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?
The air medal is for significant accomplishments in military aviation. Those accomplishments can be combat or not, war or peacetime. It is customary in prolonged conflicts and specific theaters to assign a "sortie metric" for the award of the medal.