Originally Posted by
LivingInMEM
The Air Medal is nothing more than number of sorties across the line, no specific actions or accomplishments are required. Again, if that in itself is dangerous enough to warrant a medal, why not award the same medal to the passengers as well?
By the way, this isn't a UAV medal, it's for all direct support to combat ops. Notionally, I am not opposed to that. For example, assuming the Zero Dark Thirty movie is accurate as a reference, would you say that the actions of that female analyst were both over and above and had a very notable direct impact on combat operations? Did she have a larger impact than the guy who flew office furniture and computers to Bagram 10 times and got an Air Medal for it? My answer is yes and yes; that analyst was irreplaceable while that aircrew member could have been replaced with any other aircrew member. So, the notion of this medal is not far off; of course, execution is everything.
Well, to take your example to a more plausible situation (she was in the CIA and I don't think the USAF goes around seeking out CIA analysts to award their medals to). But say she was working intel in the USAF. And let's further assume she was not in a combat area where the CIA agent was. Let's just say she was in the U.S. the entire time and not in harm's way and did an incredible, outstanding job--one that stood out, and would be hard to replicate by her peers. I'd say she was a good candidate for the Legion of Merit--but more if she were actually in harm's way.