Troops deployed to assist US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) at the border with Mexico since April will be awarded Armed Forces Service Medals, Army Lt. Col. Chris Mitchell, a Pentagon spokesman, said
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th August, 2019) Troops deployed to assist US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) at the border with Mexico since April will be awarded Armed Forces Service Medals, Army Lt. Col. Chris Mitchell, a Pentagon spokesman, said.
"The Under Secretary of Defense has authorized the Armed Forces Service Medal to service members who have provided support to CBP, starting from April 7, 2018 [until a date to be determined]," the spokesman said, as cited by the Military.com portal.
The military medal is reserved for troops who "encounter no foreign armed opposition or imminent hostile action." In this case, those who will receive the award include several thousand servicemen deployed within 100 nautical miles � roughly 115 miles � from the Mexico border in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona or California, as well as at the Marine Corps mission headquarters in San Antonio, the media specified.
Caravans of migrants from Central American countries began moving toward the United States through Mexico last fall. US President Donald Trump has called the surge of arrivals a crisis and declared a national emergency in February, claiming a wall must be constructed to protect the border. Several thousand troops were deployed to ensure border security.
