President Trump awarded 13 soldiers and Marines the Mexican Border Defense Medal, created in August, to recognize soldiers involved in securing the southern border.
“On Day 1 of my administration, I signed an executive order making it [the] core mission of the United States military to protect and defend the homeland, and today we’re here to honor our military men and women for their central role in the protection of our border,” President Trump said ahead of the medal presentation.
One medal recipient, Army Sgt. Jhonier Marin, a reservist assigned to the 808th Engineer Company, called the medal an “absolute honor,” as he has “a lot [of friends] out there [on the border] that do a lot of good on this mission, and to see that what we do is actually making an impact and seeing the result is absolutely astonishing; it’s awesome.”
“Effective immediately, the Mexican Border Defense Medal (MBDM) is hereby established to recognize Service members deployed to the U.S. international border with Mexico for DoD support to United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP),” a memo announcing the creation of the medal read. It added that the “Award of the Armed Forces Service Medal for Department of Defense Support to Customs and Border Protect” is rescinded.
“Henceforth, such service will be recognized through award of the MBDM,” the memo asserted.
“Service members must have been permanently assigned, attached, or detailed to a unit that deployed to participate in a designated DoD military operation supporting CBP within the (area of eligibility) during the (period of award) for 30 consecutive or nonconsecutive days,” the memo says, describing the award criteria. It added, “Service members and Veterans previously awarded the AFSM for DoD support to CBP may apply to their respective Military Service for award of the MBDM in lieu of the AFSM previously awarded to recognize such service; however, no Service member or Veteran may be awarded both the AFSM and the MBDM for the same period of qualifying service.”
