On July 15, 1997, the Secretary of the Navy, John Dalton, established the Marine Corps Security Guard Ribbon.  These medals of America service awards honor the Marine Corps personnel who have served as U.S. Embassy Security Guards and is retroactive to January 28, 1949.  To earn these US military medals a service member must hold the Marine Corps military occupational specialty (MOS) 8156 (previously 8151) Marine Corps Security Guard qualification and must have served twenty-four months of service at an American Embassy or Consulate. The award is only presented to Marine Security Guards for their service at American Embassies or Consulates in a foreign country.  These Marine Corps ribbons do no have corresponding military medals.

Additional awards of the Marine Corps Security Guard Ribbon are denoted by Service Stars, unless they are for awards presented retroactively.  In that case, the Marine Corps Security Guard Ribbon is a one time only decoration.  These Marine Corps ribbons are worn below the Marine Corps Drill Instructor Ribbons and above the Philippine Defense Medal in the general order of precedence that the Marine Corps has established for all military ribbons and medals.  These military awards are available as ribbons and lapel pins, and are often worn as slide-on military ribbons.  In these more competitive days, however, more and more military service personnel are realizing the value to their career goals of always having their uniform decorations looking their best, and have turned to the slimmer and trimmer thin military medals and mini medals and the ultra thin ribbon racks to provide them with the smartest looking military award displays possible.