 the armed forces expeditionary medal (afem) is a military award of the united states military, which was first created in 1961 by executive order of president john kennedy. the medal is awarded for participation in "any military campaign of the united states for which no other service medal is authorized."  == criteria== the armed forces expeditionary medal may be authorized for three categories of operations: u.s. military operations; u.s. military operations in direct support of the united nations; and u.s. operations of assistance to friendly foreign nations. the medal shall be awarded only for operations for which no other u.s. campaign medal is approved, where a foreign armed opposition or imminent threat of hostile action was encountered. since its original conception in 1961, the armed forces expeditionary medal has been awarded for united states participation in over forty five designated military campaigns. the first campaign of the afem was the cuban missile crisis and the award was issued for military service between october 1962 and june 1963. following this original issuance, the afem was made retroactive to 1958 and issued for actions in lebanon, taiwan, republic of the congo, quemoy and matsu, and for duty in berlin between 1961 and 1963.air force personnel center armed forces expeditionary medal during the early years of the vietnam war, the armed forces expeditionary medal was issued for initial operations in south vietnam, laos, and cambodia. the armed forces expeditionary medal was intended to replace the marine corps expeditionary medal and navy expeditionary medal.[http://www.history.navy.mil/medals/afem.htm service medals and campaign credit of the united states navy,ar
Awards_established_in_1961 United_States_campaign_medals