Periods of service for the Armed Forces Reserve Medal are denoted through the use of the hourglass device. The length of the period for which the Armed Forces Reserve Medal is awarded is indicated using a bronze hourglass, silver hourglass, gold hourglass, or bronze and gold hourglasses together.Navy Personnel Command, U.S. Navy Uniform Regulations, Chapter 5, 5301–5319 Awards, accessed 3 March 2022Permanent Marine Corps Uniform Board, Chapert 5, Awards , last updated 29 October 2009, accessed 1 April 2012U.S. Army Regulation 600-8-22, Military Awards, dated 11 December 2006, revised 15 September 2011, last accessed 1 April 2012The Institute of Heraldry, Uniformed Services ~ Army > Service Ribbons Accoutrements , accessed 1 April 2012U.S. Air Force Instruction 36-2803, The Air Force Awards and Decorations Program, published 15 June 2001, last accessed 3 May 2012Air Force Personnel Center, Armed Forces Reserve Medal , posted 23 August 2010, last accessed 3 May 2012 The initial presentation of the Armed Forces Reserve Medal is authorized with the bronze hourglass device denoting ten years of reserve service. At twenty years of service, the hourglass is upgraded to silver and at thirty years the hourglass becomes gold. For those who complete forty years of reserve service, a gold and bronze hourglass device are worn simultaneously. This is the only case where hourglasses are worn together; in all other cases the hourglass device is upgraded to the next higher award degree and is worn as a single device.
