Posted on Jan 13, 2024
Why can't DMZ vets get a Combat Patch for engagements and firefights in the Korean DMZ?
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I did two DMZ deployments (88 and 89) with B Co 1/503rd INF. During the DMZ mission, my battalion was involved in, engagements, firefights, infiltrations, landmines, small arms fire, and a North Korean spy in our BN TOC, while doing recon and ambush missions with live ammo. Also, DMZ vets were prone to Agent Orange exposure. Why can't DMZ vets get the same recognition as other vets?
Posted in these groups: 
Combat Patch (SSI-FWTS)
Combat Patch (SSI-FWTS)
Edited 11 mo ago
Posted 11 mo ago
Responses: 3
SSgt Christophe Murphy is correct. It was an injustice that has been corrected over time and while you may not have been eligible before, you are now.
Service on the Korean DMZ between 4 January 1969 and 31 March 1994 is considered a qualifying period for combat badges now. If you were eligible for a badge/award previously, save for a "recognized period of combat", you can submit documentation to HRC for it to be retroactively added to your records.
Service on the Korean DMZ between 4 January 1969 and 31 March 1994 is considered a qualifying period for combat badges now. If you were eligible for a badge/award previously, save for a "recognized period of combat", you can submit documentation to HRC for it to be retroactively added to your records.
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SFC James Lussier
I spent much time on the DMZ and on the MDL in 81-82, 83-86, and 95-96. Trained with the ROK Marine Mountain Rangers in the Kimpo North areas. A bunch of time bivouacked along the MDL. Ops along Imjin Range, the Imjin River as a FO and Flash OP. OPs Ouellette and Collier, FP1 and Radar Site 13. Had rounds impact on the walls behind me in the bunkers along the MDL. This is the first I have heard about this. Not surprising though. The VA Bureaucrats seem to not be allowing information dissemination to us troops. Medical is great, Administrative is BS.
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MAJ David Brumlow
I was at the 1/506th Inf and did a tour on Camp Liberty Bell and then down to Camp Greaves for a tour as a Scout. After reading the regulations and requirements for the CIB I did do the paperwork and HRC did grant me a CIB for my service on the DMZ. I also know some who were turned down. This is an injustice I believe.
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It has been corrected over time starting in May 2000. https://www.armyupress.army.mil/journals/military-review/english-edition-archives/november-december-2019/anderson-korean-dmz/#:~:text=For%20the%20first%20time%20since,badge%20and%20combat%20medical%20badge.
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SSgt Christophe Murphy
1SG Randy Bond - I'm not tracking everything you are laying out though.
Tax codes were used to deny your request? On what grounds?
When did you submit? Have you submitted since the changes were being made after May 2000? The period between 4 January 1969 and 31 March 1994 has been given the green light for documentation to be corrected so I am failing to see why tax codes or AR 670-1 are saying you can't when several of us on here are finding it has been corrected after the fact. Who submitted the changes? It may be something to use a VSO for
Tax codes were used to deny your request? On what grounds?
When did you submit? Have you submitted since the changes were being made after May 2000? The period between 4 January 1969 and 31 March 1994 has been given the green light for documentation to be corrected so I am failing to see why tax codes or AR 670-1 are saying you can't when several of us on here are finding it has been corrected after the fact. Who submitted the changes? It may be something to use a VSO for
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1SG Randy Bond
SSgt Christophe Murphy I referenced AR 670 – 1 because it defines what service constitutes authorization of the combat patch. For Korea it still lists combat/hazardous duty pay or the Matuzok incident.
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1SG Fred Hermstein
1SG Randy Bond That's the problem. A Soldier can do recons and ambushes in North Korea or engage a North Korean patrol in South Korea, and not earn a SSI-MOHC. I have good friends/family of mine who were Operation Just Cause, Desert Storm, Iraq, Syria, Jordan and in Afghanistan who did not see combat, and my friends told me their entire BNs got blanket combat patches and CIBs without one
sight of the enemy. It seems to be a double standard which has impacted promotions, assignments, and and VA benefits for DMZ vets. Not to mention agent orange.
sight of the enemy. It seems to be a double standard which has impacted promotions, assignments, and and VA benefits for DMZ vets. Not to mention agent orange.
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Hello Sirs,
I'm trying to contact my my half-brother.
I found love letters and photos of a pale faced Korean women holding a mixed race child with blue eyes. The child belonged to my Father. The women was begging him to return to Korea. My father was stationed in the Korean DMZ. The evidence was discovered in very old dusty storage unit box with his US Army DMZ items and papers.
The letters were addressed to his old parents address in the USA.
I suspect he was either married to this women, or lived off base with her and the child. Either way the evidence is clear - he abandoned the mother and child after his DMZ tour. Out of sight. Out mind.
I want information to track down the women and child. Can anyone tell me if intermarriage was allowed in the DMZ? Were wives or girlfriends allowed on base? Or did they live off base? Could she have been a base prostitute?
I want to contact my half-brother. I need more information. Thank you.
I'm trying to contact my my half-brother.
I found love letters and photos of a pale faced Korean women holding a mixed race child with blue eyes. The child belonged to my Father. The women was begging him to return to Korea. My father was stationed in the Korean DMZ. The evidence was discovered in very old dusty storage unit box with his US Army DMZ items and papers.
The letters were addressed to his old parents address in the USA.
I suspect he was either married to this women, or lived off base with her and the child. Either way the evidence is clear - he abandoned the mother and child after his DMZ tour. Out of sight. Out mind.
I want information to track down the women and child. Can anyone tell me if intermarriage was allowed in the DMZ? Were wives or girlfriends allowed on base? Or did they live off base? Could she have been a base prostitute?
I want to contact my half-brother. I need more information. Thank you.
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