Criteria
For an airman to wear the AFCAM, a narrative explanation of the airman's involvement in combat activities must be submitted by a person with first-hand knowledge of the incident to the first O-6 (Colonel) in their operational chain of command on an AF Form 3994 The application will be processed through the chain of command and eventually be approved or disapproved by the Commander of Air Force Forces (COMAFFOR).Combat conditions defined:
For the purposes of this award, the combat conditions are met when:
- Individual(s) deliberately go outside the defended perimeter to conduct official duties - either ground or air, and
- Come under enemy attack by lethal weapons while performing those duties, and
- Are at risk of grave danger
Or
- Individual(s) are defending the base (on the defended perimeter), and
- Come under fire and engage the enemy with direct and lethal fire, and
- Are at risk of grave danger; also meet the intent of combat conditions for the award
Additionally, personnel in ground operations who actively engage the enemy with direct and lethal fire may qualify even if no direct fire is taken—as long as there was risk of grave danger and other criteria are met. Central to the integrity of this combat recognition is the adherence to these combat conditions prerequisites.
The AFCAM does not earn points under the Weighted Airman Promotion System. It is worn after the Air Force Achievement Medal and before the Presidential Unit Citation.
Read more about this topic: Air Force Combat Action Medal
Famous quotes containing the word criteria:
“Every sign is subject to the criteria of ideological evaluation.... The domain of ideology coincides with the domain of signs. They equate with one another. Wherever a sign is present, ideology is present, too. Everything ideological possesses semiotic value.”
—V.N. (Valintin Nikolaevic)
“There are ... two minimum conditions necessary and sufficient for the existence of a legal system. On the one hand those rules of behavior which are valid according to the system’s ultimate criteria of validity must be generally obeyed, and on the other hand, its rules of recognition specifying the criteria of legal validity and its rules of change and adjudication must be effectively accepted as common public standards of official behavior by its officials.”
—H.L.A. (Herbert Lionel Adolphus)
“We should have learnt by now that laws and court decisions can only point the way. They can establish criteria of right and wrong. And they can provide a basis for rooting out the evils of bigotry and racism. But they cannot wipe away centuries of oppression and injustice—however much we might desire it.”
—Hubert H. Humphrey (1911–1978)