In the order and award strategy of the Polish Army there are, among others, commemorative awards granted to soldiers who served on missions. These are the Stars of Iraq, Afghanistan, Chad, Congo, the Mediterranean and the Air Force. For unknown reasons there is no Balkan Star, although since 1992 more than 26,000 soldiers have served in Polish military contingents in the Balkan Peninsula.
The first Polish award given in the 20th century for participating in combats and not for circumstantial merits was the badge “For faithful service”, established by Commandant I of the Polish Legions Brigade Józef Piłsudski by order of 6 August 1916. It was given to legionaries of the First Brigade and members of the shooting organizations in the Kingdom and staff of the Intelligence Office of the First Brigade. During the first decoration, on August 6, 1916, under Rudka Mirynska, Piłsudski, in a speech to the attentive legionaries, said: “(...) present you will receive a modest badge: “For faithful service”. (...) All here are equal merits—one badge for all. Hello, soldiers!’ This message includes the quintessence and definition of the commemorative character of the distinction.
The commemorative character besides had many awards established by legal acts, orders of individual commanders or decisions of associations, concerning both participation in border defence wars in 1918–1922 and participation in individual campaigns and battles during planet War II. Examples may be the Lvov Defence Cross, the Lithuanian-Belarusian Front Memorial Badge, the National Army Cross, the Monte Cassino Memorial Cross, the medal “For Participating in the Fights for Berlin”, the 1939 September run Cross and many others.
Poles on missions
To service abroad in Polish military contingents are those soldiers who volunteer. However, just asking to leave is not enough. The volunteer is qualified to service on a mission. For this reason, in terms of the quality of the cast, the quotas were always better than the military units by which they were formed.
Source: Veterinary Centre for Activities outside the State Borders
As a rule, each multinational operation lasts longer than 1 change. The first PKW Iraq is 10 changes. Since 2016, as part of the second global operation in Iraq, which aims to fight the alleged muslim State, the 17th PKW change has already served. In Afghanistan, from 2002 to 2021, there were a full of 38 changes to the Polish quota. There were 33 changes in PKW UNIFIL by 2009. The evidence holder was PKW UNDOF – until 2009, 74 shifts of soldiers served in Syria. At present, the longest-functioning quota has been the PKW KFOR since 1999, which now serves 51 changes. From this perspective, one-shift PKW Congo or ongoing 3 PKW Chad changes (in EUFOR Tchad and MINIURCAT) are only episodes. And yet the soldiers serving in these 2 contingents were appreciated with commemorative distinctions – the Star of Congo and the Star of Chad.
Stars for veterans
New commemorative decorations were established in the Polish Army in 2007. Stars shall be awarded for blameless service in military contingents outside national borders or in the military operation area. They are a certificate of designation of the Polish state for the service of soldiers in the Polish military contingent and are an honorable form of thanks for this service.
The star bars are proudly worn by veterans on uniforms. In the Polish strategy of awards we will find the Stars: Afghanistan, Congo, Chad, Iraq, the Mediterranean and the Air Crews. The first decoration of veterans with the stars of Iraq and Afghanistan took place on May 3, 2008, and the full process of broadcasting the "replaced" Stars ended in 2013. Since then, the broadcast of the Stars of Afghanistan, the Mediterranean and the Air Crews has been ongoing after each change has been completed. In 2023, the broadcasting of Iraq stars was resumed for PKW soldiers operating since 2016 in NATO operations in Iraq.
The Forgotten Balkans
Since 1992, by decision of the state authorities, Polish soldiers have participated and participated in UN peacekeeping operations, EU military operations and NATO crisis consequence operations, including in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia: PKW UNPROFOR, PKW UNCRO, PKW FIFG, PKW SFOR, PJW Albania, PKW in BJRM, PKW EUFOR Althea, PKW EUFOR/MTT and PKW KFOR. It is estimated that so far more than 26 1000 Polish soldiers have served in the Balkan contingents, assuming that each of them served only by 1 change. Taking into account respective times the share of any of them, the number can be estimated at around 20 000.
Despite this, we will not find the Balkan Star in the award-winning system. This is simply a curious inconsistency, especially since in 2012 soldiers sought to introduce a commemorative discrimination besides for this group of veterans. 1 can only guess why this effort failed. Well, the biggest problem erstwhile broadcasting the Stars of Iraq and Afghanistan was to scope any of the soldiers who were already in reserve between 2012 and 2013. At that time, the Minister’s appeals were published in the press and online portals. National Defence, the Office of National safety and the Operations Command of the Armed Forces, in which participants of the mission were asked to contact their home military replenishment commands as they did not have current veteran addresses. Since there was a problem with the actual evidence of the participants of the mission, who had left the service just a fewer years earlier, how large could the problem be in the case of veterans from the Balkan Peninsula, e.g. from PKW UNPROFOR from 1992 to 1995. And this seems to be the main reason why it blocks the preparation of the request to the president of the Republic of Poland for the establishment of the Balkan Star by those liable for the award policy in the military. possibly a glove should be taken by typical bodies operating in military units that form individual changes to quotas in the Balkan Peninsula. Isn't it worth taking on this “trouble”?
The establishment of the Polish President's Regulation of the Balkan Star would be a appropriate thanks to the Polish State for the participants of these quotas. I will remind you again: Rzeczpospolita has been sending quotas for over 30 years to execute tasks as part of the Polish contribution to global safety policy in the Balkan Peninsula. On the another hand, the work of military recruitment centres in drawing up the award applications would let for the review and update of data relating to this "qualityly better share of passive reserve resources". Better, due to the fact that erstwhile proven in real action, not just in a cross-country exercise area, in a training centre, or only in military qualifications. But in the military it should be quality, not "art", as the manager of the movie "Kroll" made a mockery of it. And these veterans, at that time young men, present already a small under-dacted gentlemen, full and honestly deserved thanks from the Republic in the form of the Balkan Star, due to the fact that they erstwhile responded with action and service to its call.
So far, they have received thanks from the UN, NATO and the EU in the form of UNPROFOR Medal, the Althea Medal, the NATO Non 5 Article Medal or the CSDP Medal for their service. From Poland, after leaving the plane's trap, they received and received individual thanks in the form of a handshake welcoming their authoritative and "moderate visual praise".
