A service star is a miniature bronze or silver five-pointed star in diameter that is authorized to be worn by members of the eight uniformed services of the United States on medals and ribbons to denote an additional award or service period.

thumb|upright=1.3|Stars on service ribbons

Service stars, campaign stars, and battle stars are worn with one point of the star pointing up on the suspension ribbon of a medal or service ribbon. A silver star is worn instead of five bronze stars. Each star represents a deployment in support of an approved GWOT operation. Four bronze service stars are authorized for five approved deployment operations (only one GWOT-EM is awarded for each operation). The five GWOT-EM-approved operations by inclusive dates are:

  • Korean War
  • Vietnam War
  • Gulf War
  • War on terrorism

{| class="wikitable"

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| First award: any one of four conflicts

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| Second award: two of the four conflicts

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| Third award: three of the four conflicts

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| Fourth award: all four conflicts

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Unit awards

Service stars are authorized for certain unit awards (The service ribbon itself indicates the first award, with a bronze service star being added to indicate the second and subsequent awards. If ever applicable, a silver service star is worn instead of five bronze stars.) such as the:

  • Presidential Unit Citation (Navy and Marine Corps)
  • Navy Unit Commendation (Navy and Marine Corps)

Campaign stars

Campaign stars are authorized for these United States campaign medals (bronze and silver campaign stars are worn to denote participation in a designated campaign or campaign phase or period):

  • World War I Victory Medal
  • American Defense Service Medal
  • American Campaign Medal
  • Asiatic–Pacific Campaign Medal
  • European–African–Middle Eastern Campaign Medal
  • Korean Service Medal
  • Vietnam Service Medal
  • Southwest Asia Service Medal
  • Kosovo Campaign Medal
  • Afghanistan Campaign Medal
  • Iraq Campaign Medal
  • Inherent Resolve Campaign Medal

For each designated campaign participated in, one star is worn on the ribbon. For example, when a member is authorized to wear the Iraq Campaign Medal, the potential addition of bronze and silver service stars for the seven designated Iraq Campaign phases would be:

{| class="wikitable"

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| Any one of the seven phases

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| Two of the seven phases

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| Three of the seven phases

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| Four of the seven phases

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| Five of the seven phases

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| Six of the seven phases

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| All seven campaign phases

|}

For many of these awards, service stars are earned by participation in campaign phases and all eligible periods for the award fall within those defined phases. In these cases, the campaign medal cannot be earned alone, and is always to be worn with at least one campaign star.

Battle stars

Since February 26, 2004, the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal (GWOT-SM) are authorized to be awarded with bronze and silver battle stars for personnel who were engaged in specific battles in combat under circumstances involving grave danger of death or serious bodily injury from enemy action. However, though authorized for wear, no battle stars have been approved for wear. Only a combatant commander can initiate a request for a battle star, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is the approving authority,

Only one award of the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal and one award of the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal may be authorized for any individual. No service stars were authorized for the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary or Service Medal

See also

  • 5/16 inch star
  • Awards and decorations of the United States military
  • United States military award devices
  • Oak leaf cluster

References

  • United States award regulations for World War II (Navy)