American website: Pentagon approves awarding of Global War on Terrorism medals for fighting against Houthis

The American military website Task & Purpose quoted Pentagon spokesman Joshua Wick as saying on Friday, "The American forces that participated in operations to confront the Houthi rebels in Yemen received the Global War on Terrorism Service Medals and the Mission Medal."

According to a report by the site, these medals were approved since last summer, when US Navy aircraft and ships were in near-constant combat in the region, striking Houthi ground targets and shooting down drones and missiles fired by Houthi rebels toward ships crossing the Red Sea.

Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manpower and Reserve Affairs Ronald T. Cohan announced in a June 18 memo that U.S. service members participating in the three Red Sea and Houthi-focused missions—Operations Sentinel of Prosperity, Poseidon Archer, and Pandora Throttle—will be eligible for both the Global War on Terrorism and Mission Service Medals.

The Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, or GWOT-SM, has been awarded since the September 11 attacks, but eligibility for the award has diminished over the years. Almost all U.S. service members were initially eligible for the GWOT-SM, including active duty, National Guard, and Reserve troops who were mobilized after September 11, 2001, for 30 consecutive days or 60 nonconsecutive days.

But in 2022, the Pentagon changed the eligibility requirements for the medal so that U.S. troops must spend at least 30 days in a unit engaged in a dedicated counterterrorism operation to receive the award.

U.S. troops deployed in Iraq and Syria are eligible for the Inherent Resolve Campaign Medal instead of the Global War on Terrorism Campaign Medal because Defense Department policy prohibits service members from receiving duplicate awards for the same mission, Wick said.

There are two versions of the Global War on Terrorism award, the Service Medal and the Expeditionary Medal. Generally, the Expeditionary Medal, or EM, is given to those who deploy in support of an operation, while the Service Medal, or SM, is given to those in support roles. Wick said CENTCOM has asked the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Cohan, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff to authorize the two Global War on Terrorism medals for the three operations.

The eligibility area for the Global Campaign for the War on Terrorism Medal includes the total airspace, land area, territorial waters, and the southern Red Sea, Gulf of Aden and Bab el-Mandeb Strait, Wick added.

The U.S. military has been waging an undeclared war against the Houthis for more than a year. American warships have destroyed countless Houthi missiles, drones and boats that have targeted commercial and military vessels, and American and British forces have struck targets inside Yemen since January, but the Houthis continue to endanger shipping.

In January, the crew of the destroyer USS Carney was awarded the Combat Action Ribbon, and several individual sailors have received medals for their efforts to stop Houthi attacks.

During her eight-month deployment, Carney intercepted Houthi-launched weapons targeting commercial vessels in the Red Sea a total of 51 times. On December 16, 2023 alone, Carney’s artillery shot down 14 Houthi drones launched from Yemen.

The Carney's commanding officer, Rear Adm. Jeremy Robertson, told reporters in May that the ship's crew had only seconds to detect the missiles and decide whether to shoot them down.