OAN Staff Katherine Mosack
2:18 PM – Friday, August 22, 2025
Department of Defense (DoD) Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the Pentagon is reviving a 1918 military decoration to honor service members deployed to the Southern Border, recognizing them as “brave border soldiers.”
In an August 13th memo, later shared to social media, the Department of Defense (DoD) officially revived the 1918 Mexican Border Defense Medal (MBDM).
A U.S. defense official confirmed the authenticity of the memo to Fox News Digital on Wednesday.
The memorandum also rescinds a 2019 directive, which had stipulated that Department of Defense support for U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) would be recognized with the Armed Forces Service Medal (AFSM), effectively replacing the medal. Under the new guidance, veterans and service members who previously received the AFSM for supporting Border Patrol may now apply for the revived medal instead. However, individuals cannot retain both awards for the same period of qualifying service.
The Armed Forces Service Medal was established by former Democrat President Bill Clinton through Executive Order 12985, signed on January 11, 1996. The AFSM is awarded to U.S. military personnel who, after June 1, 1992, participate in a designated U.S. military operation deemed to be a significant activity by the Joint Chiefs of Staff — provided they encounter no foreign armed opposition or imminent hostile action.
To qualify for the MBDM, U.S. personnel must have been “permanently assigned, attached, or detailed to a unit that deployed” as part of a DoD operation to support the CBP for 30 consecutive or nonconsecutive days.
Troops must have been stationed within 100 nautical miles of the U.S.-Mexico border — including areas in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California — or in U.S. waters up to 24 nautical miles offshore. Additionally, Their deployment must have occurred after President Donald Trump’s second inauguration on January 20th.
On the first day of his second term, Trump declared a national emergency on the Southern Border via an Executive Order — directing the DoD to assist the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in securing the border.
the Pentagon reported in July that roughly 8,500 military personnel are assigned to the Joint Task Force Southern Border (JTF-SB), the Department of Defense’s command structure established in March to coordinate and unify military support for border operations.
On Friday, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth shared news on social media in regard to the revived decoration. The original medal was established by Congress to honor service members who participated in operations along the U.S.-Mexico border, including the defense against Mexican revolutionary Francisco “Pancho” Villa — beginning in 1916.
“Border medal, yes. New medal, no. We have proudly revived the 1918 “Mexican Border Service Medal” — same mold, same ribbon, same name, same service. We look forward to pinning the award on brave border soldiers soon…,” he posted.
“We look forward to pinning the award on brave border soldiers soon,” Hegseth wrote on X.
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