[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 32, Number 3 (Monday, January 22, 1996)]
[Page 62]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Executive Order 12985--Establishing the Armed Forces Service Medal

January 11, 1996

    By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and 
the laws of the United States of America, including my authority as 
Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the United States, it is 
hereby ordered as follows:
    Section 1. Establishment. There is hereby established the Armed 
Forces Service Medal with accompanying ribbons and appurtenances, for 
award to members of the Armed Forces of the United States who, on or 
after June 1, 1992, in the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff: (a) 
Participate, or have participated, as members of United States military 
units in a United States military operation in which personnel of any 
Armed Force participate that is deemed to be significant activity; and
    (b) Encounter no foreign armed opposition or imminent hostile 
action.
    Sec. 2. Approval and Award. The medal, with ribbons and 
appurtenances, shall be of an appropriate design approved by the 
Secretary of Defense and shall be awarded by the Secretary of Defense 
and the Secretary of Transportation with respect to the Coast Guard when 
it is not operating as a service in the Navy, under uniform regulations, 
as prescribed by the Secretary of Defense. The regulations shall place 
the Armed Forces Service Medal in an order of precedence immediately 
before the Humanitarian Service Medal.
    Sec. 3. Criteria. The medal shall be awarded only for operations for 
which no other United States service medal is approved. For operations 
in which personnel of only one Military Department or the Coast Guard 
participate, the medal shall be awarded only if there is no other 
suitable award available to the department or the Coast Guard. No more 
than one medal shall be awarded to any one person, but for each 
succeeding operation justifying such award a suitable device may be 
awarded to be worn on the medal or ribbon as prescribed by appropriate 
regulations.
    Sec. 4. Posthumous Provision. The medal may be awarded posthumously 
and, when so awarded, may be presented to such representative of the 
deceased as may be deemed appropriate by the Secretary of Defense or the 
Secretary of Transportation.
                                            William J. Clinton
The White House,
January 11, 1996.

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 8:45 a.m., January 17, 
1996]

Note: This Executive order was released by the Office of the Press 
Secretary on January 13, and it was published in the Federal Register on 
January 18.