Why AF decorations are worthless

[Toro]

I just read this article in the Air Force times by two SSgts at Kirkuk. It further proves the Air Force demeans medals by giving a commendation medal to some A1C who helps clean up after a holiday party while guys who are putting their lives on the line can't get valid recognition.

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Integrity and awards

In mid-November, an Army re-supply convoy was attacked by the enemy using an improvised explosive device. A second IED, spotted 50 feet ahead of them, left the remaining vehicles trapped in the “kill zone.” An Air Force explosive ordnance disposal team responded to clear the IED in order for a vehicle to be recovered and to allow the convoy mission to continue.

AF EOD has been deployed in support of Army operations for more than two years. We respond to IEDs, weapons caches, unexploded ordnance and raids conducted by Army personnel. Most of these missions are “outside the wire.” EOD is also forward-deployed to many bases for up to six-month rotations. At these forward operating bases, our mission is identical to our main base mission, except most of the time we are the only Air Force personnel on the FOB.

We have reached the point in our deployment where we are faced with submitting decorations and letters of evaluation for our service. The flight we are assigned to does not put personnel in for Air Force medals because of the unwritten “10 percent rule,” which says that only one-tenth of your flight, squadron, group and wing will receive formal recognition through the Air Force awards and decorations program. Of that 10 percent, your senior officer and enlisted leadership are basically guaranteed to receive awards due to the level of responsibility.

How can you decide which tenth of your people have risked their lives more, when nearly all have been on missions every day of their deployment? If you make the cut and are submitted for an Air Force decoration, then you are typically competing for an achievement medal with the rest of your deployed squadron. These packages will probably get kicked back, because those in our job have not been afforded time to volunteer for additional duties. The medals awarded in today’s Air Force have lost significance and value because they are awarded based on statistical averages and not individual merit. It seems that actual achievement is an irrelevant factor in the formal recognition of our airmen.

I hope that upon returning to home station, we will be on stage along with other airmen to receive our medals during commander’s call. In the end, we will know that we risked our lives daily for six months and the Army is the only service that officially recognizes the risk and value of our contribution.

Many will say that you can submit all of your people for medals if you think they deserve it. Those who have actually deployed know how it works in the real world. Where is the integrity in our recognition system?

Staff Sgt. Clifford D. Weida Jr.

Staff Sgt. Jason A. Brown

Kirkuk Air Base, Iraq

[Eeyore]

Toro,

Yes, total stool for the young men who served in Iraq to not get an award. AF awards are based on rank and location and not necessarily merit. I can only surmise that a 1 day pass was seemed as not PC for the Airman who cleaned up after holiday event. Reminds me of a 1st Lt receiving oakleaf cluster to Joint Achievemet Award for handling baggage for a NATO conference here in CSprings. Did the officer in change of hoiday cleanup get an MSM or LOM? We lack LEADERSHIP willing to lead and set the example.

[Hacker]

I'm curious as to where this 10% rule came from -- never heard of that one. In my OIF experience, I thought that medals were given out TOO much...but they did go to those people who had contributed the most to the combat mission of the squadron.

If people were really concerned about the USAF's awards system, they'd look at the citations for DFCs and Silver Stars given out over the last 5 years. If you compared them with the citations for thsoe awards given during previous wars, I think they'd find that they are being given out today way too easily.

I have a pretty significant medal in my records...and I'm often embarassed to admit that when I think about what pilots in WWII and Vietnam did to have been awarded that same medal.

Reminds me of a certain recently-promoted-to-O-6 that Toro, Hoser, and I all know who complained about the same thing in the pre-9/11 Air Force, too (in this case, Operation Allied Force).

Then some of my close fighter brethren relayed to me the medal frenzy - it went something like this: If you supported the operation from Missouri, England or Aviano and you're a LtCol - you get a Bronze Star.

If you saw a Surface to Air missile in flight - you apply for a DFC. If you threat reacted - you're a shoe-in. Each wing gets a Silver Star to distribute - What, a f*cking lottery for a Silver Star? My buds told me it became fighter wing versus fighter wing versus bomber wing to see which wing commander could win the most Kosovo Olympic Gold. You either jumped on the team bandwagon or you were considered against it.

It further inbred worse since it was primarily an Air Force show - therefore our LtCols with their Bronze Stars could outperform the other services when competing for those hallowed joint jobs - You Gotta Be Shitting Me! The service with the motto "Integrity in all we do" is mortaging its dignity to promote its manufactured self image.

Sorry this litany is so long - I'd love to see an article comparing all the sorties of WWII - pilot KIA in WWII - to the DFC ratio of WWII and then compared to the Kosovo debacle.

As a closing note, there is an Army Ranger in my ACSC class who lost his kneecap and another chunk of his leg in Somalia - I don't know what decorations he received along with his Purple Heart from that event, but I am embarrassed to look him in the eye as we pass in the hallway thinking of the medal charade we paraded out of our last demonstration of impotence and the real sacrifice he and his brothers made on the ground.

[Cooter]

I just love these conversatons, because they're 100% true. ChuckflyC17's and I got in a discussion with some of our British counterparts and I felt pretty ridiculous at the amount of medals that everyone gets that really mean anything. I've been flying the line for a year and a half now and damn it if I'm not already starting to look like a South American dictator! You've got your GWOT-E/S now the Iraqi and Afghani campaign medals pretty soon there will be the "I knew someone deployed" medal I'm sure. I'm all about getting recognition for your service becasue so few people get what they deserve but getting medasl for the sake of getting them is BS. I've got two ribbons that I've felt I've earned and one is my expert marksmanship one. And that's only becasue I like to shoot. Even my Air Medals seem dumbed down. I know what I do is important but is it important enough. I'm sure lots of folks have asked themselves this question but I think it's just part of human nature, or the flyers nature. I work with Awds and Decs and OPR's (Don't even get me started on those) when I'm home so I see lots of this stuff. The worst is when I see fellow flyers get wrapped around the axle and start counting eachothers ribbons and medals and such. Well to each his own I guess.

Cooter

[WHAP]

I was a stud in pilot training at moody when they walked in and told us we were awarded the GWOT ribbon becuase we were in AETC. I thought that was ridiculous. My contribution to the war was watching CNN and hoping all the boys over there would be okay.

[war007afa]

They actually give that thing out during Basic now...as well as the NDSM.

[BFM this]

Originally posted by war007afa:

They actually give that thing out during Basic now...as well as the NDSM.

We called that the "firewatch ribbon" in boot camp (they still had the switch "on" at the time for DS) because that's all you had done to deserve it.

[Mambo]

Of all the medals/ribbons that I've collected over the years, I have only two that actually mean something to me. And they aren't even worth any points for testing....The 2 Kuwait Liberation Medals

(1 from the Emirate of Kuwait and the other from Saudi).

Much like the EPR system, the recognition program is in need of an overhaul!

[ 29. December 2005, 18:55: Message edited by: Mambo ]

[Guest gtyj98]

Sign of the times...my dad received a bronze star in Vietnam for schwacking VC during an assault at Ben Hoa AB while generating F-100 sorties. He never talks about it. I found his citation in a drawer.

Once when I was young I asked him if he ever killed anyone during the war. He just said, "Son, I had to do what needed to be done in order to stay alive sometimes." And that's the last we ever talked about it.

[Hacker]

Remember, with both the Bronze Star and the DFC it can be awarded for *either* 'heroism' or 'merit'.

Most people think of the former when they see the medal on someone's rack, but that's not always the case.

There were plenty of BSMs given out in Vietnam, too.

[Hacker]

Originally posted by BFM this:

We called that the "firewatch ribbon" in boot camp (they still had the switch "on" at the time for DS) because that's all you had done to deserve it.

The more that things change, the more they stay the same...

When my dad was in the AF 40 years ago, they called the NDS the 'barracks guard ribbon' for the exact same reason.

[HercDude]

I stumbled accross this article a few weeks ago after debating this very topic with a friend:

Too Many Medals

The main point I got out of it was that the USAF has handed out 69,000 medals for OEF, OIF, and ONE. The USMC has handed out 1,000.

This was 2 years ago.

That ought to tell you a lot.

[BFM this]

Great article, HDude. After reading that, I find a little pride for the decs that I was put in for that were not approved.

[Wing Sweep]

Agreed 100% on all accounts. There are many unnecessary and/or redundant medals. For example... (and this is only off the top of my head. I'm sure there's more.)

1. Air Force Expeditionary Medal and also an Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal? Seems redundant. Someone obviously wanted more flair. Get rid of one or the other.

2. A freaking bootcamp medal? Please! I've got a stinkin' cluster on my boot camp medal now. Sheesh!! Oh yeah, real proud of that one!

3. A boot camp honor grad medal (or whatever they call it)? Please! Boot camp has no relevancy to the rest of our careers other than telling stories at the bar about your T.I. or telling your kids/friends how you got yelled at because your underwear was not a perfect square, etc...

4. Good conduct and AF Good conduct medals. Why two? Redundant. Every 3 years of no article 15s they give you an AFGCM (on the E side). Come on! Why two medals? Still haven't figured that one out yet. Why even give an AFGCM out? Aren't we dedicated to our core values which by default make us act in good conduct? We need to practice what we preach and quit patting our own backs for stuff we should be doing already.

5. Longevity medal. I thought this was an all volunteer force?! I don't need a ribbon to tell me I've been in for so long. Other service branches use the stripes on their sleeves to show longevity, but I really don't see the need for the additional flair. The way I see it, people will know your longevity in service based on maturity level, gray hair, rank, and other ribbons your wearing.

6. Combat Readiness Medal (my all time favorite). Why the F*%k are we getting medals for being combat ready. Isn't that our freaking job!? Oh wait, no. Our job is to give sovereign options to fight in cyberspace. Well sh!t! No wonder they gave me a CRM!

I knew the whole "medals" thing was a joke when I was a SrA with 14 ribbons. Heck, by the time I went through OTS, the only person with more flair than myself was BG Carpenter. I wasn't counting or anything, but it was pretty obvious because they started calling me "the Mexican General."

I feel like I've earned most of my medals, but a few are just a joke. CH and you guys who may have a say in this much sooner than myself, please get rid of a few of these medals. I've always brought this up in the annual AF climate surveys. Thanks CH for bringing up a great subject. Redundancy in medals pains me as much as redundancy in pubs. BTW, are they getting any closer to making the 3-3 replace the Vol.3? I'm not sure about other commands, but there was a lot of talk about it in Hurlburt before I left.

[Wing Sweep]

Oh wait. Just remembered some more retarded medals given out.

1. DFCs to the C-17 guys who airdropped the Army in Iraq (off DZ).

2. DFCs to the Bone crew who "almost" got Saddam.

3. UAV pilots. Someone please tell me they're not getting air medals. Aerial achievement maybe, but certainly not an air medal.

4. I know of countless stories where the pilots got the big medals and the rest of the crew got a lesser medal. It really depends on the mission and complexities that arise, but this situation isn't always fair for all crew members. I guess the AF really is a pilot's world, but it shouldn't be taken advantage of at the expense of others not getting medals they deserve.

BTW, this is my opinion. Please don't go throwing bricks at me. If you disagree, fine.

I guess we win some and lose some.

[ 30. December 2005, 12:47: Message edited by: gabe2surf ]

[Hacker]

Originally posted by gabe2surf:

2. DFCs to the Bone crew who "almost" got Saddam.

I hear 2ndhand from guys who were here at Moody before me that when one of those guys was given his DFC, the Group CC instructed the people in the audience 'not to laugh' when the citation was ready saying that they'd killed Saddam.

[HuggyU2]

I guess there is a reason that my Wings sit ABOVE my ribbons.

[HerkDerka]

Gabe-

The UAVs are not authorized AMs.

And Amen on number 1 of your second post.

HD

[Guest pavesooner]

Did I read that correct....surface to air missle

= DFC

Hell I should have 4 DFCs by now with that logic.....

Defensive = Silver star....well drop 3 of those and I should have 3 silver stars and 1 DFC....

I have none....its part of the job....War is hell...

Being shot at shouldnt equal a medal....

and yes all 4 engagements are in the misreps

Ridiculas

Even better...imagine this:

A 135 boom operator that refueled the MC-130 that refueld me got a DFC/or AM for the support he gave us for the mission we executed...

[ 08. January 2006, 10:20: Message edited by: OspreySooner ]

[Wing Sweep]

I guess here's the USAF medal great giveaway catalog:

SAM + defensive = Silver star

SAM = DFC

Bomb on target = DFC

PI Drop = DFC

Drop bomb = AM

Off DZ drop = AM

AAA = AAM

RPG = AAM

New medals to the catalog are always welcome! Remember it's not what you do, but how well written the citation is.

Definitely need to revamp the awards system, otherwise we'll be hearing jokes like this and all the previous posted one's for years to come.

[Hacker]

Originally posted by OspreySooner:

Did I read that correct....surface to air missle = DFC

Naaah, you're about 5 years too late to qualify for that. The letter quoted above was written following ALLIED FORCE in 1999. Based on my experiences in Shock-N-Awwww '03, that criteria was no longer in use.

[Guest Grouch]

Defensive doesn't get you shit in the Herk world, even the crew that took a rocket through the engine and safely landed didn't get a DFC.

So missile + defensive = DFC (only applicable if new MWS)

Also if new off DZ drops = medals

[Toro]

Here you go - a whole new set of ribbons

[Wing Sweep]

Excellent. More to add to the collection! Yes!

BTW, what the heck happened to the ACM and ICM replacing the GWOT-E medal?

[HerkDerka]

I'm totally with you Osprey.

Defensive should not equal a DFC except for one rare instance I know of. It's also retarded when newer MWS's seem to get them like candy since they're not used to getting shots. It's part of the damn job.

HD