Members of the House want to establish a badge honoring airmen who have served as part of combat medical evacuation missions since June 1950. Language they have included in H.R. 5136, the House's version of the Fiscal 2011 defense authorization bill, would authorize the Air Force Secretary to issue this badge to airmen who have served as "a pilot or crewmember of a helicopter medical evacuation ambulance" in combat since then. The House passed H.R 5136 on May, 28, 2010. The Senate has not yet passed its version of the bill, which, so far, contains no similar language. Here, an Air Force HH-60G Pave Hawk rescue helicopter takes off for a medical evacuation mission as the sun sets over Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, Aug. 16, 2010.
Air Force photo by SSgt. Samuel Morse
