Coast guardsmen, Navy sailors, and Marines active in clandestine, stealth or special operations are deemed eligible for consideration of the award.

[3] The ribbon is awarded to members of the Navy and Marine Corps with a rank no higher than captain and colonel, respectively.

Coast guardsmen in Vietnam riverine warfare operations were deemed eligible for award of the Navy Combat Action Ribbon.

The service member must have demonstrated satisfactory performance under enemy fire while actively participating in a ground or surface engagement.

[5][6] The Combat Action Ribbon is a ribbon-only decoration in contrast to military branches that award a badge or medal.

The CAR is the highest rated ribbon-only award in the U.S. military decorations order of precedence and is superseded only by medals of meritorious achievement and combat valor.

Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard veterans are advised to submit requests about eligibility or other matters to their respective branches to inquire about the Combat Action Ribbon or other awards of this nature.

[9] After the destroyer USS Cole was attacked by suicide bombers in 2000, the entire crew of the ship was awarded the Combat Action Ribbon a year later.

[10] In January 2013, the awarding criteria were expanded to include dangerous exposure to IEDs, mines, and scatterable munitions, be it the detonation of such or direct action taken to disable, render safe, or destroy such; servicemembers may be deemed eligible if the IEDs are detonated or specifically emplaced by the enemy.

[9] Blanket lists of units and operations whose members or participants are deemed to be "in-combat", and thus potentially eligible, can be found in OPNAVNOTE 1650 (for specific units and ships) and in chapter 2, appendix E, of recent SECNAVINSTs (for specific operations and ships) though, "Neither service in a combat area nor being awarded the Purple Heart Medal automatically makes a service member eligible", and specific sailors and marines may receive the ribbon in recognition of individual actions or various minor operations.

[13] In October 1999, World War II and Korean War veterans became retroactively eligible for the Navy Combat Action Ribbon by Public Law 106-65 on 5 October 1999, which permitted the Secretary of the Navy (SECNAV) to award the Combat Action Ribbon to a member of the Navy or Marine Corps for participation in ground or surface combat during any period on or after 7 December 1941, and before 1 March 1961, if the Secretary determines that the member has not been previously recognized in an appropriate manner for such participation.

14, 1946 (World War II), and June 25, 1950 – July 27, 1954 (Korean War)[15] In 2009, the U.S. Coast Guard began awarding a Coast Guard Combat Action Ribbon (CGCAR), that is stylized similarly in design to the Navy Combat Action Ribbon.

The U.S. Coast Guard Combat Action Ribbon (CGCAR) was established by the approval of the Secretary of Homeland Security on 16 July 2008, in ALCOAST 361/08.

Notable Recipients: DC3 Nathan Bruckenthal, CWO Joseph Ruggiero, CAPT Holly Harrison, LT Michael Brooks, IS1 Daniel Duffin