Mission medal battle
| Mission medal battle | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Awarded by Germany | |
| Art | medal |
| requirement | Soldiers and employees of the Bundeswehr |
| Awarded for | Active participation in combat activities or suffering terrorist or military violence with high personal risk. |
| status | Is awarded. |
| Data | |
| Foundation year | 2010 |
| Benefactor | Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg |
| First awarded | November 25, 2010 |
| Awards | 5,782 (as of April 2015) |
| Precedence | |
| Next higher award | Gold Cross of Honor of the Bundeswehr in a special design |
| Next lower award | Mission medal of the Bundeswehr |
|
|
The combat medal (colloquial: combat medal ) is a special level of the Bundeswehr's medal for German and foreign military personnel .
Emergence
The medal was donated on November 9, 2010 by Federal Minister of Defense Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg by decree and approved by Federal President Christian Wulff on November 12, 2010. The foundation of the medal took place against the background that more and more German soldiers are involved in classic infantry battles when participating in international missions, above all ISAF , where they experience the harshness of the operation to a particular degree and are confronted with wounding and death. The troops have repeatedly criticized the fact that an appreciation of the performance and the hardship experienced in a crisis region is primarily in the form of the Bundeswehr Mission Medal , the award of which, however, is mainly linked to the achievement of minimum days of deployment (exception: injury and death). Accordingly, there is no outwardly visible distinction between whether the soldier was deployed for the entire duration of the mission, for example as a staff member in the camp, or whether he was exposed to the dangers of patrols and combat operations. Politicians rejected the introduction of a purely wounded badge, such as B. the US-American Purple Heart , but with the combat medal closed the gap between the appreciation of the mere participation in a mission in the form of the Bundeswehr Mission Medal and the Bundeswehr's highest military award, the Bundeswehr Cross of Honor for bravery .
Design and way of carrying
The medal is gold-colored, has a diameter of 35 mm and shows on its obverse the raised embossed federal eagle in black cold enamel with gold applications within two open laurel branches that are crossed at the bottom and bent upwards. The outer edge of the medal is formed by a black and red border. The lapel is smooth and blank. The combat medal can also be worn in a reduced form and as a ribbon bar in the colors of the 30 mm wide medal ribbon with a red base band and black, red and gold hem. The black lacquered lettering GEFECHT on a gold background serves as the tape support .
On the day of the award, the combat medal is worn in its original size on field suit, service suit and formal suit. Otherwise, since it is awarded with a ribbon, it is only worn on the service suit with the ribbon buckle . The combat level medal may be worn alongside other medals. On special official occasions, state receptions / state acts or for private reasons and at special social events, both service medals and combat medals can be worn in their original size or on the large medal on the official suit and (as a 16 mm miniature) on the formal suit.
Award Regulations
The combat medal is only awarded to those soldiers who have actively participated in combat activities at least once or who have suffered terrorist or military violence at high personal risk . According to the foundation decree, the medal can only be awarded if the requirements for the award have been met after April 28, 2009 . It is awarded only once and can also be awarded posthumously . In addition, the hours of service and the minimum number of days that lead to the award of the mission medal do not have to be fulfilled when the combat level is awarded . The award practice is identical to that of the Bundeswehr mission medal .
First award on November 25, 2010
On November 25, 2010, the combat medal was awarded for the first time and presented to the relatives of a fallen soldier. The Federal Minister of Defense honored Sergej Motz , 21-year-old Corporal Sergej Motz, who was killed in action in an ambush on his patrol near Kunduz on April 29, 2009. Corporal Motz was deployed as a security soldier on an armored wheeled vehicle and was operating the machine gun when the vehicle was hit by a bazooka and he was critically wounded. The battle, in which the Bundeswehr was involved in the most violent fire fighting to date and in which ten other soldiers were wounded, marked a hitherto unknown intensity of the ISAF operation for the German troops. The fact that April 29, 2009 was set as the key date is due to the fact that Corporal Motz was the first German soldier in Afghanistan to be killed in a gun battle rather than by an explosive attack.
First award to a US soldier
On December 8, 2011, Staff Sergeant Peter Woken was awarded the combat medal in the German Embassy in Washington, DC , as the first member of the US armed forces. The award ceremony was carried out by the German Ambassador Peter Ammon , in the presence of the Deputy Inspector of the Army Bruno Kasdorf . On October 17, 2010, Peter Woken saved the life of the German corporal Tim Focken, who was seriously wounded in an ambush by the Taliban near Kunduz .
criticism
The military historian Detlef Bald , formerly Scientific Director at the Social Science Institute of the Bundeswehr, criticizes the new award: “You can recognize a new stage in the gradual militarization of the Federal Republic's foreign policy. (...) The so-called Medal of Bravery or the Cross of Honor would have been enough to honor courage in action. The combat medal is indeed a tribute to the warlike element and the old warrior cult in the military ”.
See also
Web links
- Guttenberg introduces warrior medals on spiegel.de
- “Combat Medal” awarded for the first time at the infantry school
Individual evidence
- ↑ Loyal 04/2015, p. 29
- ^ Announcement of the revised decree on the foundation of the Bundeswehr Mission Medal of November 16, 2010, printed in Federal Gazette No. 177 of November 23, 2010, page 3910, Article 2 paragraph 2
- ↑ Announcement of the revised decree on the foundation of the Bundeswehr Mission Medal of November 16, 2010, printed in the Federal Gazette No. 177 of November 23, 2010, page 3910, Article 3, Paragraph 2
- ↑ First award of the battle medal . Focus Online. Retrieved November 26, 2010.
- ↑ Sergej Motz gives death a face ( Memento from June 22, 2010 in the Internet Archive ). Stuttgarter Zeitung of May 8, 2009
- ^ New combat medal - "A sign of increasing militarization" ( Memento from December 2, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) - tagesschau.de, November 30, 2010