Hundreds more airmen to receive military awards for Kabul evacuation
By Rachel S. Cohen
Oct 24, 04:04 PM
In this Aug. 21, 2021, image provided by the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Airmen and U.S. Marines guide evacuees aboard a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III in support of the Afghanistan evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan. (Senior Airman Brennen Lege/Air Force via AP)
The Air Force plans to present 350 awards in the coming weeks, including more than 100 of the military’s most prestigious medals, to airmen who served in Operation Allies Refuge.
It’s the largest batch of awards approved so far to honor the contributions of individual airmen in the U.S.-led humanitarian evacuation from Afghanistan in August 2021. More than 124,000 Americans and foreign nationals, including 76,000 at-risk Afghans, fled as the Taliban returned to power at the end of the Pentagon’s nearly 20-year war there.
OAR was the largest noncombatant air evacuation operation in U.S. history, according to the Air Force.
Air Mobility Command said Oct. 21 it will hand out 96 Distinguished Flying Crosses, awarded for extraordinary action while in flight, and 12 Bronze Stars, offered for heroic non-flight service while fighting an armed enemy. Most of the medals also include signifiers of exceptional valor or combat achievement.
https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2022/10/24/hundreds-more-airmen-to-receive-military-awards-for-kabul-evacuation/
