Twenty-one years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the Defense Department has decided to halt conferral of the National Defense Service Medal ... counter terrorism," Air Force Brig.

The National Defense Service ... longest period for which service members were eligible for the medal. Juan King is a reporter, photographer and web editor at Yokota Air Base, Japan.

The National Defense Service Medal ... could become a named operation that then might warrant a specific medal, but Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman, told Military Times ...

In a memorandum signed on Aug. 30, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced that the Pentagon will no longer award the National Defense Service ... U.S. forces are still conducting air strikes ...