Tons of extra airmen to obtain navy awards for Kabul evacuation

The Air Pressure 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 biggest batch of awards accepted to date to honor the contributions of particular person airmen within the U.S.-led humanitarian evacuation from Afghanistan in August 2021. Greater than 124,000 Individuals 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 conflict there.

OAR was the biggest noncombatant air evacuation operation in U.S. historical past, in response to the Air Pressure.

Air Mobility Command stated Oct. 21 it would 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 embrace signifiers of remarkable 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 Resulted in September 2021, the discharge stated. Air Pressure officers finally convened to choose 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 Pressure up to now for leaving sure airmen out of group award packages due to factors like their job title.

All informed, greater than 4,500 medals have been accepted for airmen within the mobility enterprise — those that work with cargo or tanker plane — who participated within the operation.

“We should always have completed 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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Complete models can be acknowledged for his or her efforts as effectively. The 621st Contingency Response Group will obtain the celebrated Gallant Unit Quotation for repairing and working airfield operations amid the chaos at Hamid Karzai Worldwide Airport in Kabul.

Over the summer season, Air Pressure 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 — can be awarded the Meritorious Unit Commendation or its equal.

President Joe Biden has additionally directed Protection Secretary Lloyd Austin to evaluate all models that have 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 completed,” Minihan added.