Service members who otherwise would have qualified for the Kosovo Campaign Medal instead would receive the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal as of Jan. 1, the Pentagon announced Sept. 19. The change reflects the decrease of the U.S. military mission in support of Operation Joint Guardian, the NATO-led operation that began in 1999. Troops who serve on land and in airspace in Vojvodina, Montenegro, Albania, and Macedonia, and on Navy vessels in the Adriatic Sea, would qualify for the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal under the same criteria as they would the Kosovo Campaign Medal.