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Volunteer Reserves Service Medal

Medal in the British Armed Forces

Summary

Medal in the British Armed Forces

Field	Value
name	Volunteer Reserves Service Medal
image	File:Volunteer Reserve Medal MOD 45158660.jpg
image_size	300px
caption	Obverse of the medal
presenter
type	Long service medal
eligibility	All members of the Reserves of all of the branches of the British Armed Forces
awarded_for	10 years' qualifying service
clasps	for each additional 5 years service
established	1 April 1999
precedence_label	Order of Wear
higher	Air Efficiency Award
lower	Ulster Defence Regiment Medal
related	Reserve Decoration, Reserve Long Service and Good Conduct Medal, Territorial Decoration, Efficiency Medal (Territorial), Air Efficiency Award
image2	[[File:Volunteer Reserves Service Medal.png	100px]]
Standard ribbon bar
[[File:Ribbon - Volunteer Long Service Medal HAC.png	100px]]
Honourable Artillery Company ribbon

Standard ribbon bar Honourable Artillery Company ribbon The Volunteer Reserves Service Medal (VRSM) is a medal which may be awarded to members of the Volunteer Reserves of all branches of the British Armed Forces - the Royal Naval Reserve, the Royal Marines Reserve, the Army Reserve and the Royal Auxiliary Air Force. It replaced the separate decorations and medals awarded respectively to officers and other ranks in each of the services - the Royal Navy's Reserve Decoration and Reserve Long Service and Good Conduct Medal, the British Army's Territorial Decoration and Efficiency Medal, and the Royal Air Force's Air Efficiency Award - from 1 April 1999.

Description

The medal is a silver oval, 38mm high and 32mm wide. The obverse depicts an image of the monarch. The reverse has the words, in five lines, FOR SERVICE IN THE VOLUNTEER RESERVES, above a sprig of oak leaves and acorns. The medal is suspended from a ribbon that represents each of the services with narrow stripes of dark blue, scarlet and light blue in the centre (for the Navy, Army and Air Force, respectively) separated by a thin strip of yellow from dark green bands (representing the Reserves) at each edge. Members of the Honourable Artillery Company receive the same medal but with their ribbon.

Criteria

The VRSM is awarded after 10 years of qualifying service in the Volunteer Reserves, although service in the Regular forces before joining the Reserves may count towards the qualifying period. However, a maximum of five years of regular service can be counted and this service is counted as half qualifying time. A clasp is awarded for each additional 5 years service.

"VR" post-nominal letters

It was announced on 26 March 2015 by the Secretary of State for Defence, Michael Fallon, that Volunteer Reservists may use the post-nominal letters "VR" after 10 years' service, back-dated to 1999. As the post-nominal recognition is available after a straight 10 years' service, reservists may find themselves entitled to use "VR" before the qualifying period and eligibility criteria for the VRSM have been achieved. The VRSM and the post-nominals VR are therefore not directly connected.

The postnominals "VR" should follow the post-nominal letters denoting the grant of any state Honour or decoration, or educational or professional qualification.

References

{{London Gazette. (17 March 2003)
"Medals: campaigns, descriptions and eligibility". Ministry of Defence.
(2004). "The Medal Yearbook 2004". Token Publishing Ltd..
Ministry of Defence. (26 March 2015). "New recognition for Reserve and Regular military service".
JSP 761 Pt 1 (V5.0 Oct 16): Ministry of Defence. Chapter 5, Paragraph 17

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

military-awards-and-decorations-of-the-united-kingdom long-and-meritorious-service-medals-of-britain-and-the-commonwealth 1999-establishments-in-the-united-kingdom awards-established-in-1999

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