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Air Force Expeditionary Ribbon

The Air Force Expeditionary Service Ribbon was created in June of 2003. These US military medals are bestowed upon any member of the Air Force who completes a standard contingency deployment. These medals of America represent either 45 consecutive days or 90 non-consecutive days in a deployed status. Temporary duty qualifies toward the 90 day requirement, but deployments exceeding the 45-90 day requirement for a single duty tour only qualify for a single issuance of this ribbon. The Air Force does not issue corresponding military medals in association with this award.
A Gold Frame is available for these military ribbons for service members who serve in official combat zones while deployed, whether they participate in actual combat or not. This Gold Frame is a one-time decoration regardless of the number of combat operations in which a service member may be involved. The Air Force Expeditionary Service Ribbon with gold border may also be awarded to certain "over-the horizon" combat assignments, such as remotely piloted vehicle operators for employing a long-range weapon into a combat zone. Such personnel, however, must have first earned the Air Force Expeditionary Service Ribbon before these Air Force ribbons can be upgraded with a Gold Frame.
The Air Force Expeditionary Service Ribbon is worn below the Air Force Overseas Long Tour Ribbon and above the Air Force Longevity Service Ribbon in the general order of precedence that the Air Force has established for the display of all military medals and ribbons. These military ribbons are available as retroactive awards to October of 1999, and additional awards are denoted by Oak Leaf Clusters. These Air Force awards are available as military ribbons and lapel pins, and are traditionally worn as slide-on military ribbons. Nowadays however, ever increasing numbers of Air Force service personnel are beginning to realize the value to their career goals of always having their uniform decorations looking their best, and have turned to the slimmer and trimmer ultra thin ribbon racks to provide them with the smartest looking military award displays possible.

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