How do they determine OIF/OEF II, IV, VII, etc.?

[ABNAK]

Is it by how many rotations that particular unit has done there? Is it the number of calendar years since the beginning of operations there?

Example: 10th Mountain Division on OEF VII. Is that the division's 7th tour in Afghanistan or is it 7 years since rotations began in that country? Or something else?

[C-grunt]

I thought they corresponded with the years.

[TheBelly]

Mine were always by the fiscal year.

Ex: OIF 06-08 was Aug 06 thru Nov 07.

[GotAmmo]

I'm with TheBelly, at least that's what I've gathered without ever receiving a clear explanation

First time I went was 2004 so we went with OIF '04
Next was 2007-2009 so we went with OIF 07-09

But now I'm out in OEF but not in Afghan... so lord knows what the heck they're going to call it

[Army Chief]

Best data I could find ...

OIF Rotations through 2008 (not sure how long these designations were really used after this, as the focus seemed to shift to identification by campaign phase):

* OIF I - 03/2003 to 03/2004
* OIF II - 03/2004 to 03/2005
* OIF III - 11/2004 to 11/2005
* OIF IV - 03/2006 to 03/2007
* OIF V - 06/2006 to 06/2007
* OIF VI - 01/2007 to 01/2008


OIF Campaign Phases:

* Liberation of Iraq – March 19, 2003 to May 1, 2003.
* Transition of Iraq – May 2, 2003 to June 28, 2004.
* Iraqi Governance – June 29, 2004 to Dec. 15, 2005.
* National Resolution – Dec. 16, 2005 to Jan. 9, 2007.
* The Surge - Jan. 1, 2007, to Dec. 31, 2008
* Iraqi Sovereignty - Jan. 1, 2009 to TBD.

AC

[decodeddiesel]

They are determined by what the major command of the theater was at the time. Some are less than a year, other's longer.

My understanding is it is something like this...

OIF I Mar 2003 - Mar 2004
OIF II Mar 2004 - Mar 2005
OIF III Nov 2004 - Nov 2005
OIF IV Mar 2006 - Mar 2007
OIF V Jun 2006 - Jun 2007
OIF VI Jan 2007 - Jan 2008

So I was there for OIF I, III, IV, V.

[ABNAK]

Leave it to the military to make something clear as mud!

[J8127]

Yea, makes it super fun figuring out how many stars go on your OEF/OIF medals, they couldn't just make it a star per tour, that would make too much sense.

[Koshinn]

https://www.hrc.army.mil/tagd/afghanistan%20campaign%20medal%20or%20iraq%20campaign%20medal

Google to the rescue


The number of bronze stars is the number of phases you've been a part of. To get the ribbon/medal, you need 30 consecutive days in the AOR, 60 non consecutive days, or to see combat or be wounded. You get stars for being in the AOR for one day per "campaign" as mentioned earlier and on the site. Number of deployments only roughly correlates with number of stars. You could deploy once and have two, deploy twice and have one, etc.