Sailors assigned to military operations at the southern U.S. border are now eligible for the new Mexican Border Defense Medal.
The move puts sailors assigned to ships and ground units involved with border operations on the same footing for the award as thousands of soldiers and, as of last month, Marines.
The service announced the eligibility in a Navy Administrative Message, or NAVADMIN, detailing new guidance for how commanders can approve sailors for the relatively new award. The new rules say sailors who are “assigned, attached or detailed to a unit” in support of Customs and Border Protection for a total of at least 30 days are eligible. The deployment must be within 100 miles of the Mexican border in California, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, or in adjacent waters up to 24 nautical miles from shore.
Since January 2025, thousands of troops have deployed as part of the military mission to the U.S.-Mexico border, including numerous sailors. More than 10,000 personnel have been sent to the border, according to U.S. Northern Command, to join roughly 2,500 who were already there prior to the start of 2025. Forces sent included Marines from combat engineer and logistics units across the corps, and soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division and 10th Mountain Division.
Since the start of the larger deployment, troops have set up “national defense areas” around American bases and trained with small drones and drone defenses, including lasers.
For the Navy, that has included several warships patrolling coast waters, including multiple littoral combat ships and even destroyers. When the USS Spruance deployed in March 2025, NORTHCOM said that it was aiding in “combating maritime-related terrorism, weapons proliferation, transnational crime, piracy, environmental destruction, and illegal seaborne immigration.” Navy personnel have also been on land, conducting patrols with Marines and training on operations such as medical evacuations.
The new Navy rules match guidelines released by the Department of Defense in August. The Navy’s guidance comes shortly after the Marine Corps released its own specific authorization.
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The medal was announced in August to replace the Armed Forces Service Medal, which had been given to eligible troops for the mission since 2019. The medal itself is identical to the Mexican Border Service Medal, an award given to troops who served on the U.S. side of the border between 1916 and 1917. It features a metal medal depicting a Roman sword and the words “For Service on the Mexican Border,” with a green and yellow ribbon.
Prior to this change, sailors who deployed after Jan. 20, 2025, received the Armed Forces Service Medal. Any sailor who has received that medal can request to exchange the award for the newer one, but cannot have both. Sailors who received the Armed Forces Service Medal for periods prior to Jan. 20, 2025, cannot request the Mexican Border Defense Medal. Sailors can only receive one medal, regardless of how many qualifying deployments they have.
The Navy’s rules for the award come a few weeks after the Marine Corps issued its own guidance in late May, with near-identical stipulations.
As of Monday, no Marine has been formally awarded the new medal, the Marine Corps said.
