Kosovo Campaign
Military Medal & Military Ribbon

a. Authorization. E.O. 13154 of 3 May 2000.

b. Kosovo Campaign Medal Eligibility requirements. Issued to officer and enlisted personnel of the U.S. Armed Forces participating in or in direct support of Kosovo operations within the established areas of eligibility (AOE)

(1) Personnel must have served in one or both of the following campaign AOEs:

(a) Kosovo Air Campaign AOE (24 March to 10 June 1999): total land and air space of Serbia (including Kosovo), Montenegro, Albania, Macedonia, Bosnia, Croatia, Hungary, Romania, Greece, Bulgaria, Italy, Slovenia, and the waters and air space of the Adriatic and Ionian Seas north of the 39th latitude.

(b) Kosovo Defense Campaign AOE (11 June 1999 to 31 Dec 2013) : total land and air space of Serbia (including Kosovo), Montenegro, Albania, Macedonia, and the waters and air space of the Adriatic Sea within 12 nautical miles of the Montenegro, Albania, and Croatia coastlines south of 42 degrees 52 minutes north latitude.

(c) The above campaign AOEs include the following operations in which personnel may have participated or served in direct support of:

ALLIED FORCE 24 Mar 99 to 10 Jun 99
NOBLE ANVIL 24 Mar 99 to 20 Jul 99
Task Force SABER 31 Mar 99 to 08 Jul 99
Task Force HUNTER 01 Apr 99 to 01 Nov 99
SUSTAIN HOPE 04 Apr 99 to 10 Jul 99
SHINING HOPE 04 Apr 99 to 10 Jul 99
ALLIED HARBOR 04 Apr 99 to 01 Sep 99
Task Force HAWK 05 Apr 99 to 24 Jun 99
JOINT GUARDIAN 11 Jun 99 to TBD
Task Force FALCON 11 Jun 99 to TBD per JOINT GUARDIAN

(2) While engaged in direct support of the operation or as members of an operational unit participating in the operation, personnel must serve 30 consecutive or 60 non- consecutive days in the AOE or meet one of the following criteria:

(a) Be engaged in actual combat with armed opposition, or duty equally as hazardous, during the operation, regardless of time in the AOE; or

(b) Be wounded, injured, or require medical evacuation from the AOE regardless of time in the AOE; or

(c) Participate as regularly assigned aircrew members flying sorties into, out of, within or over the AOE in direct support of military operations; for example, reconnaissance, combat air patrol, or electronic surveillance missions subject to anti-aircraft fire and surface-to-air missiles, vice administrative or logistical flights within secure areas. Each day that one or more sorties are flown, into, out of, within or over the AOE shall count as one day toward the 30 or 60-day requirement.

c. Definition. Direct support is defined as service supplied by ground units, ships, or aircraft, provided it actually involves entering the AOE. Such service may include ships and aircraft providing fire, patrol, guard, reconnaissance, or other military support. A unit that was not specifically assigned to support the above listed operations, or was not subject to combat conditions, must request approval via their operational command to Commander, U.S. Naval Forces, Europe ( COMUSNAVEUR) .

d. Awarding Authority

(1) Commanding officers exercising Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal authority are authorized to award the Kosovo Campaign Medal (KCM) . COMUSNAVEUR is the final authority for questions of eligibility.

(2) SECDEF approved the award to the following naval vessels, as an exception to policy, for the period of the Kosovo Air Campaign (24 March to 10 June 1999): USS NORFOLK, USS MIAMI, USS ALBUQUERQUE, USS NICHOLSON, USS PHILIPPINE SEA, and USS GONZALEZ.