The Marine Corps Security Guard Ribbon is a United States Marine Corps military award that was established by order of Secretary of the NavyJohn Howard Dalton on 15 July 1997. The award recognizes those Marine Corps personnel who have served as U.S. Embassy Security Guards and is retroactive to 28 January 1949. Marines assigned to Marine Security Guard duty are eligible to receive the ribbon upon completion of 24 months of service at a foreign establishment. Subsequent awards will be made for every 24 months served, either consecutively or cumulatively. The MCSGR may be awarded retroactively to 28 January 1949, the date the first MSGs departed Washington, DC, for their overseas assignments. One award is authorized for the period 28 January 1949 to 15 August 1974, regardless of the number of qualifying periods. Marines who served successful tours at a lettered MSGBN company headquarters or at HQ MSGBN, Quantico are not eligible to receive this award. On a case-by-case basis, the MCSGR may be awarded posthumously without regard to period of service. Personnel transferred early for the Good of the Service must have served a minimum of 12 months in the program to be eligible for this award. Personnel transferred due to Relief for Cause are not eligible for the ribbon.
History
To be awarded the Marine Corps Security Guard Ribbon, a service member must hold the Marine Corps military occupational specialty 8156 Marine Corps Security Guard and must have served twenty-four months of service at an American embassy or consulate. The award is only awarded to Marine Security Guards for their service at American Embassies or Consulates in a foreign country. Recently, Marine Corps Embassy Security Group has begun to award the MSG Ribbon to Regional Command Staff as well without the prerequisite of serving as an 8156, to include Regional Inspecting Officers, which has created a controversy based on the belief that there is an intentional bias towards awarding the Regional Officers and Command Staff, while at the same time not awarding the ribbon to the junior Marines residing in the same geographical location within the same command.
