South West Asia Service Medal (Canada)

Canada's governor general has announced the creation of this gong for the 7,000 or so members of the Canadian Forces who have been involved in the current war on terrorism in Afghanistan, the Persian Gulf,etc.
Oddly, I think that the name of the medal is exactly the same as the medal the US awarded for the Gulf War. Can any of our American forum members confirm?
As a side point of interest, Adrienne Clarkson, our governor general and the Queen's representative in Canada, has another link to medals. She is Chinese-Canadian (maiden name Poy). Her family came to Canada as refugees, and her father won the MM(Military Medal) for bravery in the defence of Hong Kong, 1941.

[Michael]

It should have been called the Fourth Afghan War Medal. (The Third was in 1919, and only rated a clasp to the 1908 India General Service Medal).

[MilesC]

Hi Terry,

Check this site:

http://www.americal.org/awards/swasm.htm

The Southwest Asia Service Medal (SWASM) was established by Executive order 12754, 12 March 1991. It is awarded to all members of the Armed Forces of the United States serving in Southwest Asia and contiguous waters or airspace thereover on or after 2 August 1990 to a date to be determined. Southwest Asia and contiguous waters, as used herein, is defined as an area which includes the Persian Gulf, Red Sea, Gulf of Oman, Gulf of Aden, that portion of the Arabian Sea that lies north of 10 degrees N. latitude and west of 68 degrees E. Longitude, as well as the total land areas of Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, and United Arab Emirates.

Thanks,Miles. Any idea of what the Yanks will call their gong for this campaign?

[MilesC]

I have found nothing on a separate service medal for Afghanistan. I'm not sure that their timeline for the SWASM has run out for Operation Enduring Freedom, although the area of operations for the SWASM does not appear to include Afghanistan.

MC