Recent awards
I see a couple of recent awards in the news.
Harriet Tubman was named a Brigadier General in the Maryland National Guard this Veteran’s Day for actions during the Civil War.
Tubman escaped slavery herself in 1849 and settled in Philadelphia. Intent on helping others achieve freedom, she established the Underground Railroad network and led other enslaved Black women and men to freedom. She then channeled those experiences as a scout, spy and nurse for the Union Army during the Civil War, helping guide 150 Black soldiers on a gunboat raid in South Carolina.
I am sure her establishing the Underground Railroad would be a bit of a shock to Philadelphia Quakers, who had already set up a network before 1810 – Ms. Tubman was born in 1822.Matter of fact:
The Quakers are considered the first organized group to actively help escaped enslaved people. George Washington complained in 1786 that Quakers had attempted to “liberate” one of his enslaved workers.History.com
But let’s not let facts get in the way of a good narrative. Besides, I suspect a Maryland general probably rates right up there with a Kentucky Colonel, or a Minnesota National Guard Command Sergeant Major.
Moving on to another award:
The Air Force has awarded the Silver Star to a female airman for the first time following her role in the shootdown of more than 80 Iranian drones that were part of Iran’s large missile and drone attack on Israel in mid-April.
Capt. Lacie “Sonic” Hester, an F-15E instructor weapons systems officer, is the first Air Force woman to receive the Silver Star and only the 10th female service member ever to receive the award. Also receiving the Silver Star on Tuesday was her pilot, Maj. Benjamin “Irish” Coffey, for his role in coordinating the shootdowns from their two-seat fighter and then using all of their missiles and their fighter’s Gatling guns to bring down some of the drones.
Tuesday’s award ceremony at Hester’s and Coffey’s home base of Royal Air Force Lakenheath in the United Kingdom honored the men and women of the 494th Fighter Squadron and the 494th Fighter Generation Squadron with two Silver Stars, six Distinguished Flying Crosses with the valor device, four Distinguished Flying Crosses with the combat device, four Distinguished Flying Crosses, two Bronze Stars, seven Air and Space Commendation Medals and seven Air and Space Achievement Medals. ABC News
Thirty-two awards – reminds me a bit of, what was it, a Bosnian raid when more awards were handed out by the Air Force than participated? According to the article:
One of those commanders was Lt. Col. Timothy “Diesel” Causey, the commander of the 494th Fighter Squadron.
“We all fell into an execution rhythm: Call, shoot, and confirm the target was destroyed before we moved on to the next task we had to accomplish to keep everyone safe,” Causey said in a U.S. Air Force story about this week’s ceremony. ABC News
Good for the folks who shot these drones down – it says 300 missiles and drones were fired at Israel and our folks helped knock out a bunch of ’em. Only one thing I see missing, and perhaps one of you Air Force folks can correct me – I see no evidence of enemy fire other than drones and missiles designed to hit the ground. No one actually aiming at, firing at, or engaging our planes. Am I just being a curmudgeon? I really have a hard time getting behind what, our nation’s fourth highest combat award, for a ‘combat’ situation where our guys weren’t being shot at. Help me, please.
My reading of the Silver Star says it can be awarded for actions against the enemy or, when serving with the forces of another nation, actions against their enemies. I don’t see how either applies here unless they were secretly assigned to the IDF.
Was it a heroic act that likely saved many lives? I would say yes. But there are other medals that are more appropriate that fit those parameters.
I also appreciate the record fast speed at which the medals were approved and issued. Almost as though someone wanted to make sure they were already pinned on before someone else was in charge of things, funny that.
It would no longer be a secret if we told you they were.
Forces assigned to CENTCOM are in active combat zones with restrictive engagement criteria. The Air space over Syria does have SAM threats. There may or may not have also been US military personnel on the ground in the target area at the time.
I’m not understanding the valor devices being added. Was there aerial combat, SAMS, etc. what? They shot down undefended drones and missiles not targeting their jets. What does a pilot receive for engaging a MIG and shooting it down. ?
All Silver Stars are for valor, no device is added.
For a shootdown the crew not just the pilot would probably get a DFC.
For the DFC the valor device and the combat device are there to differentiate between non-combat awards and combat awards.
In the AF, Your mission type from the flight orders you launched under will play into this. If the sortie was designated O-1 or O-2 (Combat or Combat Support) and you did something worthy you could receive a DFC with either a V or a C.
Similarly if the mission was an O-4 (Operational Test) you possibly could receive a DFC with a V but not a C.
Aircrew can log a combat mission and combat hours without firing a shot in anger or having a shot taken at them.
Hours and hours of sheer boredom interspersed with moments of sheer terror.
During the 1980s a number of aircraft (of the non-flat belly fighter pilot type) SR-71, U-2, RC-135, E-3 etc. were tasked with and flew Operational Reconnaissance (O-9) sorties. As a result, after flying a requisite number of sorties (20-30) typically, the crews (officer and enlisted) were awarded Air Medals. By the time DESERT SHIELD/STORM there were lots of heavy aircraft types with Air Medals on their uniforms and for the enlisted additional points for promotion under WAPS (3 points each)
To differentiate between fighter Air Medals and non bomber heavies the Air Force created the Aerial Achievement Medal. It was still worth 3 WAPS points but was used for O-2 and O-9 sorties some of the heavies flew a lot of. Often times physical location was enough to differentiate between an O-1 and an O-2 mission. Prior to 2004 if your mission took you into Afghanistan/Iraq airspace it was an O-1 Combat mission.
Hack Stone shot hundreds of incoming missiles in his career, and the recognition that he was given was an extra life.
The cruise missiles sucked.
You gotta be shitting me. Silver Stars and DFC’s for what was basically a live-fire gunnery exercise. Horseshit. There’s some serious seismic activity around my dad’s gravesite right now.
Okay… I’ll take one for the ChairForce team & try to explain these. I know there will be a lot of old school ground pounders & squids who will not agree with these awards.
Fine, it’s America & you’ve got the right plus likely many of us have all been on the receiving end of incoming in the past so you got “street creds” to back it up.
ChairForce pilots (I’m including WSO’s) flying their birds in this were not the direct targets of the majority (I say majority because I don’t have details on what AA or SAMs were also in the area – Syrians, ISIS, Russians, Iraqi’s, Iran’s buddies, etc.) but drones & ballistic missiles do not care what is in their way. You & your bird are just fine to hit as the target in the moment. So you’re flying on instruments (night time, remember) trying to control your bird, manage the airspace, engage targets, de-conflict who is engaging what, keep flying situational awareness (hitting the ground/mountain is not fun at 400knts) & trying to not get hit by the very things you are trying to shoot down.
Having flown an F-16 in an incentive flight (former crew dog) & having done some private flying to try to get my license I learned that situational awareness to fly is not easy. Adding all the above combat factors plus not losing anyone & succeeding in knocking them all down…
Yes, I see these being appropriate.
Go ahead & yell at me for it; I’m good & you got the right too.
Meanwhile cheers to these folks, the ground crews that got them there & the controllers that got them to the intercepts!
I don’t think anyone here is denigrating the fine work any of the pilots or WSO’s did. Silver Star level? No.
Americans have died in combat, face to face with the enemy, and have got less than these people.
Word.
Yes they have.
Didn’t say that was right at all & never will.
Those people from past conflicts often never got any recognizable award close to what they deserved.
WWI, WW2, Korea & Vietnam for damn certain.
Desert Storm, Iraq & Afghanistan – some got underawarded while some GO’s are getting medals for watching the whole thing online at the Air Ops Center.
I’ll stand by these awards – I’m good with it & cheers to you for disagreeing. It’s America & we can do that.
Seems you are hitting it from both ends of the candle.
Was the threat from the enemy immediate and significant? Active SAM shows that actually targeted them. (“Spike Mud”)
I would think “Bronze with V” covers the engagement and the hazards of raining ballustic missiles/junk, getting shot at, etc, and Silver for those who did something like get dinged by the drone they “winchester” with the 20mm. Maybe DFC/v better and SS for something really rad.
Any infantryman with a WW2 CIB was awarded Bronze Star with V. I think those folks were, just a bit, more exposed to hazard than the referenced misdile shootdown engagement, unless they were dodging valid SAMs.
I also want to throw rocks at the geniuses who have so watered down awards we get five/six row generals who haven’t won a war, versus ones who wear one row and won two.
Nope, just a Bronze Star Medal, no V-device. See Change 13 to AR 600-45, Department of the Army, 4 November 1947.
Photo of my grandfather getting his in 1947 at Ft. Buchanan.
1936 mule skinner at Jefferson Barracks; battlefield commission from warrant officer during the Bulge; promoted to captain; downgraded to WO after hostilities; some sort of application to revert back to officer; retired after Korea as captain.
My uncle started as a private in 1940 and was a major by 1945. He wanted to stay in after the war but was riffed. He did get a small pension for his relatively minor wounds sustained at Remagen. During the big one the only thing that held currency for promotion was getting the job done.
During OEF Roberts Ridge/Takhur Ghar, there were some light gray F-15Cs pilots awarded Silver Stars. These air to air fighters came down and strafed Taliban forces to facilitate ground forces breaking contact and getting the hell out of Dodge. Making strafing high speed passes in that terrain where someone might shoot back not a comfortable thing. Especially when you consider the Eagle gun is angled up to aid in pulling lead on an aerial adversary.
I believe an airman on the Tac Air team was recognized during the battle with the MOH for the ultimate sacrifice during the battle. Many brave men paid the price of freedom in full measure that day.
Yes John Chapman (then TSgt promoted posthumously to MSgt. A Navy SEAL was also a recipient during Roberts Ridge, and an AF PJ received the AF Cross. Chapman’s MOH was upgraded from original AFC.
As I noted, great heroic work. I can’t say to what level it rose because I wasn’t there and haven’t seen the award recommendation. But unless we started a war with Iran recently then they weren’t engaging the enemy.
The Vice President was very clear when she said we didn’t have any troops in combat zones for the first time in decades.
On Tubman, she has a lot of bonafides, that are real that they could have mentioned.
First woman to lead a military combat mission in US history (Combahe Ferry). Helped plan the Brown Raid on Harper’s Ferry. Helped with a lot of things really; before, during and after the war. She was a great American even if she was far right wing and very religious.
Hate to tell ya, but there is nothing wrong with being far right wing and very religious. Particularly compared to those who are far leftarded and sacrilegious.
But it means you are an “extremist” Nazi and Hitler, Stalin and Mussolini before there even was a Hitler. She would definitely be labeled a far right extremist today. She even worked with a militia.
The bridge across the Combahee River on US 17 leaving Beaufort County SC is the Harriet Tubman Bridge.
That made me wonder if, among many things to bear her name, are there any actual underground railroads (subways) named for her. None that I can find.
There is a stop on Harriett Tubman Square in Newark, called the Tubman Station.
I spent 24+ years in the Air Force and somewhere over 230 gate months of aviation service in that time. I am the son of aretired Marine Master Gunnery Sergeant who’s only personal award in 26 years on Active Duty was a Navy/Marine Achievement Medal with V Device. I am the great nephew of another retired Marine MSgt who received a Silver Star and Bronze Star during WWII and another Bronze Star in Korea. He collected a pair of Purple Hearts along the way as well.
As far as the total mass of medals awarded the unit in question. It reminds me of 68 DFCs handed out to the entire 388TFW post DESERT STORM basically because they were the first unit to use the LANTIRN pod in combat.
When I read this story earlier, it sounded to me something worthy of the DFC with either the valor or combat device depending on the individual circumstances but not the Silver Star. It appears to me that the squadron put up a 2×4 ships of Strike Eagles and they differentiated between the Mission commander and various others within the package with the medals and devices.
I suspect that the Bronze Stars, Commendations and achievement medals were divided up among the maintainers who armed/launched the jets
The various medals have been so bastardized and watered down as to be obscene. Also disrespectful of those who earned them previously.
Fixing this may screw some deserving folks, granted. But FFS look at what senior officers routinely wear.
Maybe limit to a row of unit, a row of campaign, and a row of personal. Silver and up as a top row. You can wear any you personally value, just fit in those rules. One skill badge, one marksmanship.
Humblebrag is a thing. Let’s bring it back.
But let’s also go back to fucking winning wars, where “win” is the bastards beg us to surrender.
When was the last time we issued a real “victory medal”, eh? Why…
Wow, shooting down DRONES. That should get a zoomie the MoH at least.
If it were an armed Shahed 129 or 131 maybe.
So anyone that ever hit what they were aiming at during armed confrontation should get a SS ?
The stories of the people I knew who received Silver Stars just doesn’t jive with the actions here.
I knew a SS recipient locally who passed a few years ago. He earned it in Vietnam during a raid on a POW camp. Essentially he jumped out of a helicopter onto the roof of a fortified guard tower during the raid and dispatched the guards within. His medal is listed on the SS website provided by Army Times so I tended to believe his story (although the details were a bit shorter on the website, merely saying that he engaged some soldiers in a guard tower during the raid). They were unable to recover any POWs as they had been recently moved.
I also knew a retired Sergeant Major who was a member of the catastrophe, Task Force Baum. He escaped from POW camps twice before he made it back to friendly lines. He was awarded two Silver Stars, one for the TF Baum mission and one for another action later where IIRC, during the battle he put out a fire on a burning half track that was loaded with ammunition while everyone else was hauling ass away while he was being shot at. He of course has also passed.
This is serious stuff, putting oneself at great risk to face and defeat the enemy in combat against long odds. Just not seeing that here based on what we know.
Don’t be letting the facts get in the way of checked boxes, 5Guy. In both these stories.
Cool story.
Also cool you don’t see it for some of these medals, it’s America and we can agree to disagree again safely.
Son Tay, in your first example?
Sure sounds like it….knew a fella whose SF buddies said he was on that raid. Many, many years ago.
Correct. I just looked and there were 85 Silver Stars cited on that mission. Pretty much everyone who went was awarded the SS or the DSC. I worked with the grandson of the man. It was a helluva thing.