question on dd 214

[C5M1]

Going over my DD214 today and noticed Under decorations, medals, badges, commendations that there is a W/2BSS following Vietnam service medal. What might this w/2bss be. Never notice it before, just curious.

Was 2 b summarily shot???

regards, dennis

[Dan Shapiro]

With 2 Battle Stars

[Oyaji]

W/2BSS translates to "with two bronze service stars."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_Service_Medal

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Service_star

[cwartyman]

Each service medal such as VN service ,SWA service has to have at least one bronze service star. You just dont get the Medal you get it for participating in a Campaign. My SWA has 2 bronze service stars on it. One for Desert Shield and one for Desert Storm. Each star represents a campaign.
Mack

[C5M1]

Thanks guys, thanks for the links Oyaji. Got er now.

regards, dennis

[Oyaji]

Each service medal such as VN service ,SWA service has to have at least one bronze service star. You just dont get the Medal you get it for participating in a Campaign. My SWA has 2 bronze service stars on it. One for Desert Shield and one for Desert Storm. Each star represents a campaign.
Mack

Right you are, Mack.

A bronze service star is worn for each campaign the individual participated in. Five campaigns would be denoted with a silver service star; six campaigns would be denoted with a silver service star and a bronze service star and so on.

There are still some out there who believe that the Vietnam Service Medal (VSM) worn with a bronze service star on it represents the second award. Not true. The VSM is always worn with at least one bronze service star.

[cwartyman]

If in 93 I had gone on the USS Abraham Lincoln with the unit I had gone to Desert Shield/Storm with I would have been awarded another star on my SWA service medal and that campaign would have been for Operation Southern Watch. Say some one was on a C-141 crew and flew supplies into South Vietnam during any time between 1959-1975 they would have been awarded a VSM with at least Campaign Star as that flight would have been connected with at least one of recognized Campaigns. Problem becomes that neither your SRB nor your DD214 specifies which Campaign on the Awards page. In your SRB there is a page that lists combat history, expeditions, awards record. The pics below are from my SRB and you see that the Campaigns are listed on the top of the page but the awards only say 2 Stars but not for what Campaigns. When your DD214 is made out this is the page they get your Awards from.
Mack

[Oyaji]

Mack...recognize NDSM as National Defense Service Medal, GCM as Good Conduct Medal, SASM as Southwest Asia Service Medal, and KLM as Kuwait Liberation Medal but, what are the other abbreviations for? Suspect NU is a Navy Unit Commendation which is usually seen as "NUC." Unsure about SSDR and SD.

By the way.......Thanks for your service.

[Griff Murphey]

Oyaji, thank you for your explanation. I am in the uncomfortable position of having, like John Kerry, a DD-215. My DD-214 has the wrong SSN; realized that about 25 years out when the US Navy said, " And you are... WHO?!?" I got that corrected and at the same time turned in my 2nd Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal for a VSM. (Thank you to the Saigon Embassy Marines who got that one passed!) I ordered some miniature medals from Medals of America and I was a little questioning myself about that star device. It looks very salty and I had them tart it up with an EGA device, which I am real proud of. I guess they know what they are doing at that outfit.

[cwartyman]

ssdr and sd are for sea service deployment ribbon they just abbreviated it as sd. That was from a different unit than the first award of the ribbon, Nu is Navy unit commendation guess they figured a S1 person would know what they meant.
Mack

[cwartyman]

I resized the pics so they load better sorry for having them so large.
Mack

[Oyaji]

Oyaji, thank you for your explanation. I am in the uncomfortable position of having, like John Kerry, a DD-215. My DD-214 has the wrong SSN; realized that about 25 years out when the US Navy said, " And you are... WHO?!?" I got that corrected and at the same time turned in my 2nd Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal for a VSM. (Thank you to the Saigon Embassy Marines who got that one passed!) I ordered some miniature medals from Medals of America and I was a little questioning myself about that star device. It looks very salty and I had them tart it up with an EGA device, which I am real proud of. I guess they know what they are doing at that outfit.

That's correct.....those that served in Operation FREQUENT WIND, the evacuation of Saigon (29-30 Apr 1975) have the option of wearing either the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal or the Vietnam Service Medal for that particular campaign. Ref: Navy and Marine Corps Awards Manual, SECNAVINST 1650.1G

http://study.schleppingsquid.net/Files/Pubs/SECNAVINST-1650.1G.pdf

[John Sukey]

Griff. your records are NOTHING like Kerry's. Your service was honorable.

[Griff Murphey]

Yes, well, it took a long time for the awards for the Vietnam and Cambodia evacuations to drift in. I had none when I left ACDU not even a National Defense (gee dunk) medal, only marksmanship, despite having 27 days in a hostile fire zone (granted, not much!) and the Indochina Service block checked. Received MUC, Humanitarian service, 2 awards of the Armed Forces Exped. Medal, and Sea service ribbon over a 2 year period in the late 70's, from an official U.S. Government representative; my postman. I checked into the VSM when I was reading info about the swap on the Saigon Embassy Marines' website. They always told us to check our DD-214 for errors and I missed the fact that the NRDC Admin at Camp Pendleton torqued me over by screwing up my SSN. Ultimately I had to go to my local Congresswoman to get my records reviewed and corrected, which included finally the Geedunk medal and the swap of the AFEM go VSM; took right at 30 years. I enjoy wearing my miniature medals on occasion especially for the Royal Flying Corps Ceremony I do here for the WW-1 guys we have buried here, because our Canadian and Brit civilian dignitaries often wear theirs. A friend, an Army doctor who stayed stateside, ribs me about it and says I look like a Russian Field Marshal!

[cwartyman]

What you are entitled to wear is a good thing, those that ridicule it generally dont have anything to wear on their chests. I actually rate another medal the Kuwaiti version of the KLM and another ribbon a Muc. Since my dd-214 doesnt have them on it i will not wear them. Have to get around to getting My dd-214 updated and a new one issued.
Mack