Operation Iraqi Freedom OIF Patch

The Iraq Campaign Medal divides Operation Iraqi Freedom into seven phases, starting with the Liberation of Iraq on 19 March 2003 and ending with New Dawn in December 2011. That is nearly nine years, and a ribbon carries a campaign star for each phase its wearer served in. This patch covers all of it. Soldiers, Marines, sailors, airmen and Coast Guardsmen all served in Iraq, active, Guard and Reserve alike. It is for everyone who wore that ribbon, and for the families who waited on them.

Liberation of Iraq ran from 19 March to 1 May 2003. Transition of Iraq followed until 28 June 2004, then Iraqi Governance until 15 December 2005 and National Resolution until 9 January 2007. Iraqi Surge ran from 10 January 2007 through the end of 2008, Iraqi Sovereignty from 1 January 2009 to 31 August 2010, and New Dawn from 1 September 2010 to 15 December 2011. The medal itself was created by Executive Order 13363, signed on 29 November 2004, and reached the force in June 2005. Every one of those date lines is a set of deployments somebody remembers by heart.

The patch is a 4 inch circle with a red border. A silver-gray band carries OPERATION across the top and IRAQI FREEDOM along the bottom in bold black letters, with two black stars on each side. Inside, a blue ring is packed with white stars, and at the center a bald eagle spreads its wings across a tan field. The eagle grips the top of a red and white striped shield crossed by a banner that reads IRAQ. It has an iron-on backing, and a few stitches around the border will keep it on a jacket for good.

Iraq asked a great deal of the people who went, many of them more than once. Reservists and Guardsmen left jobs and families for a year at a time, and active units rotated back for second and third tours. Every unit that served there brought home names it still reads aloud at reunions and on Memorial Day. The patch holds the whole campaign in one piece, from the push north in 2003 to the last convoys south in December 2011.

It fits a shadow box with an Iraq Campaign Medal and a photo from a FOB, or the sleeve of a jacket worn to a unit reunion or a Veterans Day parade. It is also a good gift for a son, daughter or spouse who served there. One patch, nearly nine years of service.