Order of the British Empire.

Several orders (as shown in the table in the following section) consist of ranks.

These denote the seniority of the holder within the order. As an example, I shall explain the ranks within The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire; often referred to as the Order of the British Empire.


The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire was established by King George V in June 1917. The order consists of the ranks shown in the following table.

It should be noted that all these ranks denote different holders of the same order.

In December 1918, separate military and civilian divisions were created for the The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.

The ranks and awards are identical between divisions, the difference being shown by the colour of the ribbon.

The Military Division was created to reward distinguished service in action by officers and senior NCOs.

GBE Knight or Dame Grand Cross
KBE or DBE Knight or Dame Commander
CBE Commander
OBE Officer
MBE Member

The GBE and the MBE are the highest and lowest ranks within this order respectively. For example, a CBE would denote a Commander in The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire and an OBE would denote an Officer in The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire; the CBE being the more senior or higher precedence of the CBE and OBE.

Entry into the order does not have to be at the lowest rank of Member, but membership can't be awarded posthumously. Also a recipient can be promoted within the order, if their future conduct is deemed appropriate of further recognition.

Recipients of the GBE, KBE and DBE would also have the prefix of "Sir" or "Dame" for men and ladies respectively. However, the name prefixes of "Sir" and "Dame" are not specific to this order and are also used in other orders.

Medals - Afghanistan(OSM)

The Operational Service Medal (OSM) for Afghanistan (formerly known as the OSM for service on Op Veritas)

Medal

Silver and circular in shape. The obverse of the medal shows the crowned effigy of Queen Elizabeth. The reverse (shown here) bears the Union Flag, surrounded by the inscription ‘For Operational Service’ and the four major points of the compass, with four Coronets: Royal (top left), Naval (top right), Mural-Army (bottom left), and Astral-Royal Air Force (bottom right).

Clasp

‘Afghanistan’. Awarded with the Medal for service specifically in Afghanistan. When the ribbon alone is worn, a silver rosette denotes award of the Clasp.

Ribbon

A broad central red stripe, flanked each side by a stripe of royal blue and one of light blue, to represent the three services, with an outer stripe of light brown to reflect the landscape of Afghanistan.

Qualifying criteria

Complex criteria govern the award of this medal, with varying lengths of service required depending on the operation and location.

To qualify for award of the Medal with Clasp, personnel must have served in Afghanistan for either 5, 21 or 30 days continuous service between various dates depending on the operation, between 11 September 2001 – 1 August 2002 for Ops Jacana and Bandog, or to a date to be decided for Ops Veritas, Fingal and Landman.

Service of varying lengths depending on the operation on Ops Landman, Veritas, Oracle, Ramson or Damien in other Middle East countries during certain specific dates will qualify for the OSM for Afghanistan without clasp.

Full details are laid out in DCI JS 126/03 and were amended in 2005DIN 01-008.

About the OSM

The new Operational Service Medal (OSM) was introduced on 1 January 2000 and at the same time the General Service Medal (GSM) was discontinued, with the exception of the award of the GSM for Northern Ireland.

Since its introduction, three OSMs have been issued: for service in Sierra Leone, Afghanistan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Although each OSM will look the same, separate ribbons will denote each separate award.

A Clasp may be awarded with the OSM to signify service in a more dangerous area or period of conflict.

Medal - Iraq (Operation Telic)

The Ministry of Defence announced on 23 February 2004 the qualifying criteria for the campaign medal recognising service during Operation Telic.

The Iraq Medal marks service in, and in support of, operations in Iraq from 20 January 2003, and can be awarded to UK Armed Forces and civilian personnel, including embedded media, and certain foreign nationals assigned to the operation.

Service personnel and MOD civilians who died during their service in Kuwait or Iraq automatically qualify for posthumous award of the medal. Personnel who served on the operation between 19 March and 28 April 2003 may also qualify for a clasp, inscribed "19 MAR - 28 APR 2003" to be worn on the medal ribbon. The area of operations has been divided into Zone One (Iraq and Kuwait) and Zone Two (elsewhere in the Gulf region in support of the operation) for determining eligibility.

The qualifying periods of service are:

Campaign Medal with Clasp "19 MAR - 28 APR 2003":

* Zone One (Iraq and Kuwait)- 7 days continuous service during period 19 March 2003 to 28 April 2003
* Aircrew based outside but flying two or more sorties into Zone One during period 19 March 2003 to 28 April 2003

Campaign Medal without Clasp:

* Personnel in Zone One (Iraq) not completing 7 days service during period 19 March 2003 to 28 April 2003, but with 30 days continuous service between 20 January 2003 and 24 March 2003, or 30 days continuous service from 23 April 2003 to a date to be notified.
* Personnel in Zone One (Kuwait) not completing 7 days service during period 19 March 2003 to 28 April 2003, but with 30 days continuous service between 20 January 2003 and 24 March 2003, or 30 days continuous service from 23 April 2003 to 10 August 2003.
* Personnel with 30 days continuous service in Zone Two between 20 January 2003 and 28 April 2003.
* Aircrew based outside both Zones One and Two but with 30 sorties flown into the Zones at a rate of not more than one per day, during the period 20 January 2003 to 28 April 2003.
* Aircrew based outside of Iraq but flying 10 sorties into Iraq from 28 April 2003 to a date to be notifed, at a rate of not more than one per day.

The medal is made of cupro-nickel and bears on the obverse the crowned image of Her Majesty The Queen. The reverse shows an ancient Assyrian Lamussu sculpture above the word Iraq. The one-and-a-quarter inch wide ribbon is a sand colour with three central stripes of black, white and red.

Medals - The Gulf Medal

The UK's Gulf Medal was awarded for service in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia during 1990-91.

The ribbon has a sand-coloured broad band flanked on either side by thin vertical stripes of dark blue, red and light blue. The sand colour represents the desert, and the blue, red and light blue represent the three services: Royal Navy, Army and Royal Air Force.

The medal's obverse (side worn outwards) consists of the crowned profile of Queen Elizabeth II. The reverse consists of an eagle and an automatic rifle superimposed on an anchor. The dates of the gulf war, 1990-91, appear at the foot.

The medal was issued with two clasps: 2 Aug 1990 and 16 Jan - 28 Feb 1991.

This medal was awarded to personnel who had thirty days continuous service in the Middle East (including Cyprus) between 2 August 1990 and 7 March 1991, or seven days between 16 January 1991 and 28 February 1991, or service with the Kuwait Liaison Team on 2 August 1990, the date of the Iraqi invasion.