FOREWORD: I am a Retired 23 yr AF Vet with time in OEF and OIF. So I am not being a hater, BUT...

What a SLAP in the face by the US Chair Force. Flying the Delta ESK at 1G is very dangerous! Guess the AFSOC ros need to cross train to get decorated.

Nothing can stop the US Chair Force!!

Bronze star does seem a bit much. Doesn't the AF have a commendation that would have been a bit more appropriate?

The Bronze Star is not just a medal for valor - it may also be awarded for meritorious service. I've never understood what was wrong with a plain old Meritorious Service Medal, or even the Joint Meritorious Service Medal. But the Bronze Star was frequently awarded for meritorious service in SEA as well. I knew several Munitions Maintenance, Comm, and A/C Maintenance officers who received them. Most were embarassed by it.

The MSM is harder to get approved (in garrison) than the BSM (deployed). They are equal awards, so I never understood the disconnect. The DMSM is only for positions coded for joint duty.

Probably a bit much for a comptroller NCO, since there are plenty of LTs and senior NCOs bearing more responsibility for the war effort who received less.

Just to play devils advocate I'll suggest she might have responsible for cash drops at a lot of the smaller fobs. Meaning that she and her team spent a lot of time in convoys escorting large sums of cash while in country.
I do agree this seems more a MSM type duty. The rules seemed to be that if the majority of your job was inside the wire MSM if the majority was outside the wire BSM.

quote:

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The DMSM is only for positions coded for joint duty.

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Yes, I know that, but I don't know how her position is coded. I'm surprised to hear that the MSM is harder to get approved.... but then what do I know, I've been retired for 20 years.

This is not uncommon. Now if it was a BSM with "V" device, that would be another story...

And the MSM is harder to get approval for. Not sure why, except it's generally considered a FGO/SNCO award.

Bronze Stars are given out to staff positions at The Deid as well. AF leadership many times has not allowed MSMs to be awarded and a Bronze Star w/o "V" is many times used in it's place.

IMHO this devalues the medal as well as the CoC that awarded the medal.

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"Guns don't kill people, I kill people."

I'm an 8 year Air Force, Vietnam veteran and I am proud of my branch of service but awarding the Bronze Star to a clerk is a little hard to understand.

She gets a Bronze Star for doing her job? Come on.
This is embarrassing.

Poster child for medal inflation.

It seems that the AF has started using the BSM in lieu of the AFCOM, a much more appropriate award in a siuation like this.
Started back when they awarded the BSM's to folks who were servicing the B2's in the states and never set foot in the Middle East. I guess they need to award more BSM's for such mediocre accomplishments like this so they don't have egg on their face from those instances of over-awarding folks.
Of course, most of the folks who deploy to the ME seem to be getting a BSM as part of their ditty bag upon redeployment home. I understand that they are under hardships but, hey, it doesn't necessarily warrant a BSM - after all, they're getting Area Service Medals to show they were there (and that's what those are for). Achievement and Commendation Medals are suitable for most everything that these BSM's are give for. What I guess I am saying is that reasoning such as this cheapens the meaning of the BSM. It is getting to where if you don't have one in your resume, you won't get promoted since "everyone got one"!

The BSM is equivalent to an MSM when deployed. It is a common practice in some units to award platoon sergeants and above with BSMs as end of tour awards.

"common practice in some units" - SOME. I know one BDE that it's not the case. It was certainly not the case in my last division.

I got submitted for a BS in The DEID when I was the flight det CDR during the onset of OIF. It was downgraded appropriately by the ARMY LTC who oversaw us. You usually only hear about those who get awards they shouldn't, but you never hear about those who got downgraded.

As I round out another tour, I assure you my CDRs, PSGs and primary staff were not shoe-ins for BSs.


[This message has been edited by Fly Army 97 (edited 3/30/2012 10:29p).]

That's why I said some units... But the BSM is equivalent to an MSM when deployed. MSMs aren't authorized for deployments... Hence why some units choose to go the BSM route.

MSMs are indeed authorized in combat zones. As are AAMs.

MSM's are authorized for combat deployments, specifically for staff type jobs where you don't go into harms way.

As Fly said end of tour awards are far from guaranteed. Shortly after arriving in country the 173'rd BC published his awards guidance. Simply deploying to Afghanistan did your job and went home did not mean you got an award. Lots of awards got downgraded to ARCOM's through that chain of command that year.

Sorry... I misspoke. MSM's are allowed in theater for non-combat. I apologize for that. So based on that, the Ssgt in the article probably should have recieved an MSM or lower.

BUT WAIT...

THERE'S MORE!

http://www.dyess.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123296425

Wait, she balanced the books for the whole special forces command in Afghanistan?

Hold the boat, she deserves at least an Air Force Service Cross if not the Distinguished Service Cross. That had to include a lot of creative math and fictional book keeping.

Nice.

The awards system is a joke but deployment awards are the biggest sham of them all. Almost everyone gets an award for a deployment, not for doing something above and beyond their reponsibilities, just for showing up and not screwing it up. That being the case everyone should just get the same award with one impact bullet. Rank is immaterial at this point since everyone gets an award and service members are compensated accordingly for the responsibilities inherent with their rank. The politics and drug deals that go down over end of tour awards is truly disgusting.

Sad. You won"t see that in the Marine Corps, at least not when I was there.

It happens in the Marine Corps, not to this extent...but it's everywhere.

I've been in the AF for 19 years and have never seen the medal inflation so bad. They give bronze stars away like candy these days.