USS John W. Thomason DD760 Association

The National Defense Service Medal is a military service medal 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.

As of 2010, with an issuance span of sixty years, the National Defense Service Medal is the oldest service medal still in circulation by the United States armed forces, followed second by the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal which has been active since 1961.   Combat and meritorious decorations (such as the Medal of Honor, Achievement Medals, and Commendation Medals) are older still but are classified under separate award criteria from service medals.

In the years since the creation of the National Defense Service Medal, it is authorized only 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, members of the military reserve or are awarded the NDSM for performing "reserve service in good standing" which implies regular participation in weekend drills and annual training.   The medal is not authorized for members of the inactive reserve component.   The National Defense Service Medal is authorized to students at the service academies after they are sworn into service, 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 who enlisted in the reserve 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 limit imposed 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 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.

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