The Volunteer Reserves Service Medal (VRSM) is a medal which may be awarded to members of the Volunteer Reserves of all branches of the
British Armed Forces
The British Armed Forces are the unified military, military forces responsible for the defence of the United Kingdom, its British Overseas Territories, Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies. They also promote the UK's wider interests ...
- the
Royal Naval Reserve
The Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) is one of the two volunteer reserve forces of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. Together with the Royal Marines Reserve, they form the Maritime Reserve. The present RNR was formed by merging the original ...
, the
Royal Marines Reserve
The Royal Marines Reserve (RMR) is the volunteer reserve force used to augment the regular Royal Marines. The RMR consists of some 600 trained ranks distributed among the four units within the UK. About 10 percent of the force are working with ...
, the
Army Reserve and the
Royal Auxiliary Air Force
The Royal Auxiliary Air Force (RAuxAF), formerly the Auxiliary Air Force (AAF), together with the Air Force Reserve, is a component of His Majesty's Reserve Air Forces ( Reserve Forces Act 1996, Part 1, Para 1,(2),(c)). It provides a primary re ...
. It replaced the separate decorations and medals awarded respectively to officers and other ranks in each of the services - the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...
's
Reserve Decoration and
Reserve Long Service and Good Conduct Medal, the
British Army
The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...
's
Territorial Decoration
__NOTOC__
The Territorial Decoration (TD) was a military medal of the United Kingdom awarded for long service in the Territorial Force and its successor, the Army Reserve (United Kingdom), Territorial Army.
This award superseded the Volunteer O ...
and
Efficiency Medal, and the
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...
's
Air Efficiency Award
The Air Efficiency Award, post-nominal letters AE for officers, was instituted in 1942. It could be awarded after ten years of meritorious service to officers, airmen and airwomen in the Royal Auxiliary Air Force, Auxiliary and Royal Air Force ...
- from 1 April 1999.
Description
The medal is a
silver
Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...
oval, 38mm high and 32mm wide. The
obverse
The obverse and reverse are the two flat faces of coins and some other two-sided objects, including paper money, flags, seals, medals, drawings, old master prints and other works of art, and printed fabrics. In this usage, ''obverse'' ...
depicts an image of the monarch. The reverse has the words, in five lines, ''FOR SERVICE IN THE VOLUNTEER RESERVES'', above a sprig of oak leaves and acorns. The medal is suspended from a ribbon that represents each of the services with narrow stripes of dark blue, scarlet and light blue in the centre (for the Navy, Army and Air Force, respectively) separated by a thin strip of yellow from dark green bands (representing the Reserves) at each edge.
Members of the
Honourable Artillery Company
The Honourable Artillery Company (HAC) is a reserve regiment in the British Army. Incorporated by royal charter in 1537 by King Henry VIII, it is the oldest regiment in the British Army and is considered the second-oldest military unit in the w ...
receive the same medal but with their ribbon.
Criteria
The VRSM is awarded after 10 years of qualifying service in the Volunteer Reserves, although service in the Regular forces before joining the Reserves may count towards the qualifying period. However, a maximum of five years of regular service can be counted and this service is counted as half qualifying time. A clasp is awarded for each additional 5 years service.
[
]
"VR" post-nominal letters
It was announced on 26 March 2015 by the Secretary of State for Defence
The secretary of state for defence, also known as the defence secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with responsibility for the Ministry of Defence. As a senior minister, the incumbent is a member of the ...
, Michael Fallon
Sir Michael Cathel Fallon (born 14 May 1952) is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Defence from 2014 to 2017. A member of the Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party, he served as Member of Parliament (United Kingdom ...
, that Volunteer Reservists may use the post-nominal letters
Post-nominal letters, also called post-nominal initials, post-nominal titles, designatory letters, or simply post-nominals, are letters placed after a person's name to indicate that the individual holds a position, an academic degree, accreditation ...
"VR" after 10 years' service, back-dated to 1999. As the post-nominal recognition is available after a straight 10 years' service, reservists may find themselves entitled to use "VR" before the qualifying period and eligibility criteria for the VRSM have been achieved. The VRSM and the post-nominals VR are therefore not directly connected.
The postnominals "VR" should follow the post-nominal letters denoting the grant of any state Honour or decoration, or educational or professional qualification.[JSP 761 Pt 1 (V5.0 Oct 16): Ministry of Defence. Chapter 5, Paragraph 17]
See also
* King's Volunteer Reserves Medal (KVRM)
References
External links
{{Efficiency and long service decorations and medals
Military awards and decorations of the United Kingdom
Long and Meritorious Service Medals of Britain and the Commonwealth
1999 establishments in the United Kingdom
Awards established in 1999