Thanks, dude(ette?). I totally agree, and echo Thrust's sentiments. The military has morphed into a much different animal.

Scoff! I have to wave the BS flag on that statement. No one has 2200 "combat" hours. Not even Strike Eagle dudes. You mentioned "true copilot" ...what aircraft?

There are lots of folks with 2200 "combat" hours (OIF/OEF). They fly KC-10s and KC-135s.

Here we go...

Holy crap, did your awards & decs guys just automatically put people in for a medal at the 20 sortie point?

Ya, he's just used to a community that no one has more than 100 or so, combat hours.

That would've been nice. I had to do all the medals for myself and my crew. Hence, the reason I have NO air medals, I wasn't going to submit my own medal, 'course I wouldn't have but 10-11 air medals, especially since they started making them 20 sorties.

No BS, my friends. That is (was) the ops tempo from 2002 for AMC pilots. Unfortunately, those stats are all I have to show for being used and abused in the sand box. Some of us received a "long tour award" even while stationed conus. I know c130,c5, u2 (huggyrazor) bubbas spent a lot of time on the road, so hats off to all. I never want to go back.

Isn't that combat support? Now the tanker pilots that crossed the line in Desert Storm to give gas to fighters that were too low on fuel, that would be combat time, IMO. I feel dirty only having 6 Air Medals. At least one was single mission...should have been a DFC!

No, it's combat time. Let me rephrase, it's logged as combat time.

We didn't log combat support (though from some reason I have about 7 hours of it).

Anytime you cross the combat zone as defined by the COMAFFOR, log combat time. If you refueled combat aircraft outside the combat zone, log combat support. If you refueled combat aircraft inside the combat zone, log combat time. But seriously, who gives a crap? If Delta, Southwest, Cathay, or Qantas, or Fedex cared, I would, but they don't. So who cares? And if you do, you are a tool.

I don't make the rules, just repeating them. AFI 11-401 3.3.6.

Lots of tanker dudes have hundreds and even a thousand or more of combat time since 2001. Even more embarrassing, some of us have "V" devices for our time spent in the combat zone. I have two and I didn't put in for it. They were awarded to me and showed up on my rack in MPF. Ridiculous, yes. Personally I think it is a slap to the face for our troops on the ground in combat arms. Worse, I know a crew who transited an area of friendly fire (unbeknownst to them) and they put in medals for being shot at despite me and the DO showing the CC exactly on the map where they were, and the ATO about the friendly fire exercises. They wrongly transited a restricted area and AWACs let them do it and thus they were surprised by the tracers flying past them. STILL, they were awarded medals. Don't get me started on this crap .. my blood pressure is high enough as it is and there's so much BS about this type of stuff it isn't funny.