I was awarded the Overseas Service Ribbon, the Nato-Balkins (non-article 5)
Medal and the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal by my old National Guard
unit. Since all 3 of these ribbons are on my ERB, am I allowed to wear them
all? The OSR and the AFEM rules both state that they cannot be awarded if a
campaign medal is awarded. They are all three from the same deployment.
Please help me to know what I should do here. Thank you.

Spc. Varney wrote:

QUOTE:
I was awarded the Overseas Service Ribbon, the Nato-Balkins (non-article 5) Medal and the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal by my old National Guard unit. Since all 3 of these ribbons are on my ERB, am I allowed to wear them all? The OSR and the AFEM rules both state that they cannot be awarded if a campaign medal is awarded. They are all three from the same deployment.

Please help me to know what I should do here. Thank you.

Usually by default if it's on your ERB you can wear it but it doesn't necessarily mean you've earned it. I'm not sure you should have received an OSR for a combat deployment. The reg (AR 600-8-22 para 5-4 b.) states that these are awarded for a "normal overseas tour"... not a deployment.

For example if your permanent duty station was in Korea or Germany you would qualify you for an OSR. You would not receive one for combat operations in Iraq, that's what the AFEM and GWOT is for. Since your stating it was a NG unit you were in I think it's safe to say you were not stationed abroad and being awarded the OSR was a mistake that needs to be corrected on your ERB.

My advice would be to bring this up with your chain of command and they should be able to help you.

I have limited it down now as far as where everything came from. I did get an Indiana Overseas Ribbon from the combat tour that I was on, along with the AFEM and the Nato medal. I do know that my two National Guard ribbons that I have cannot be worn anymore. However, the OSR that is on my ERB appeared when the Korea Defense Service Medal appeared. That leads me to believe that it is for this tour of duty that I am on in Korea, the more that I think about it.
This brings me to a new dilemna though. I have two ribbons for this duty station (Korea) and I have two ribbons for the combat tour (Bosnia) that I was on. The AFEM and the OSR both say that they cannot be worn with a campaign medal. My question now is whether or not I can wear both medals from both campaigns, since they are on my ERB. I've printed up the rules for the OSR and the AFEM. I plan to take the rules to S-1 with me tomorrow and see what they say. I'm reaching out everywhere to get the answer, because I want to be squared away when I go to the board soon.
Thank you for your comment and attention to this matter. Any further comments will be welcomed and very much appreciated.

You didn't mention before that you were in Korea. That would explain the OSR.

It is always a good idea to check with S1 before going to the board. If there are any corrections that need to be made they will be able to initiate it. Bottom line is that the board will most likely have a copy of your ERB in front of them so if it's on your ERB you had better be wearing it. Also, if you have any awards on your uniform that are NOT on your ERB you would be well advised to have a copy of the orders for it in your board packet.

Good luck at the board!

Ok, you should have gotten the OSR if you did 9 months for that tour so that is solved. No for the other ribbons; you can wear both of them since you earned them while deployed. Now here's an example: if you got Iraq once and only once you can wear the ICM or the GWTEM but not at the same time unless you do mulitple deployments.

Also, Iraq and Afganistan do count for overseas tours even though they are "Combat Tours" and each tour does count for another ribbon.

He stated he was in the Balkans which is NO MORE than a 6 month TOUR, He was not in combat so he is authorized to wear the OSR.