The Operational Service Medal for Sierra Leone is a

campaign medal A campaign medal is a military decoration which is awarded to a member of an armed force who serves in a designated military operation or performs duty in a geographical theater. Campaign medals are very similar to service medals but carry a high ...

established in 2000 by the Ministry of Defence of the United Kingdom for participation in the British military intervention during and after the Sierra Leone Civil War, from May 2000 to July 2002.

Operational Service Medal

The Operational Service Medal (OSM) was established in 1999 to replace the

General Service Medal (1962) __NOTOC__ The General Service Medal (1962 GSM, also sometimes referred to as the Campaign Service Medal), is a campaign medal of the United Kingdom introduced in 1962 to replace both the General Service Medal (1918), as awarded to the Army and ...

for all new operations. A separate medal of the same design is awarded for each campaign, differentiated by a distinct ribbon. It has been awarded for four separate campaigns: * Afghanistan (from 11 September 2001) *Sierra Leone (May 2000 – July 2002) * Democratic Republic of Congo (June – September 2003) * Iraq and Syria (''Dates to be confirmed'') From 2008, British service personnel could receive the

General Service Medal (2008) The General Service Medal 2008 (GSM 08), was introduced in 2015 for award to Royal Navy, Royal Marines, British Army, Army and RAF personnel to recognise specified operations since January 2008, not qualifying for another campaign medal. Unlike ...

for participation in smaller operations that do not justify the award of the Operational Service Medal.

Medal

The Operational Service Medal for Sierra Leone is silver and circular in shape.
The

obverse Obverse and its opposite, reverse, refer to the two flat faces of coins and some other two-sided objects, including paper money, flags, seals, medals, drawings, old master prints and other works of art, and printed fabrics. In this usage, ''o ...

shows the crowned effigy of Queen

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

with the inscription ELIZABETH II DEI GRATIA REGINA FID. DEF.
The reverse bears the

Union Flag The Union Jack, or Union Flag, is the ''de facto'' national flag of the United Kingdom. Although no law has been passed making the Union Flag the official national flag of the United Kingdom, it has effectively become such through precedent. ...

, surrounded by the inscription FOR OPERATIONAL SERVICE and the four major points of the compass with, between the points, four Coronets: Royal (top left), Naval (top right), Mural (Army, bottom left), and Astral (

RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

, bottom right).

Clasp

No clasp was issued. A large

South Atlantic Medal The South Atlantic Medal is a British campaign medal awarded to British military personnel and civilians for service in the Falklands War of 1982 between the United Kingdom and Argentina. Over 33,000 medals have been awarded. The South Atlantic ...

type silver rosette is worn on the medal for operational service within Sierra Leone during Operations Maidenly and

Barras Barras may refer to: Places * Barras, Cumbria, England * Barras, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, France * Barras, Piauí, Brazil * Duas Barras, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil * Sete Barras, São Paulo, Brazil Other uses * Barras (surname) * Barras (market), ...

. A smaller rosette is worn on the ribbon bar.

Ribbon

The ribbon consists of a broad central red stripe, flanked each side by a stripe of navy blue and one of light blue, to represent the three services, with an outer stripe of green to reflect the jungle landscape of

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...

Qualifying criteria

The length of service to qualify for the medal is determined by the mission participated in: *1 day of service on Operations

or Maidenley *14 days continuous or accumulated service on

Operation Palliser The United Kingdom began a military intervention in Sierra Leone on 7 May 2000 under the codename Operation Palliser. Although small numbers of British personnel had been deployed previously, Palliser was the first large-scale intervention by B ...

*30 days continuous or accumulated service on Operations Basillica or Silkman The precise dates of each operation varied, but all were within the period 5 May 2000 to 31 July 2002. The medal was also awarded for service in the wider Joint Operational Area which included Senegal, Gibraltar and offshore support ships such as RFA ''Argus''. There is no minimum qualifying period for those decorated for operational service (including a

mention in dispatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches, MiD) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face ...

and a Queen’s Commendation), while the period could be reduced for those killed or wounded on operations. Qualifying service for the Operational Service Medal counts towards the period required to receive the

Accumulated Campaign Service Medal The Accumulated Campaign Service Medal and the Accumulated Campaign Service Medal 2011 are medals awarded by King Charles III to members of his Armed Forces to recognise long campaign service. The original Accumulated Campaign Service Medal, inst ...

. British forces serving with United Nations peace keeping missions in Sierra Leone did not qualify for the Operational Service Medal, but instead received the

United Nations Medal A United Nations Medal is an international decoration An international decoration is a military award which is not bestowed by a particular country, but rather by an international organization such as the United Nations or NATO. Such awards ar ...

with the ribbon for either

UNOMSIL The United Nations Observer Mission in Sierra Leone (UNOMSIL) was a United Nations peacekeeping operation in Sierra Leone from 1998 to 1999 that was established with the passage of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1181. Its mission ...

(1 June 1998 to 30 September 1999) or

UNAMSIL The United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) was a United Nations peacekeeping operation in Sierra Leone from 1999 to 2006. It was created by the United Nations Security Council in October 1999 to help with the implementation of the Lom� ...

(from 1 October 1999).

References