Originally Posted by
Melchett01
Afraid not, no SHADER medal so far. The new GSM clasps are geographically rather than thematically based, so they will have to decide where as much as what counts e.g. what about ground crew in Cyprus, personnel deployed in support and Liaison functions around the Levant region as well as those specifically operating in/over Syria and Iraq. So I suspect there are arguments over that as much as teeth sucking over cost and whether it hits the criteria of risk & rigour. Personally, I'd have thought a Near East or Levant clasp would cover it nicely.
That is it in a shell for a nut.
The decision, or lack of one, is almost embarassing. Other Commonwealth nations have been recognising the time and personal sacrifice that their people make since day one...and medallically awarding them with items with HM's image on.
Meanwhile the UK continues to send people on ops - oops sorry it is not ops so you won't get Op Allowance - to fill ops roles - oops, sorry it is not ops so you won't get a medal - and in many, many cases resulting in junior ranks receiving a monthly wage that is less than they receive in the UK - it is ops and you are not in the UK so we will take your Home to Duty away.
Junior Ranks of all colours that have not done ops before are confused - and the leadership of all colours needs to pull its finger out.