On 6th April, 2011 Her Majesty The Queen graciously approved a proposal for the issue of the Civilian Service Medal (Afghanistan) (CSMA) to recognise service by the British Government to civilians (and some members of the UK Armed Forces) to recognise service since 19th November, 2001 in the transition to democracy in Afghanistan.

Description:

Materials: The majority of the British medals and clasps are made of solid silver, though some were issue in bronze versions, mainly to Indian non-combatants. The majority of the British campaign awards are circular, usually 36mm in diameter.

Ribbons: Medals are worn suspended from their own specific ribbons. These were first made of silk but cotton was increasingly used as the nineteenth century developed. Their own colours often have a symbolic significance: the equal stripes of the ‘1939 to 1945 Star,’ for example, are dark blue to represent the service of the Royal and Merchant Navies, red, to represent that of the Armies and light blue to represent that of Air Forces.

Ribbon width can vary slightly though it is generally 32mm wide.

Ribbon: Yellow colour ribbon with a central green stripe and two smaller sky blue stripes either side of it.

Civilian Service Medal (Afghanistan) ribbon

Type: Campaign Medal

Eligibility: FCO civilian personnel, British Forces

Awarded for: 30 days continuous service, or 45 days aggregate service over a period of one calendar year, within the geographic area of Afghanistan, since 19 November 2001.

Campaign: Afghanistan

Established: 2011

Designer: Unknown

Naming: Recipients name to be inscribed on rim

Clasps: None

Suspender: Straight (plain)

Description: A circular silver medal. The obverse of the medal shows an effigy of Queen Elizabeth II with the wording ELIZABETH II DEI GRATIA REGINA FID DEF. The reverse of the medal shows an Afghanistan mountain scene with the word AFGHANISTAN and Afghanistan written in Arabic lettering at the bottom.

This guide will help you through all the parts and descriptions of military medals

Sources:

< gov.uk/medals-campaigns-descriptions-and-eligibility>

Some of the material on this page was also partially derived from

<en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilian_Service_Medal_(Afghanistan)>

Which are released under the terms of

Creativecommons.org/licenses/by-s/3.0/.

Civilian Service Medal (Afghanistan) (2011)