The new U.S. mission in Iraq is part of Operation Enduring Freedom, at least according to the Pentagon's medals and awards division.

The expanding military campaign in Iraq and Syria still has no official name. But in a strained logic that will ensure the 1,700 troops deployed to Iraq will get a medal to recognize their service, Pentagon personnel officials will consider it a part of OEF for now.

The mission known as OEF has become synonymous with the 13-year war in Afghanistan. But technically, in the annals of the Pentagon's bureaucracy, OEF was defined in 2001 as a broad war on terrorism that can include anything potentially linked to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Now, military officials are dusting off that all-but-forgotten definition to ensure that troops in Baghdad today will get a new ribbon on their chests.

"Troops deployed to Iraq in support of Operation Enduring Freedom are eligible for the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal," Army Maj. James Brindle, a Defense Department spokesman, said Thursday.

Invoking the legalisms of 2001 for medals is similar to the White House's legal justification for deploying troops in Iraq and launching airstrikes in Syria without explicitly seeking congressional approval.

Critics say President Obama is overstepping his authority, but the commander in chief says the vote on Capitol Hill in September 2001, known as the Authorization of the Use of Military Force, still applies today to the fight against militants known as the Islamic State group.

Today's troops in Iraq are not eligible for an Iraq Campaign Medal because it covers only service in the two named operations that comprised the eight-year mission there, Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation New Dawn, which ended in December 2011.

Defense Department officials are citing Operation Enduring Freedom to meet regulations that say troops are only eligible for a Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal if they participate in an approved, named operation.

It's not clear why the Pentagon has given no new name to the current operations. In contrast, the effort to fight Ebola in West Africa was dubbed Operation United Assistance. And the deployment of nearly 1,000 troops to train in Eastern Europe last summer was titled Operation Atlantic Resolve.

Whatever the legal logic, the troops deployed to Iraq today deserve the medal, said Doug Sterner, the curator of the Military Times Hall of Heroes, the largest database of military medals and awards.

"You're sitting there in Baghdad and you never know when a mortar is going to fall on your head. So I think it's appropriate," Sterner said.

About Andrew Tilghman

Andrew Tilghman is the executive editor for Military Times. He is a former Military Times Pentagon reporter and served as a Middle East correspondent for the Stars and Stripes. Before covering the military, he worked as a reporter for the Houston Chronicle in Texas, the Albany Times Union in New York and The Associated Press in Milwaukee.

Share:
In Other News
Load More