Major Melissa Marshall was awarded the General Campaign Star medal, presented on Jan. 17, for her gender advisory role during a 2024 deployment to Iraq. (Photo: K-J Millar/Shilo Stag News)

K-J Millar
Shilo Stag Media

Major Melissa Marshall, chief of staff at CFB Shilo, received the General Campaign Star in an award presentation on Jan. 17 after returning home from a months-long deployment to Iraq.

In the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF), the “General Campaign Star” (GCS) is a military award given to members who participate in operations within a defined theatre of war, essentially recognizing service in the presence of an armed enemy during a specific campaign or deployment. The GCS can be awarded to both CAF members and allied personnel serving alongside them.

Marshall served as the gender advisor to the UK Commanding General under NATO’s OPERATION Impact in Baghdad for four months in 2024, she told Shilo Stag News.

“I feel an immense amount of pride in being able to deploy. Part of my primary duties were in an advisory capacity to females in the Iraqi Armed Forces.”

“It is incredibly rewarding to help develop and mentor Canadian soldiers but also soldiers on an international front.”

“I just hope that what we did, in terms of an educational and a knowledge perspective, will help to further develop their training capacities for the future,” Marshall said.

Lieutenant-Colonel Chelsea Braybrook, who was the deputy commander for OPERATION Impact was at the award presentation and said she met Major Marshall the first day she landed in Iraq.

“A lot of the advisor roles are not very well understood, and they’re really important because there is a specific advisory function – medical, legal, gender, engineers. They form part of the General’s key staff, keeping them informed and allowing for the right decisions to be made for the mission moving forward both on the plans and operations sides,” LCol Braybrook explained at the presentation.

LCol Braybrook said while not everyone may have heard about or know a lot about how the overseas mission has evolved, the NATO team that Marshall was part of is doing “great work.”

“They are setting the conditions for future stability and success in Iraq.”

“I know personally [Major Marshall] is a big part of that team. Having seen Melissa’s work, I want to personally thank her for her dedication and hard work and recognize her contribution. So, congratulations.”

Lieutenant-Colonel David Cronk, CFB Shilo Base Commander, presents Major Melissa Marshall, CFB Shilo Chief of Staff, with the General Campaign Star medal on Jan. 17 for her participation in OPERATION Impact in Iraq during 2024.  (Photo: K-J Millar/Shilo Stag)