Afghanistan Campaign Medal: Who Qualifies and How to Claim It

You qualify for the Afghanistan Campaign Medal if you served honorably as a member of the U.S. uniformed services in Afghanistan or its airspace on or after October 24, 2001 and on or before August 31, 2021, and you met one of four specific conditions tied to time in country, combat, casualty evacuation, or aircrew missions. The medal was established by Executive Order 13363 in November 2004, and award authority closed on August 31, 2021.¹²

The Four Ways to Qualify

You had to be assigned or attached to a unit operating in the Afghanistan area of eligibility, and you had to meet at least one of the following:³

30 consecutive days, or 60 nonconsecutive days, of duty within the area of eligibility.
Participation in actual combat against an armed enemy, with no minimum time in the area.
Being killed, wounded, or injured seriously enough to require medical evacuation from the area.
Aircrew service flying sorties into, out of, or over the area in direct support of military operations, with each day of flight operations counting as one day toward the 30/60-day requirement.

The combat condition and the medical evacuation condition waive the time requirement entirely. Five days in country followed by a Purple Heart evacuation qualifies you the same as a twelve-month deployment does.

Honorable Service Is Required

The service the qualification is based on must have been honorable. A dishonorable or other-than-honorable discharge covering the Afghanistan deployment period disqualifies you for the medal tied to that service.⁴

What Counts as “In Afghanistan”

The area of eligibility is the land within Afghanistan’s borders and the airspace directly above that land. Nothing more.³ Bases in Kuwait, Qatar, or elsewhere in the region do not count. If you supported the war from a neighboring country but never crossed into Afghan territory or airspace, you are not eligible on proximity alone.⁴

Who Does Not Qualify

The medal is limited to members of the uniformed services.¹ Civilian contractors and Department of Defense civilian employees are not eligible even if they deployed to the same locations, for the same length of time, under the same threat. Eligibility requires the person to have been a service member assigned or attached to a participating unit.⁵ Separate DoD civilian awards exist, but those are different programs.

The GWOTEM Overlap

You cannot hold both the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal and the Afghanistan Campaign Medal for the same tour. This is the rule most likely to cause confusion when reviewing an older record.⁴

If you earned the GWOTEM for qualifying Afghanistan service between September 11, 2001 and April 30, 2005, you may elect to convert it to the Afghanistan Campaign Medal. That election is irrevocable and must be documented with a signed service record entry. From May 1, 2005 onward, only the Afghanistan Campaign Medal was authorized for Afghanistan service. The restriction is per tour, not per person: a veteran who keeps the GWOTEM for a pre-May 2005 deployment can still earn the Afghanistan Campaign Medal for a later one.⁶

Multiple Deployments and Campaign Stars

You get one medal, no matter how many times you deployed. Additional deployments show up as bronze service stars worn centered on the ribbon, one for each of the six official campaign phases in which you served. Five bronze stars are replaced by a single silver star.⁷ The phases run from the Liberation of Afghanistan (September 11 – November 30, 2001) through Transition II under Operation Freedom’s Sentinel (January 1, 2015 – August 31, 2021).⁵

Checking Whether You Already Have It

Start with your DD Form 214. The decorations block lists awards, and the form also carries service dates, foreign service credit, and last duty assignment.⁸ If the medal is there, you’re done.

If it isn’t listed, that doesn’t automatically mean you don’t qualify. Omissions on DD-214s are common, particularly for people who separated shortly after a deployment. The next place to look is your Official Military Personnel File: deployment orders, travel vouchers, personnel action documents, evaluations, and certificates can all confirm you were in the area of eligibility during an authorized window.

How to Claim the Medal or Fix Your Record

Veterans can request records and replacement medals through the National Archives at vetrecs.archives.gov, which uses ID.me for identity verification and accepts requests for records, corrections, and physical medals. You can also submit Standard Form 180 by mail or fax to the National Personnel Records Center. Every request, online or paper, has to be signed and dated.⁹

Active-duty personnel don’t go through the Archives. Updates run through the unit administrative office or the branch’s HR portal.

Army Veterans

Army veterans who separated after October 1, 2002 send their requests directly to U.S. Army Human Resources Command. Either a letter or an SF-180 works, and it should be accompanied by a copy of separation paperwork plus any supporting documents. The mailing address is U.S. Army Human Resources Command, ATTN: AHRC-PDP-A, Dept 480, 1600 Spearhead Division Avenue, Fort Knox, KY 40122-5408. Scanned requests can also be emailed to the Awards and Decorations Branch.¹⁰

Fixing a DD-214 That Should Have Listed the Medal

Corrections used to be made with a DD Form 215 issued alongside the original DD-214. The National Archives no longer creates DD Form 215 corrections, following Department of Defense guidance requiring electronic creation and transmission of amendments.¹¹ Veterans who believe their records contain a genuine error or injustice can file DD Form 149 with their branch’s Board for Correction of Military Records for formal review.

How Long It Takes

The NPRC receives roughly 4,000 to 5,000 requests a day. Response times vary with the complexity of the request and the availability of the underlying records. The Archives asks that you wait at least 90 days before following up, since duplicate requests slow the queue.⁹

Requests by Next of Kin

Family members can request the medal for a deceased service member. The definition of next of kin varies by branch. For the Army, the order is surviving spouse, eldest child, father or mother, eldest sibling, or eldest grandchild. For the Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard, next of kin means the unremarried widow or widower, son, daughter, father, mother, brother, or sister.¹²

The submission channel is the same one veterans use. The family member must include proof of the veteran’s death: a death certificate, a letter from a funeral home, or a published obituary will do.⁹ Requesters who don’t meet the next-of-kin definition are treated as members of the general public and can only access what’s publicly releasable.

1
GovInfo. Executive Order 13363 – Establishing the Afghanistan and Iraq Campaign Medals
2
United States Marine Corps. Closure of the Afghanistan Campaign Medal
3
United States Marine Corps. MARADMIN 173/05 – Afghanistan Campaign Medal
4
Executive Services Directorate (WHS). DoD Manual 1348.33, Volume 2 – Manual of Military Decorations and Awards
5
Air Force’s Personnel Center. Afghanistan Campaign Medal
6
United States Navy. Changes to the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal
7
U.S. Army Human Resources Command. Service Stars and Campaign Stars
8
National Archives. DD Form 214, Discharge Papers and Separation Documents
9
National Archives. Request Military Service Records
10
U.S. Army Human Resources Command. Procedures for Retirees or Veterans to Request Approved Awards
11
National Archives. Correcting Military Service Records
12
National Archives. Replace Veterans’ Medals, Awards, and Decorations