Members of the House want to establish a badge honoring airmen who have served as part of combat medical evacuation missions over the past six decades. Language they have included in H.R. 5136, the House’s version of the Fiscal 2011 defense authorization bill, would authorize the Air Force Secretary to issue this badge to airmen who have served as “a pilot or crewmember of a helicopter medical evacuation ambulance” in combat on or after June 25, 1950. The language leaves it up to the SECAF to prescribe the requirements for the badge. The House lawmakers also included language for similar badges for Army, Marine Corps, and Navy combat medevac personnel. The House passed H.R 5136 in May. The Senate has not yet passed its version of the bill, which, coming out of the Senate Armed Services Committee, did not include similar language.
A fresh National Guard squadron of F-16 Fighting Falcon jets is rotating into the Middle East, seven months into the U.S. conflict with Iran. The high operational tempo of fighter units is prompting the Air Force to address concerns about extended deployments in the Middle East and their implications for…
