Four days after confirming that it was creating a new medal for troops deployed to the U.S.-Mexico border, the Department of Defense released the first look for the award.
The Pentagon released the first look at the new Mexican Border Defense Medal today. The release follows the establishment of the new award, outlined in an Aug. 13 memo by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. The award goes to troops deployed to the U.S.-Mexico border supporting operations by Customs and Border Protection. The new medal replaces the Armed Forces Service Medal, which had been authorized for the same mission in 2019.
The Aug. 13 memo was posted on military social media accounts last week but the Pentagon only confirmed its authenticity on Aug. 18. No design details or images of the award were released at the time. Hegseth posted on X on Aug. 22 that the new Mexico Border Defense Medal would be the “same mold, same ribbon” as the 1918 Mexican Border Service Medal.
And the design shared by the Pentagon really is identical, with the same yellow and green-stripped ribbon and pattern on the actual metal. The Mexican Border Service Medal, which was issued to troops on the United States side of the border between 1916-1917. A similarly named Mexican Service Medal was issued for service members who took part in military operations inside Mexico between 1911-1919.
The new medal is bronze. As with the 1918 medal, it has a Roman gladius on the front side, with the words “For Service on the Mexican Border” inscribed on it.
Per Hegseth’s memo, the new award is available to troops “permanently assigned, attached, or detailed” to units deployed to missions supporting Customs and Border Protection for at least 30 consecutive or nonconsecutive days. They must also have deployed within 100 nautical miles of the border or in American waters as much as 24 nautilus miles from it, per the Department of Defense.
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Troops and veterans who already got the Armed Forces Service Medal can apply to get the Mexican Border Defense Medal in its place, but cannot have both. In order of precedence the new Mexican Border Defense Medal comes after the Korea Defense Service Medal, but before the Armed Forces Service Medal. There are currently approximately 7,500 service members deployed along the southern border, with a fifth of them being National Guardsmen.
The medal and the expanded operations come after President Donald Trump declared an emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border in January. Since then the Department of Defense has increased operations and deployments, as well as created “national defense areas” around military bases, allowing military personnel to briefly detain people for trespassing.
According to the Department of Defense, the U.S. Army Institute of Heraldry and Defense Logistics Agency are working to “expedite” the creation of the medals and rolling them out to eligible service members. It’s not clear when troops or veterans will start receiving them.
