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Combat Time . . . .
- Thread starter robav8r
- Start date
Austin-Powers
Powers By Name, Powers By Reputation
That isn't new and isn't even close to what the Army help guys were able to rack up in Vietnam, Chuck Yeager even mentioned it in his bio.
No, it's not new since 2001. It's just funny that it's basically the opposite of what Cat is describing from the Vietnam era, i.e. land-based aircraft having long treks, and carrier people logging 1.0-2.0.
If we were getting shot at regularly, and facing the same dangers that were faced then, I bet we would still use number of missions flown. Flying combat sorties for me wasn't much more dangerous than training at home.
Back when I was an admin officer processing S/F Air Medals there was a point system:
2 points for a strike (ordnance delivery opposed)
1 point for a flight (ordnance delivery unopposed)
0.4 points for a mission (CAP, recon, patrol unless opposition than credited as either strike or flight)
2 points per 25 hours
You could not use hours if the sortie was credited as a mission.
Any combination of 20 points equaled a S/F Air Medal.
2 points for a strike (ordnance delivery opposed)
1 point for a flight (ordnance delivery unopposed)
0.4 points for a mission (CAP, recon, patrol unless opposition than credited as either strike or flight)
2 points per 25 hours
You could not use hours if the sortie was credited as a mission.
Any combination of 20 points equaled a S/F Air Medal.
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S/F varies a bit over time....at the end of OEF, one mission was some fraction of a point for doing nothing, to IIRC a point or two if you employed (uncommon). Beginning of OIR was one point/flight, 2 for employment. The bigger disconnect between FWD deployed and CVN is in the campaign medal criteria. Pretty easy for every admin dork in the AF to get one just by spending a month there, where the CVW folks need to spend something like 30 consecutive days in country, or 60 total or something like that. Or you can employ and qualify. In a non-shooting war like OEF, a full deployment in a VFA squadron often did not qualify one to wear the service medal.
For the USAF fighter community (at least as of the last time I deployed in 2011), an O1 sortie is 1 point. A combat support mission is 0.5.
20 points is an Air Medal submission. 10 points for an Aerial Achievement Medal.
Is that like a Captain introducing himself as a below zone Major?
Heck if I know!
But look...is that Ric Flair [Nature Boy!] on the right in the pic below wearing two big ass Omega Speedmaster Pro Moonwatches at Dunkin' Donuts?
LFCFan
*Insert nerd wings here*
Still a thing on OIR, minus the "VFA not dropping" part. I felt bad for the VAQ guys who were doing good work and got the same medal as I did for briefing them in CVIC / the same medal as CSSN Schmuckatelli for burning their grilled cheese at midrats.
Pretty sure the math is still the same, since when I flew out of Djibouti we were counting hours because our flight profiles made it faster to get to 20 points than by mission. 3 months I got to 14 points.
It's been 5 yrs since my OEF deployment during my USAF exchange, but I don't think the scoring has changed. Every sortie there had its own mission # and counted as 1 pt except for FCF. There were some days where a patient transfer would turn into two or three, and a full day could yield as many as 4-5 S/F points. (Not like any of these medals mean anything for officers anyway except having to pay more to get your medals mounted)
As for the Aerial Achievement Medal, it sounds like a joke to us Navy folks, but a few of the flight engineers and gunners I knew actually tried to get them vs S/F Air Medals to help for advancement. I guess only the first few of each medal counts for advancement points, and the rest get ignored by the calculation. In a world where dudes are getting Bronze Stars for just being there and not necessarily ever leaving the base/FOB, every point can add up and make them more competitive for advancement. And for what it's worth, the Aerial Achievement Medal still sits higher on the ribbon rack than a Comm…
If you are talking campaign medals, don't think you (assuming Intel) or CSSN rate one, unless there is some caveat for intel support for a strike that goes kinetic. I could be wrong, and I did OIR before it was called that so we had no real Stan (or even a campaign name) if you will, but in OEF you wouldn't have based afloat. I know various CAGs over time have broad brush awarded people campaign medals, but the fine print doesn't support that.
RadicalDude
Social Justice Warlord
If you don't drop you shouldn't rate a S/F medal. Fuck this trophy/snowflake bs. Unless you're dropping bombs you should just be happy to be there.