The Air Power plans to current 350 awards within the coming weeks, together with greater than 100 of the navy’s most prestigious medals, to airmen who served in Operation Allies Refuge.
It’s the most important batch of awards permitted thus far to honor the contributions of particular person airmen within the U.S.-led humanitarian evacuation from Afghanistan in August 2021. Greater than 124,000 People and overseas nationals, together with 76,000 at-risk Afghans, fled because the Taliban returned to energy on the finish of the Pentagon’s almost 20-year battle there.
OAR was the most important noncombatant air evacuation operation in U.S. historical past, in line with the Air Power.
Air Mobility Command stated Oct. 21 it’s going to hand out 96 Distinguished Flying Crosses, awarded for extraordinary motion whereas in flight, and 12 Bronze Stars, provided for heroic non-flight service whereas combating an armed enemy. Many of the medals additionally embody signifiers of outstanding valor or fight achievement.
Command boss Gen. Mike Minihan will current the primary medals at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey, in November.
“This recognition is lengthy overdue for what our heroes did throughout these historic 17 days,” Minihan stated in a press launch.
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Bureaucratic hurdles prevented navy leaders from reviewing sure award nominations after Allies Refuge Led to September 2021, the discharge stated. Air Power officers finally convened to select the awardees one 12 months later.
“We thought of the contributions of crews as groups, and in the long run, there was no disparity in award determinations amongst members of the identical crews,” stated Brig. Gen. Gerald Donohue, deputy director of AMC’s technique and planning department.
Troops have criticized the Air Power up to now for leaving sure airmen out of group award packages due to elements like their job title.
All instructed, greater than 4,500 medals have been permitted for airmen within the mobility enterprise — those that work with cargo or tanker plane — who participated within the operation.
“We must always have executed this final 12 months instantly after the operation, and I acknowledge our airmen’s frustration with the method,” Minihan stated of the delayed honors. “We’re making that proper.”
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Total models might be acknowledged for his or her efforts as properly. The 621st Contingency Response Group will obtain the celebrated Gallant Unit Quotation for repairing and operating airfield operations amid the chaos at Hamid Karzai Worldwide Airport in Kabul.
Over the summer time, Air Power Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, introduced that every one models concerned within the evacuation — each Operation Allies Refuge and Operation Allies Welcome, the following resettlement effort — might be awarded the Meritorious Unit Commendation or its equal.
President Joe Biden has additionally directed Protection Secretary Lloyd Austin to assessment all models that had been current on the Kabul airport from Aug. 15-30, 2021, to find out whose actions have earned them the Presidential Unit Quotation or different award.
“That is about taking good care of our airmen, and there’s nonetheless extra to be executed,” Minihan added.
Rachel Cohen joined Air Power Instances as senior reporter in March 2021. Her work has appeared in Air Power Journal, Inside Protection, Inside Well being Coverage, the Frederick News-Submit (Md.), the Washington Submit, and others.
