Considered To Be A War Zone.

[5andr01i]

Good Evening,

Hello everyone, I was just talking with a friend about different campaigns and war zones, and like Afghanistan, and Iraq, he states that he took place in the Kosovo war where he was stationed out of Aviano Italy, and he states that was considered a combat zone. Does this sound correct?

Respectfully,

[TALON II FE]

I took part in Bosnia during two different campaigns. I believe that Kosovo was classified as the same type of conflict. In fact, I did support for Kosovo from Germany, etc. None of those is on my DD214, but neither is Iraq (I did 3 campaigns) or Afghanistan (I did 2 campaigns). I don't think they list them like that anymore.

What is there, is the medals / ribbons, which give proof of 'visiting' those conflicts. For Kosovo, they gave out the specific medal only if you were in certain regions, as well as a version of the NATO medal. To my knowledge, those are not proof of combat operations. What I did receive, based off of geographic location of TDY / Deployment, was the Armed Forces Service Medal and the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal. The first looks pretty, and that's about all it is good for (received for service in Hungary). The second is worth additional benefits thru the VA and IF he received that one (I received for Predator UAV recovery ops 'in country', while armed up) there may be some truth to what he is saying, from the VA perspective. To my knowledge, Kosovo was handled the same way, I received nothing for my support of that conflict from Germany, Luxembourg and Norway. Hope this helps.

[5andr01i]

Thank you very much everyone for the info.  Sometimes I guess it depends when you were in the military, and the timeframes you were in a specific war/conflict.  I ask because I know things can get funny with the VA when you try to claim something that's not on your DD-214.

 

Respectfully,

 

[john999]

If the military does not list combat duty like Iraq and Afghanistan on your DD214  they must be in your personnel file some place.  On my DD214 for overseas duty Vietnam is listed with the dates I served.  However, there are vets here who served in Vietnam who do not have it noted on their DD214.  This is a gross error IMO.  I have the standard ribbons and medals to prove I was there, but having it in  black and white on the DD214 should still be required.  You can get VSM without setting foot in Nam so it means nothing.   Is the DD214 different now than it was in 1971?  My father had discharge papers for WW11 that were like a DD214 and it lists his duty in Germany and France and he has Rhineland and Central Europe for campaigns and battles. Not noting these things on your DD214 or your Discharge papers is weird and makes no sense not to say it is not happening.  It is DOD trying to wriggle out of some liability probably.  If a soldier served in Kosovo as a Peace Keeper or whatever the mission was it should be noted in his papers he was given at ETS.

[5andr01i]

I can also remember military personnel who were stationed in Avaino Italy, who supported the Kosovo conflict.  These individuals were under constant attack from a terrorist group called the Anti-Imperialist Territorial Nuclei (NTA).  There were constant firebombs being set off, molotov cocktails that were thrown at personnel, and even shots fired.  I know a few individuals who received claims because of these incidents.  I guess it's one of those things that it all depends.

 

Respectfully,

[USMC_VET]

if you ave any combat awards such as CIB or for us Combat Action Ribbon.  Campaign Medals will cite area of operations as will unit or individual citations if given for service in combat theater.  If you got in after 2001 its pretty much the areas listed under the GWOTE criterion, not specifically limited to it, but i feel it would be a hard sell to claim war zone status if you were in  germany or Oki the whole time regardless of the climate unless there was a specific incident that happened to you or on that base that could be considered terrorist activity.