Home Guard Service Medal
The Home Guard Service Medal is a service medal awarded by the Swedish Home Guard. The award is given to Home Guard soldiers, Home Guard musicians and volunteer staff with a valid Home Guard contract and to those who remain in the Home Guard as a Home Guard veteran. The medal is made of three denominations: silver, gold and gold with enamel.
History
The National Home Guard Council noted that the Swedish Armed Forces had introduced a service medal for GSS and the award committee investigated whether the Home Guard's service badge should be discontinued in favor of a system with service medals. The Home Guard Department in the Swedish [Armed Forces Headquarters] submitted the award committee's proposal to the Training Department for preparation, after which the matter was returned to PROD RIKSHV. The award committee's proposal was that the service badge in bronze and silver was proposed to be retained for youth activities. Other service badges would be discontinued. The Home Guard Service Medal was introduced with the service badge as a model for the medal. The medal was considered to appear in three different denominations and years of service are marked in accordance with previous service badges.The National Home Guard Council's proposal was judged to be mainly in line with the development of merit badges that were in place at the time. The Chief of Home Guard affirmed that years of Tjänsteårstecken m/43 in bronze and silver were retained and that other service badges were to be phased out. The medal was designed with previous service badges in gold as a model. Custom is that the denominations bronze, silver and gold are used. The award committee's proposal to use enamelled design in the two higher awards was met in this case with a division into: silver, gold and gold with enamel. The medal clasps are used on the Swedish Armed Forces International Service Medal and may also be used on awards for other missions. The Home Guard Service Medal should therefore instead be provided with additional signs in the form of digits in the middle of the medal ribbon and the ribbon bar, respectively.
From 1 January 2019, the Swedish Armed Forces decided to introduce the Home Guard Service Medal in silver, gold and gold with enamel with numerical additions 15, 25, 40, 50, 60, 70 and 75. The award is a state official award in category I. The medal is allowed to be carried on the Swedish Armed Forces' uniforms in accordance with the uniform regulations in force at any given time. In connection with the medal's establishment, the Home Guard's service badges were discontinued, except for 3 and 5 years, respectively. The decision in this case was made by General Micael Bydén. The Secretary of the National Guard Council, Major Mats Jonsson, and the Chief of Home Guard, Major General Stefan Sandborg, participated in the final handling of the case.
Appearance
Medal
The medal have three denominations: silver, gold and gold with enamel. The award is made in the 8th size. The obverse shows an open laurel wreath around the Home Guard's heraldic arms. The reverse is smooth. The organizational unit that awards the medal has the reverse engraved with the Home Guard battalion's name in short form and the year in which the award was awarded.Example of engraving:
13.hvbat
2018
Additional characters consist of silver-plated digits 1 and 5 and gilded numbers 0, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7, similar to the additional characters/digits that are already in use in the Swedish Armed Forces. The medal includes a diploma in the form of the Home Guard's diploma with the Chief of Home Guard's signature in facsimile and a place for a countersignature by the assigned commander.