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thedrifter
08-29-06, 02:36 PM
September 04, 2006
Recognizing combat
Air Force may create its own CAR

Since the Navy updated its eligibility criteria for Marines and sailors who rate the Combat Action Ribbon, even the Air Force is considering creating a CAR.

Air Force senior officials held “preliminary” talks on the issue Aug. 10 at the Pentagon, an Air Force spokeswoman said.

The talks come two years after the Air Force introduced a gold border to its Expeditionary Service Ribbon as a combat marker. But the device draws no distinction between being in combat or a combat theater.

The announcement follows repeated statements by Air Force spokesmen that the service was not considering a combat action award. However, many airmen have come under fire in Iraq, where they’ve worked side by side with soldiers and, in some cases, earned the Army’s Combat Infantry Badge, only to be told they could not wear it after rejoining an Air Force unit.

The problem, said Senior Airman Ryan Stocklin of Charleston Air Force Base, S.C., is that the Air Force has historically placed “[little] emphasis on ground combat … because it’s not our main mission. But … it’s becoming our main mission.”


According to Fred Borch, a retired Army colonel and author, 90 percent of Air Force operations are in relatively “rear areas,” although airmen have been killed in the war on terrorism.

“War now is not [limited to] firefights,” said retired Air Force Col. Dave Bynum, who added that convoy duty is “probably the most dangerous duty in Iraq.”

— Bryant Jordan

Ellie