Her Majesty the Queen graciously approved on the 26th June 2004 a proposal for the issue of a special medal to recognise service by Armed Forces, working with or seconded to Her Majesty’s Government Departments, civilians and others deployed by HMG, who have been involved in the reconstruction and transition to democracy in Iraq.

The qualifying periods for the medal is set at 40 days of continuous service, and has not been awarded or were eligible for the Iraq Medal.

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: Tan colour ribbon with a central green stripe and two small dark blue stripes either side of it.

Iraq Reconstruction Service Medal ribbon

Type: Campaign medal

Eligibility: British and Commonwealth forces, civilian personnel

Awarded for: Campaign Service

Campaign: Iraq

Established: 2004

Designer: Unknown

Naming: Recipients name to be inscribed on rim

Suspender: Straight (plain)

Clasps: None

Description: A circular silver medal. The obverse of the medal shows the crowned effigy of Elizabeth II and the legend ‘ELIZABETH II DEI GRATIA REGINA FID DEF’. The reverse of the medal shows cuneiform symbols which can be translate as ‘land bringing forth life’ with the word ‘IRAQ’ below it.

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/ Iraq_Reconstruction_Service_Medal>

Which are released under the terms of

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

Iraq Reconstruction Service Medal (2004)