Wider Service Medal - Petition

[JB2021]

Hello Everyone!

 

I thought this might be of interest - the UK Ministry of Defence have had the Wider Service Medal in development for quite some time now.

 

I have created a parliamentary petition to help things along. Any support warmly welcomed!

 

Support our Forces - Establish the Wider Service Medal

The Government should approve the Wider Service Medal to recognise the contributions of thousands of Armed Forces personnel deploying each year to Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

 

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/604599

[bigjarofwasps]

This is interesting?

 

 

Could Op Talla/Rescript be covered by this award?? 

[bigjarofwasps]

Saw this, thought it was interesting that a medal that hasn’t been sanctioned yet. Given the recent announcement of the nuclear vets medal, could this medal now get some traction?

 

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wider_Service_Medal

 

 

……and what then about the National Defence Medal? 

[bigjarofwasps]

On 05/01/2022 at 09:49, JB2021 said:

Hello Everyone!

 

I thought this might be of interest - the UK Ministry of Defence have had the Wider Service Medal in development for quite some time now.

 

I have created a parliamentary petition to help things along. Any support warmly welcomed!

 

Support our Forces - Establish the Wider Service Medal

The Government should approve the Wider Service Medal to recognise the contributions of thousands of Armed Forces personnel deploying each year to Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

 

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/604599

 

Interesting update….
 

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/ministry-of-defence-letting-down-troops-over-medal-says-ben-wallace/ar-BB1jaV8G?ocid=msedgntp&pc=U531&cvid=9ab0a158aa734a38b4de9db7f749b32a&ei=22&fbclid=IwAR0AP8sIGeHm2oZlTcAE2tdxOxr0m9TFnqxDnga_MzSHNLUqAkWWUO4jZfU_aem_ARYV26rdUTaV-v3hL3QtXU_1wdmq-bHNkKodyhM1eL3NDJd9ws6sy4z1CChUekvQdzg

[bigjarofwasps]

The Wider Service Medal (WSM) medal, which has been approved by HM The King, recognises Armed Forces personnel and civilians working outside the traditional criteria of existing operational medals.

[bigjarofwasps]

The first WSMs will be presented early this summer to a representative sample of recipients, with the medal enter mass production in the autumn, when it will be issued more widely.

[Megan]

The April 2024 issue of Soldier magazine has this:

 

New Medal: Hit or Miss?

 

A NEW medal that recognises deployments on operations such as Cabrit is in danger of being loved and loathed in equal measure by personnel, thanks to its qualifying criteria.

The Wider Service Medal recognises 180 days’ of aggregated service on certain qualifying missions that do not necessarily fall within the traditional medallic criteria of risk and rigour. The MoD announced it will limit the number of applicable operations to begin with but it will be expanded later. However, eligibility will stretch back only to December 2018, when Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II approved the idea of the award. Op Cabrit began in 2017, leaving a substantial cohort of British soldiers who were deployed out in the cold.

“I understand there has been a different focus on Eastern Europe since the Russian invasion of Ukraine but we faced the same threat and harsher conditions,” Maj Nicholas Hedges (Rifles), who served on the first Cabrit tour, told Soldier.

“Clearly the medal is very welcome but in my view it should apply to the deployment from day one – it should be all or nothing.”

WO2 Sam Coote (RLC), attached to 2nd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment, added: “I think it’s a positive step forward as we face many different challenges and this will recognise ops below the usual threshold.”

Lt Col Nick Zorab, commanding officer of 1st Battalion, The Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment, also believes personnel will feel encouraged overall.

“I served on an earlier Estonia deployment as a company commander and was struck then by how important medallic recognition was to troops,” he said. “We were deployed for nearly eight months and it’s right that sacrifices such as being  away for long periods are recognised.”

Lt Col Zorab said the qualifying criteria might prove divisive if soldiers on the first tours were ruled out, but he added: “You have to draw a line somewhere.”

Edited April 7 by Megan