Air and Space Campaign Medal

Background

This medal, authorized by the Secretary of the Air Force on April 24, 2002, may be awarded to members of the United States Air Force who, after March 24, 1999, participated in or directly supported a significant U.S. military operation designated by the Chief of Staff of the Air Force. The medal is awarded only to personnel who provided direct support of combat operations from outside a geographic area determined by the Joint Chief of Staff.

Criteria

Service members must be assigned or attached to a unit engaged in the operation. Personnel must be engaged in direct support for at least 30 consecutive days or for 60 nonconsecutive days.

For this medal, direct support is defined as: 1) deploying in support of an operation, or 2) if at home station, performing functions or missions that historically were deployed forward, or entirely new and future missions, which due to technological advances, are no longer constrained by geographic location. This includes, but is not limited to, sortie generation, intelligence, surveillance, targeting, computer network attack operations, etc.

No individual shall be eligible for both the Air and Space Campaign Medal and a Department of Defense campaign/service medal awarded during a single tour in the designated operation. Participants are limited to only one ASCM for assignment to a designated operation. A second award of the ASCM is only authorized to individuals for nonconsecutive and non-concurrent assignments to separate operations, provided the participants meet the criteria for each. For each succeeding operation that justifies award of the ASCM, a service star is worn on the ribbon/medal. Multiple award of the ASCM for assignments or rotations to the same operation is not authorized.

The Chief of Staff of the Air Force designates the military operations that qualify for the ASCM. The Commander, Air Force Forces, will designate those organizations that provided direct qualifying support.

Military operations that qualify for the ASCM are:

-ALLIED FORCE, March 24, 1999 – June 10, 1999

-NOBLE ANVIL, March 24, 1999 – July 20, 1999

-Kosovo Task Force Saber, March 31, 1999 – July 8, 1999

-Kosovo Task Force Hunter, April 1, 1999 – Nov. 1, 1999

-SUSTAIN HOPE/SHINING HOPE, April 4, 1999 – July 10, 1999

-ALLIED HARBOUR, April 4, 1999 – Sept. 1, 1999

-Kosovo Task Force Hawk, April 5, 1999 – June 24, 1999

-JOINT GUARDIAN, June 11, 1999 – Dec. 31, 2013

-Kosovo Task Force Falcon, June 11, 1999 – Dec. 31, 2013

-Operation Odyssey Dawn and Operation Unified Protector, Feb. 26, 2011 – Oct. 31, 2011

Currently, operations related to the Global War on Terrorism (to include Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom) are not eligible for the ASCM. For more information, personnel should contact their local Military Personnel Flight Awards and Decorations Section.

Authorized device

Service Star