The description of the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal is clearly inaccurate.  The vague and misleading description of the shield of what is plainly the arms of the United States fails to mention the chief: http://www.tioh.hqda.pentagon.mil/Awards/GwotServiceMedal.htm .

Daniel C. Boyer;42719 wrote:

The description of the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal is clearly inaccurate.  The vague and misleading description of the shield of what is plainly the arms of the United States fails to mention the chief: http://www.tioh.hqda.pentagon.mil/Awards/GwotServiceMedal.htm .

You are correct, the chief has been left out of the blazon. I find the name of the medal to be rather broad in scope. I am really not sure what the point is in creating this medal. I think that the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal could just as easily have been used for overseas service with the National Defense Medal encompassing those who did not serve overseas.

David Pritchard;42722 wrote:

You are correct, the chief has been left out of the blazon. I find the name of the medal to be rather broad in scope. I am really not sure what the point is in creating this medal. I think that the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal could just as easily have been used for overseas service with the National Defense Medal encompassing those who did not serve overseas.

There seem to be a number of points of overlap in medal eligibility and I would agree that in this case it is particularly confusing.

Daniel C. Boyer