Mobilization Device
Encyclopedia
Awards and decorations of the United States military
Awards and decorations of the United States Military are military decorations which recognize service and personal accomplishments while a member of the United States armed forces...
to the United States Armed Forces Reserve Medal
Armed Forces Reserve Medal
The Armed Forces Reserve Medal is a military award of the United States Armed Forces that has existed since 1950. The medal recognizes service performed by the Reserve and National Guard forces of the United States of America....
which denotes those who have received the decoration for duty in a recall to active service from a reserve or National Guard
United States National Guard
The National Guard of the United States is a reserve military force composed of state National Guard militia members or units under federally recognized active or inactive armed force service for the United States. Militia members are citizen soldiers, meaning they work part time for the National...
component of the United States military.
The Mobilization Device was first authorized in 1996 by order of President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
. The device was an expansion on a 1990 directive which authorized the Armed Forces Reserve Medal, without device, to any reserve or National Guard member who was federalized to perform duty in a designated mobilization.
The original operations, for which the Mobilization Device is authorized, are as follows.
- Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm (Gulf WarGulf WarThe Persian Gulf War , commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a U.N.-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait.The war is also known under other names, such as the First Gulf...
) - Operation Restore Hope (SomaliaSomaliaSomalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory...
) - Operation Uphold DemocracyOperation Uphold DemocracyOperation Uphold Democracy was an intervention designed to remove the military regime installed by the 1991 Haitian coup d'état that overthrew the elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide...
(HaitiHaitiHaiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
) - Operation Joint Endeavor (BosniaBosnia and HerzegovinaBosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
) - Operation Allied ForceOperation Allied ForceThe NATO bombing of Yugoslavia was NATO's military operation against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War. The strikes lasted from March 24, 1999 to June 10, 1999...
(KosovoKosovoKosovo is a region in southeastern Europe. Part of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, later the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia...
) - Operation Noble EagleOperation Noble EagleOperation Noble Eagle is the name given to military operations related to homelandsecurity and support to federal, state, and local agencies...
(ONE) (Homeland Defense/U.S.) - Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) (See Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary MedalGlobal War on Terrorism Expeditionary MedalThe Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal is a United States armed forces military award created by George W. Bush on March 12, 2003 by Executive Order 13289. It recognizes those military service members who have deployed overseas in direct service to the War on Terror from September 11,...
) - Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) (IraqIraqIraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
)
Since its initial issuance, the Mobilization Device has been retroactively authorized to any reservist or National Guard member who was recalled or mobilized to active federal duty either as a volunteer or non-volunteer.
Only one Mobilization device is authorized per each operation stated above. An example would be a soldier called up to serve in Kosovo (Allied Force) and then later called up again after demobilizing to serve in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (OEF), would receive the "M" device twice. However, if a soldier was called up for OIF I, and then later demobilized and was later called up again for OIF III, the soldier would only be allowed one "M" device, not two, even though the soldier was called up twice, on two separate occasions.
The Mobilization Device is worn as a large bronze “M” centered in the middle of the Armed Forces Reserve Medal’s ribbon. If the wearer is authorized the Hourglass Device
Hourglass Device
The Hourglass Device is a military award of the United States armed forces presented as an attachment to the Armed Forces Reserve Medal. The Hourglass Device denotes total service as a member of the Reserve or National Guard and is issued in three degrees....
, this is centered to the wearers right on the side of the Mobilization Device while a bronze award numeral, signifying the total awards of the Mobilization Device, is centered on the opposite side of the award ribbon (no award numerals are authorized for the first award of the Mobilization Device).