The U.S. troops deployed to the U.S.-Mexico border will be given the Armed Forces Service Medal who were sent to assistUS Customs and Border Protection (CBP) since last April.
The award is reserved forservice members who take part in a military operation with significant activity, but in which they encounter no foreign armed threats.
Troops must have operated within 100 nautical miles — roughly 115 miles — from the Mexico border in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona or California, according to the Marine Corps administrative message.
Those operating in San Antonio, where the mission headquarters is located, are also eligible, along with troops at sea who are within 24 nautical miles of the coast.
The award was created through an executive order signed by President Bill Clinton in 1996 and was given to troops who deployed to the border between May 2006 and July 2008 under President George W. Bush.
It has also been awarded to troops who have taken part in peacekeeping and humanitarian missions in Bosnia, Haiti, Iraq and Africa.
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