Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal

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The Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (AFEM) is a military award of the United States military which was first created in 1961 by Executive Order of President John Kennedy. The decoration is awarded for participation in "any military campaign of the United States for which no other service medal is authorized". Additional awards of the medal are denoted by service stars with the arrowhead device also authorized for United States Army personnel who are awarded the decoration through participation in an airborne or amphibious assault.

Since its original conception over forty years ago, the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal has been awarded for United States participation in over forty five designated military campaigns. The first campaign of the AFEM was the Cuban Missile Crisis and the award was issued for military service between October 1962 and June 1963. Following this original issuance, the AFEM was made retroactive to 1958 and issued for actions in Lebanon, Taiwan, the Congo, Quemoy and Matsu, and for duty in Berlin between 1961 and 1963.

During the early years of the Vietnam War, the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal was issued for initial operations in South Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. In 1965, with the creation of the Vietnam Service Medal, the AFEM was discontinued for Vietnam War service. As the Vietnam Service Medal was retroactively authorized, those personnel who had previously received the AFEM were granted the option to exchange the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal for the Vietnam Service Medal.

This option remains current to the present day, with the National Personnel Records Center the contact agency for the updating of military records and the exchange of the actual medals.

After the close of the Vietnam War, the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal was issued for various military operations in Panama, Grenada, and Libya. The AFEM has been issued for numerous operations in the Persian Gulf, most notably Operation Ernest Will which began in 1987 and lasted until the eve of the Gulf War.

Following the close of the first Gulf War, and the engagement in peacekeeping and sanction missions against Iraq, the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal was issued again for several operations such as Operation Northern Watch, Southern Watch, and Vigilant Sentinel. The medal is also authorized for several United Nations actions such as peacekeeping efforts in Bosnia and Somalia.

Beginning in 1992 an effort was begun to phase out the AFEM in favor of campaign specific medals and the newly created Armed Forces Service Medal. To date, however, the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal is still listed on official precedence charts and the decoration is still considered an active service medal.