Iraq Medal (United Kingdom)

Infobox Military Award
name= Iraq Medal 2004


caption= Ribbon: 32mm, sand coloured ribbon with three narrow central stripes of black, white, and red representing the national colours of the Iraqi flag.
awarded_by= United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
type= Campaign medal
eligibility= British forces.
for= Campaign service.
campaign= Iraq 2003-to date.
status=
description= Cupro-nickel disk, 36mm diameter.
clasps=

19 Mar to 28 Apr 2003

established= 23 February 2004
total=


caption2=

__NOTOC__The Iraq Medal is a campaign medal for issue to Officers and Other Ranks of the British Armed Forces, and others, who have served on, or in support of, Operation TELIC - the designation for British operations during the 2003 Invasion of Iraq and its aftermath.

The medal, which was authorised on 23 February 2004, is awarded in recognition of meeting the qualifying period of service within the defined operational area. Eligibility is extensive, including both Regular and Reserve members of the armed forces, foreign and Commonwealth exchange and attached forces, Ministry of Defence civilians, members of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, civilian contractors, and embedded journalists.

The operational area is defined as being comprised of two zones - Zone 1 (Iraq and Kuwait) and Zone 2 (elsewhere within the Gulf region). Qualifying periods of service vary depending on the area in which personnel were based. The medal is awarded with the clasp "19 Mar to 28 Apr 2003" to those who participated in combat operations in Iraq; those who served before the invasion, or who have served in its aftermath, are recognised by the award of the medal alone.

To qualify for the clasp, seven days continuous service or, in the case of aircrew, two or more flights into Zone 1, between 19 March and 28 April 2003, were required. This period encompassed the duration of actual combat operations.

The medal, without a clasp, is awarded to:

* those based in Zone 1 (Iraq) who did not complete seven days service to qualify for the clasp, but who performed thirty days continuous service between either 20 Jan - 24 March 2003 or from 23 April 2003 onwards (to a date to be confirmed).
* those based in Zone 1 (Kuwait) who did not complete seven days service to qualify for the clasp, but who performed thirty days continuous service between either 20 Jan - 24 March 2003 or 23 April - 10 August 2003.
* those based in Zone 2 who performed thirty days continuous service between 20 Jan - 28 April 2003.
* aircrew based outside Zone 1 (Iraq) but who have flown ten sorties into Iraq, at a rate of not more than one sortie per day, from 28 April 2003 onwards (to a date to be confirmed).
* aircrew based outside both Zones 1 and 2 but who have flown thirty sorties into Zones 1 or 2, at a rate of not more than one sortie per day, from 20 January - 28 April 2003.

The medal, therefore, continues to be awarded for either thirty days service in Iraq or, in the case of aircrew, for ten sorties flown into Iraq.

Service terminated by death, wounds or disability due to service, or the award of a military decoration (Mention in Despatches or higher), immediately qualifies for the award of the medal, regardless of whether the length of service requirement has been met.

Clasps

* 19 Mar to 28 Apr 2003

Notes

Silver numerals have been know to be worn on the medal for multiple Telic tours, although not offical. There have been calls for clasps denoting Op Telic numbers, although none have been authorised to date. More recently there was a call made by three battle group commanders for a rosette to be issued for Telic 9, the most ferocious Telic to date, with more ammunition spent than those previous, also sadly it heralded the most British Soldiers to die in one month (12 dead in April 2007) since the opening month of the war (27 Died in March 2003, only 3 of which were to enemy action)

Bibliography

* Mackay, J and Mussel, J (eds) - "Medals Yearbook - 2005", (2004), Token Publishing.

ee also

* [http://www.operations.mod.uk/telic/campaign_medal.htm Ministry of Defence - Medal information page]