Operation Iraqi Freedom Iraq Campaign Ribbon MOS Patch

Seven campaign phases sit under the Iraq Campaign Medal ribbon, from Liberation of Iraq on 19 March 2003 to New Dawn, which closed on 15 December 2011. The medal was created by Executive Order 13363, signed by President George W. Bush on 29 November 2004. It was awarded for service in Iraq from 19 March 2003 to 31 December 2011, covering Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation New Dawn. The U.S. Army Institute of Heraldry designed it, and the stripes of the ribbon take their colors from the Iraqi flag. This patch puts that ribbon on a curved tab made to ride with a rating or MOS patch.

The phases have their own names and dates, and anyone who served knows which ones were his. Liberation of Iraq ran to 1 May 2003, Transition of Iraq to 28 June 2004, and Iraqi Governance to 15 December 2005. National Resolution ran to 9 January 2007, and the Iraqi Surge from 10 January 2007 through the end of 2008. Iraqi Sovereignty covered 1 January 2009 to 31 August 2010, and New Dawn ran from 1 September 2010 to 15 December 2011. Campaign stars on the service ribbon show how many of the seven a soldier, sailor, airman or Marine served in.

The tab measures 4.5 inches wide by 1.5 inches tall, arched like a rocker, with a black merrowed edge. The stripes run the same way as the regulation ribbon, from each end inward: scarlet, white, a thin green stripe, white, black, and a wide chamois band in the center. There is no lettering, because the ribbon says it all to anyone who wore it. The curve lets it sit under a round or shield patch, a rating or MOS patch, or a unit emblem. Paired that way it reads as one display: what the wearer did, and where.

For a lot of service members Iraq was not one tour but several, and the phases on the ribbon line up with the years of their lives. Some went in for the Liberation and came back for the Surge, and some finished out with New Dawn. Every branch sent people, from infantry and armor to corpsmen, truck drivers, Seabees and aircrew. The ribbon is the same for all of them. This tab lets a veteran put that service right under the job he did.

It fits a vest under an MOS or rating patch, or a shadow box next to the Iraq Campaign Medal itself and a unit photo. It is also a good gift for a son or daughter putting together a display of a parent's service in Iraq. One ribbon, seven phases, 2003 to 2011.