Early on, along with several thousand of my airborne battle buddies, I did a few Forced Entries that everyone agreed were Combat Deployments. Between those had a couple of trips of an "Expeditionary" nature.
Later, as I was about to retire was informed that my most recent "visits" were not "Kinetic in Action" - - - I was a Former Participant in current & ongoing Overseas Contingency Operations.
Not Kinetic in Action? Reckon I was carrying all that 5.56 for nothing!