Lord Blencathra – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Blencathra on 2016-09-13.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are planning to take to honour the British soldiers who fought in Musa Qala in Afghanistan in the autumn of 2006.

Earl Howe

Service in Afghanistan is recognised by the Operational Service Medal. All those who deployed to Afghanistan will have been eligible to receive the medal if they met the qualifying criteria. There is a long-standing rule that decisions taken with regards to medallic recognition should not be revisited once five years have passed since the conclusion of a military operation. The ‘five year’ rule has been looked at by the Committee on the Grants of Honours, Decorations and Medals (HD Committee) on a number of occasions, and on each occasion it has concluded that the rule is sound and should not be changed.