Air Medal awarded to USMC sgt in Vietnam -question

[PoorFarm]

A friend of mine recently lost his father in law, a marine corp sgt who serve in Vietnam as a door gunner and mechanic in an air evac unit. The local marine corps recruiter helped him put his father in law's ribbons in proper order for display at the funeral. These medals include one purple heart and seven air medals. What qualified an individual for an air medal in Vietnam? Was the air medal award to the USMC enlisted man in Viet Nam instead of the DFC. Thanks a bunch.

[Retired Army Noncom]

The AM was awarded to anyone on flight status that performed flight duty in direct support of a combat military operation and indirect combat support with a total of 300 hours.

[Allan H.]

A couple of clarifying points- award of any decoration is based on a recommendation for the award for service, merit or valor. No decoration is automatic. Various commands may have establshed criteria for award of a decoration to include number of hours flown, number of patrols participated in, etc. but there is not blanket eligibility for the award of any decoration.

 

In Vietnam. the army and the navy had very different criteria established for various awards. As an example, the US Army issued "Army Commendation Medals" in huge numbers, while the Navy and Marien Corps issued significantly fewer Navy Commendation Medals (whether comparing raw numbers or percentages of service members in theater that received a Commendation Medal). It is still that way today.

 

Even among different commands in Vietnam, the criteria for award of Air Medals and other decorations were widely different. In 1966, a soldier in the 173rd Airborne Brigade had to participate in 50 Air Assaults to qualify for an Air Medal. In several Aviation units, the number was FIVE. Hugh Mills, the famed pilot of Miss Clawd II received some 73 Air Medals. With over 3,300 hours of combat flight time, this averages out to one Air Medal for about every 42 hours. Awards of the Air Medal could be awarded for both acts of valor and for hours of combat flight.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Allan

[Retired Army Noncom]

US Army Air Medal [Army] (1947–1968)

The United States Army used the same criteria as the Air Force. Oak Leaf Clusters were awarded on the Air Medal's ribbon for additional awards – Bronze OLCs for every additional award and Silver OLCs for every 5 additional awards. Extra ribbons were worn to hold extra OLCs if the recipient had earned more than 4 OLCs.

One award was credited per every 25 hours of combat assault flights (any flight in which the aircraft was directly involved in combat), 50 hours of combat support flights (Visual Reconnaissance or Resupply), or 100 hours of non-combat service flights (Administrative or VIP flights). Flight hours were calculated in 6-minute blocks.

In 1968 numerals replaced the Oak Leaf Clusters to simplify their display.

Air Medal [Army] (1968–2006)

During the Vietnam War, the US Army awarded the Air Medal to Warrant Officer or Commissioned pilots and enlisted aircrew for actual flight time (awards were also made to infantry troops who flew on combat assault missions). This became a bureaucratic nightmare to correctly log because of the short flight time of typical helicopter flights. Later, an equivalent "flight hours" conversion was created and an award standard was set by individual commands. This eventually was standardized in theater to one award per every 24 "flight hours" logged. A simplified set time was awarded depending on the type of mission, regardless of the actual flight time. Administrative or VIP flights counted for 1/4 hour, regular duties (such as Visual Reconnaissance or Resupply) counted for 1/2 hour, and hazardous duties (combat assaults or extractions) counted for 1 hour. Pilots and aircrew could log over 1,000 "flight hours" a year and earn a 40 or higher numeral on their Air Medal ribbon.

The "score card" system was retained after the war. This was changed on December 11, 2006 to an award for every six months of meritorious service instead of the number of flight hours.

 

The AM for service was awarded the same as the GCM after a certain criteria was/is met.

[Allan H.]

Do not confuse army award criterias for that of the navy and USMC. They are decidely different. Additionally, there is still no such thing as an "automatic" award. The recipient still has to be recommended for and the recommendation has to be approved by the issuing command. Even the Good Conduct Medal is not an automatic award. It too has to be approved prior to issue.

 

Retired Army Noncom- when you quote (or cut and paste) it is only appropriate that you credit the source of your information. This way we can check your source first hand.

 

Allan

[Retired Army Noncom]

Do not confuse army award criterias for that of the navy and USMC. They are decidely different. Additionally, there is still no such thing as an "automatic" award. The recipient still has to be recommended for and the recommendation has to be approved by the issuing command. Even the Good Conduct Medal is not an automatic award. It too has to be approved prior to issue.

 

Retired Army Noncom- when you quote (or cut and paste) it is only appropriate that you credit the source of your information. This way we can check your source first hand.

 

Allan

Negative, I was staying strictly with the US Army in Vietnam and I quoted the Army regs. The GCM orders are cut from personnel, just like the automatic promotion to E-1-E-3, time in service promotion if no UCMJ actions had been administered. GCM and the AM, when in in-direct support of combat operations and the criteria is met, which I posted above, the award is automatic. The key word is "in-direct support" in which I flew three hours everyday the last five months on my second tour on official orders and when I had flown 300 hours, I was awarded the AM, not any great achievement at all IMO, just another day after day after day. I also received flight pay and TDY pay.

 

Keep your nose clean for 3 years you got orders automatically cut from personnel for a GCM or knot for consecutive awards. Actually is was never awarded for Good Conduct but more like a I Never Got Caught Medal.

[Retired Army Noncom]

BTW, every Army command had their own criteria..............I fell under the 4th Div.

[PoorFarm]

Thanks to all for weighing in.