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I find it interesting that this medal has the exact same ribbon bar, ribbon suspension and pin system as the last issue East German medals. Below is an example of the reverse of the East German Waffenbruderschaft medal. Kevin

It is a Bundeswehr Leistungsabzeichen (which is roughly the German Armed Forces Proficiency Badge). It comes in three classes Bronze, Silver and Gold. I believe the R is for Reserve, but I don't collect this area so I'm not 100% sure. Kevin

Another Interesting Soviet Poster -

Thanks Dan, I totally missed that part of Vic's question. Kevin

And this is the older, harder to find, set of badges. These were used from 1964-1985 and according to my references had hangers up to 25 -

Here are mine, I've managed to misplace the number for my 2 badge -

Yes, this series of Bestenabzeichen came out in about 1986 and went up to 4. The older badge had hangers that went up to 25. Kevin

Yes, it's the NVA Bestenabzeichen or "Best Soldier" badge all of the Warsaw Pact countries had some type of equivelent to this badge. See this post from the DDR Forum on Wehrmacht-Awards.com for award criteria: http://www.wehrmacht-awards.com/forums/sho...ad.php?t=171506 There were two versions, Red for NVA and Green for Grenztruppen with removable numbers up to 4. Kevin

A sample of the color plates -

Another Soviet Orders and Medals book I stumbled across tonight - Dated 1983, has color plates of medals in the back -

Paul - I have no idea how hard they are to find now. I had a Soviet/East German collector friend who was a WO in the 7th Intel Co who sent them to me in the late 80s. I have many more, including english translation of the medals poster. But they are burried deep in the garage and so not immediately available. Kevin

Poster 5-

Poster 4-

Poster 3-

Poster 2-

Soviet posters reprinted by the British 7th Intel Co BOAR-

Ammo box inside -

Ammo box -

More books -

Dan - No problem, you and Order of Victory have motivated me to dig thru my garage and see what other hidden treasures I may have forgotten about. I've got a Soviet ammo box burried in there some where as well as a good number of posters, books, magazines, etc... I don't ever remember DDR daggers being cheap, but was distracted by Company Command in 89-90 and I left Germany in early 91 so maybe I missed the glut of material coming out of the East. Kevin

Wow! I had now idea. I guess I better go through my Soviet books and posters in the garage. Kevin

How hard are these to come by nowdays? I have no measure of value because I was picking this stuff up in the 80s when it was dirt cheap. I didn't know it then, but now I think one of my best investments was in East German and Soviet reference books. Kevin

I picked it up in an East Berlin bookstore in the late 80s along with several other mostly picture books. Unfortunately I don't read Russian, my wife however took Russian in college and can read a bit of it.

It's possible.

Darrell - It might have been printed earlier, since I don't actively collect UN medals I have no idea how many were issued up to the mid 90s. The official UN website however does have a list peacekeeping medals and issue dates - http://www.un.org/Depts/dpko/medals The poster came from DPKO HQ UN NY, it's not from a UN contributing country. Kevin