<P> The medal is authorized to cadets and midshipmen at the military service academies after they are sworn into service, as well as pre-commission officer candidates / trainees at the Officer Candidate Schools or Officer Training Schools of the various U.S. Armed Forces; but is not granted to discharged or retired military personnel who did not serve in one of the above time periods; nor is it authorized for Reserve Officer Training Corps cadets and midshipmen at colleges and universities who enlisted in the inactive reserve (i.e., Obligated Reserve Section or ORS) during qualifying periods . </P> <P> The NDSM ranks eleventh out of twenty - nine in the order of precedence of service medals . There is no time requirement for the medal's issuance, meaning that someone who joins the United States Armed Forces for simply a few days, and then receives an entry level discharge, would technically be entitled to the NDSM; in practice, however, military clerks will not add the NDSM on a DD Form 214 if the service member performed duty for less than 90 days from the completion of their initial entry training . This accounts for the medal's omission from a large number of "uncharacterized" and "entry level" separation documents . Veterans who have this medal so omitted may apply to the military service departments to have the NDSM added to records via a DD Form 214 . </P> <P> Additional awards of the National Defense Service Medal are authorized for members of the military who served in more than one of the eligible time periods . Each additional award is denoted by a ​ ⁄ - inch bronze service star attached to the suspension and service ribbon of the medal (a six award is indicated by one ​ ⁄ - inch silver star). A second award of the medal is not granted for reenlisting during the same time period or transferring between branches of service . </P> <Dl> <Dt> NDSM ribbons with ​ ⁄ inch bronze stars </Dt> </Dl>

How do you get a star on your national defense ribbon
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