A group of vets are raising money to pay for a medal the Iraqi government awarded them, but never de [View all]

In June 2011 Iraq's defense minister announced that U.S. troops who had deployed to the country would receive the Iraq Commitment Medal in recognition of their service. Eight years later, millions of qualified veterans have yet to receive it.

The reason: The Iraqi government has so far failed to provide the medals to the Department of Defense for approval and distribution.

A small group of veterans hopes to change that.

On Aug. 11, Ed Mahoney, an Iraq war veteran who served in Fallujah and Al Assad, Iraq, between 2008 and 2009, launched a Kickstarter campaign aimed at raising funds to make a small order of awards, with the hope the Pentagon will consider approving the award if service members and vets are willing to pay to have it made.

Though the medal remains unapproved for wear by the Pentagon, if it were ever given the go ahead, the requirements are that: "one must have served for 30 consecutive days or for 60 non-consecutive days within the borders of Iraq, within its territorial waters, or within its airspace during the period of March 19, 2003 to December 31, 2011," according to the Kickstarter page.

https://taskandpurpose.com/iraq-commitment-medal-kickstarter

Troops Who Deployed to the US-Mexico Border Are Getting a Medal


https://www.military.com/daily-news/2019/08/19/troops-who-deployed-us-mexico-border-are-getting-medal.html