unit based in Missouri with companies also in Tennessee and Indiana.

• By-name members of Detachment 1, Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command, from Camp Pendleton.

• By-name members of 1st and 2nd platoons with Company A, 2nd Military Police Battalion, from Camp Lejeune.

• By-name members with Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron 13 detachments from Miramar assigned to VMA-311, HMM-265 (Reinforced) and HMM-166 (Reinforced).

• By-name members of 3rd Low-Altitude Air Defense Battalion from Camp Pendleton who served as a provisional security battalion with Marine Wing Support Group 37.

• By-name members of Coalition Military Assistance Training Team advisers with Regimental Combat Team 1.

• By-name members of II MEF Command Element augments in the advance party.

Joint meritorious awards

The latest message authorizes the Joint Meritorious Unit Award for members who served with the following units in Iraq or Afghanistan for the periods listed:

• Multi-National Force-Iraq Headquarters in Baghdad from Dec. 17, 2006, to Dec. 17, 2007.

• Combined Joint Task Force-Troy Headquarters in Baghdad from Dec. 8, 2006, to Feb. 7, 2008.

• Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force-Afghanistan Headquarters at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, from April 1, 2007, to Nov. 1, 2007.

• U.S. Central Command Headquarters at MacDill Air Force Base, Fla., from Jan. 1, 2006, to March 1, 2008.

• Joint Psychological Operations Task Force Headquarters at Camp As-Sayliyah, Qatar, from Oct. 1, 2006, to Nov. 1, 2007.

• Joint Contracting Command-Iraq/Afghanistan Headquarters in Baghdad from Jan. 1, 2007, to Dec. 31, 2007.

The award is for Marines who were assigned or attached to the joint task force by official orders, Marine officials said in the message.

Those deployed without those orders won’t rate the medal, “even if they are under the operational control of the JTF,” the message says.

Humanitarian medal

Marines who deployed and directly aided in the Indonesian earthquake relief efforts from May 27 to June 14, 2006, are eligible for the Humanitarian Service Medal, recently approved by the Joint Staff. More than 5,700 people died and a half-million homes were damaged when a strong earthquake struck near Yogyakarta.

U.S. military forces sent to the region at the time for the humanitarian operation included several hundred Marines and Navy medical teams with Japan-based III MEF, including 3rd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, 3rd Marine Logistics Group, and Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron 152.

The message doesn’t list specific units or members as eligible for the medal, however. Colonels and other senior operational commanders are supposed to determine those specifics and draw up their own rosters for approval by the awards branch at Marine Corps headquarters.

“Direct participation is defined as being physically present at the designated location and having directly contributed to influence the action,” Marine officials said in the awards message. “Deployment to the area of humanitarian assistance in and of itself does not constitute HSM entitlement.”

The awards update also lists other changes, including medals for U.S. border control operations, Kosovo deployments and a variety of approved Air Force awards for Marines serving with those units. A full detailing of the awards is available in the admin message.