Time spent overseas is also cumulative, meaning one bar could be earned for two separate deployments totaling six months.

An Overseas Chevron was an inverted chevron patch of golden thread on olive drab backing worn on the lower left sleeve on the standard Army dress uniform, above the service stripes.

Sailors and Marines who served in the European war zone aboard a ship for 6 months (i.e., shipboard service) wore their chevron point-upwards.

If they served ashore, they qualified for the Overseas War Service chevron.

Overseas service chevrons were discontinued by the Navy and Marine Corps after the First World War.

268, authorizing a bar-shaped uniform patch to symbolize overseas service during World War II.

The bar was 1/4 inch wide and 1 3/8 inches long, made of golden lace or bullion on an olive drab background, and golden cloth on a khaki background.

[3] The bar of golden lace or bullion was for wear on the service coat or field jacket, and the bar of golden cloth was for wear on the shirt.

268, 1944, and substituted for paragraph 2 that the background would be made of olive drab felt or "of the same material and color as the garment on which worn" and authorized overseas service bars for wear on the "service coat, winter and summer shirt, field jacket, work clothing, and special suits or jackets."

[7] In 1953, the Overseas Service Bar adopted its current name, and the patch was moved to be worn on the lower right sleeve, instead of the left.

Prior to the recent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, it was rare for an individual to have more than four Overseas Service Bars.

Due to the protracted nature of the recent conflicts with resulting multiple deployments, it is not unusual for senior officers and NCOs to have eight or more Overseas Service Bars.

Regulations permit receiving both awards for the same qualifying period of service.

An overseas service bar is not authorized for a fraction of a 6–month period.

(2) Korea, between 27 June 1950 and 27 July 1954. Credit toward an overseas service bar is authorized for each month of active Federal service as a member of the U.S. Army serving in the designated hostile fire area in Korea between 1 April 1968 and 31 August 1973.

Personnel must qualify for hostile fire pay to receive credit for an overseas service bar.