Kuwait Liberation Medal (Emirate of Kuwait)
Kuwait Liberation (Kuwait) Medals are not US military medals, but foreign awards, and unlike the medals of America, they are presented by the government of Kuwait. The Kuwait Liberation Medal was offered to US service persons in July of 1994 for their participation in the liberation of Kuwait. These military medals were approved for US service personnel in March of 1995 by the US Secretary of Defense. The Kuwait Liberation Medal was approved in five classes according to the rank of the recipient, by its creators, the Kuwait Council of Ministers. The US Secretary of Defense only accepted the fifth class version of these military ribbons and medals for US service personnel. These military awards were bestowed on all US military members who served in support of Operation Desert Shield or Desert Storm in one or more of the following areas between August 1990 and August 1993: Persian Gulf, Red Sea, Gulf of Oman, Gulf or Aden, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. Eligibility for these awards include all combat duty, or serving for one or more days in ground/shore operations, aboard navel vessels or aircraft supporting military operations, or serving for 30 consecutive days or 60 non-consecutive days on temporary duty in support of the Gulf War operations.
The Kuwait Liberation Medal is considered junior in precedence to the Saudi Arabian version of the same medal, due to the much larger number of these awards being distributed. The Bronze Fifth Class version of these military medals approved for US personnel is worn below the Saudi Arabian version of the Kuwait Liberation Medal and above the ROK War Service Medal in the general order of precedence that has been established for the display of all military medals and ribbons. These awards can be worn as traditional full size military medals and mini medals, military ribbons and lapel pins. They are available as traditional slide-on, full size military medals or mini-medals, and slide-on military ribbons, although currently, more and more military service personnel are realizing the value to their career goals of always having their uniform decorations looking their best, and have turned to the slimmer and trimmer thin military medals and mini medals and the ultra thin ribbons to provide them with the smartest looking military award displays possible.
