Talk:Air Assault Badge

Retroactive Awards
If any Vietnam Air Cavalry or Airmobile vet has been successful in obtaining a retroactive award, please contact me by email to Glamunyon@aol.com. I have been trying to get a retroactive award for several years. For more information, visit www.airassault.bizhosting.com. Welcome Home ! ! !


 * Its actually a very simple process. Go on the web and download DD Form 149 (avaialble through Yahoo, Google, Lycos search engine, etc).  Fill out the DD Form 149 stating why the Air Assualt badge is warranted and mail it to the Army address which is on the form.  The Army will then determine if a retroactive award is warranted.  If you need records to support your claim, they can be obtained by Standard Form 180 which is sent to the National Personnel Records Center.  General info number is 314-801-0800 -Husnock 21 Oct 04

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OK, here is an actual case - the veteran's request for a retroactive Air Assault Badge was TURNED DOWN - see decision at the link below: http://boards.law.af.mil/cgi-bin/quickview.cgi?filename=ARMY/BCMR/CY2004/2004104600.rtf

A change in policy must happen before we can have a retroactive award.

Guy C. Lamunyon Chairman Air Assault Parity Coalition


 * I've seen at least four to five cases, in my work with military records, where this badge was awarded retroactively to veterans who had truely participated in airborne assault missions prior ot the badges creation. I, myself, have typed up the DD Form 215 in at least one circumstance.  Sorry for the person at the link above, though. -Husnock 11Feb05


 * Followup up to that. 1st: thats a pretty cool link! 2nd: it is interesting that they denied it based on the year of the school having to be after 1974.  The folks Ive seen get it for Vietnam might have gone to that school later in their career and thats why it was retroactive...hmmm.  But, in any event, as far as I know it CAN be retroactive, but obviously not always is. -Husnock

So what do you know of these people that got the AAB retroactive? If they had gone to the school after '74 what would they need the badge retroactive, I mean they would have earned it by completing the school, right?

Len Blachly trikat2501@msn.com

Earning the badge
Upon assignment to Fort Campbell in 1986, I volunteered for Air Assault training - a simple 2 week course. I got my "wings", but the only time I got to use them was when I saw my First Sergeant improperly preparing a vehicle for helicopter transport. I tried to tell him, but he blew me off. And never even thanked me after the thing fell to the ground (as I had predicted)... Ah, NCOs... Uncle Ed 04:17, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

The section from the article that has been moved here:
Wikipedia's guidelines on verifiablilty state that "The threshold for inclusion in Wikipedia is verifiability, not truth." The section about what people thought of the AAB and whether or not it is better or worse than the Parachutists Badge is not only unsourced, but seems a bit on the POV side (read: a lot on the POV side). I'm moving it here until it can be verified by reliable sources and not someone's personal memory of events.

"Initially the new badge did not meet with much enthusiasm. Just as with the long-gone Glider Badge, the design was clearly taken from jump wings, and it was not held in high regard among paratroopers, who saw it as a cheap imitation for lesser mortals. Jumpers derisively referred to the badge as “Bullwinkle Wings” (likening it to a cartoon character) and “Dope on a Rope.”  Unlike parachute volunteers assigned to the arch-rival 82nd Airborne Division, personnel were assigned to the 101st much like any other unit and they did not necessarily wish to become Air Assault-qualified.  Attendance at the course was in some cases used by units within the 101st as punishment for those deemed in need of attitude adjustment.  In 1983, when a former assistant division commander of the 101st started an Air Assault course at Fort Rucker, AL, volunteers were lacking and prospective aviation officers awaiting the start of their flight training were told, “Attendance at the Air Assault School is not mandatory; however, should you choose not to attend, your career may be adversely affected.”  The message was clear: attend or else. Forcing the school on unwilling personnel did not increase the popularity of the badge, and some chose to silently protest by not wearing it even after they’d completed the course. After over three decades of wear, the badge is accepted Army-wide, but it will probably never reach equal status with the Parachute Badge."

The information in the paragraph above is probably not documented anywhere, but it was common knowledge to anyone associated with Airborne and Air Assault matters during the 1970s and 1980s. Certainly no official Army publication would document a general's veiled threats to the careers of budding Army aviators if they did not choose to attend the Fort Rucker AAS.

Sometimes antagonism toward the AAB was more than subtle. When the 3d Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (Airmobile) came off jump status in April 1974, the brigade's paratroopers were incensed about losing their jump status and involuntarily becoming airmobile soldiers. They were to be sent to the new Airmobile (later Air Assault) Course on post, and as is the case with the Airborne Course at Fort Benning, they had to complete an Airborne physical fitness test (50 push-ups, 50 sit-ups, and a two-mile run in less than 16 minutes) prior to starting the course. One company of the brigade's 503rd Infantry "protested" by failing the test by one push-up (i.e., each soldier only accomplished 49 push-ups). This angered the company commander, for it was obvious what the troops were doing, but they couldn't openly state they wanted nothing to do with the Airmobile Badge.

Removed and placed the paragraph on 1-377th FAR's wear of a wing trimming as well as a flash on maroon berets, even though the unit was not Airborne. The authorization in 2000 may have been made in error, perhaps with the unit being misunderstood to be an Airborne rather than Air Assault battalion, and the Institute of Heraldry is taking action to cancel the flash and wing trimming.

Text removed:

Other Units
Note: Until 2007 this unit's most recent assignment was at Fort Bragg, NC, as a subordinate element of the 18th Field Artillery Brigade (Airborne). Although it was Air Assault, not Airborne, as a unit of the 18th it wore both the maroon beret with flash as well as a matching oval for Air Assault wings. Reassigned to the 17th Fires Brigade at Fort Lewis, WA, it has lost the wear of the maroon beret but will continue to wear its oval behind the Air Assault Badge. HHB, 1-377th FAR traces its history back to Battery A, 377th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion, which served in the 101st Airborne Division in World War II.
 * 1st Battalion, 377th Field Artillery Regiment

B-Class Review
I'd say this article is B-Class, but only just. It's a bit ragged in organization and could use some additional notes.Intothatdarkness 21:09, 27 July 2012 (UTC)

External links modified
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Qualifications
Are there MOS or rank restrictions, or can anyone apply for the school? Are certain people (platoon sergeants, squad leaders, &c) required to earn the badge? 104.153.40.58 (talk) 00:57, 20 February 2022 (UTC)
 * No MOS or rank restrictions. Only people required to earn the badge are those in air assault designated units, e.g. 101st. ⇒   SWAT Jester   Shoot Blues, Tell VileRat! 02:06, 16 June 2024 (UTC)

Honorable Air Assault badges
Honorable Air Assault Badges have been awarded to the appropriate soldiers that had served in either the 1st Cavalry or the 101st Airborne in Vietnam. It was probably four or so years ago. We were considered the pioneers of Air Assault tactics. 2603:8000:63F:85FF:2A7C:B9F6:1680:72F1 (talk) 18:27, 15 June 2024 (UTC)
 * It was in 2021, but it is not an actual U.S. military skill badge, it's an organizational award from the 101st Airborne Association. ⇒   SWAT Jester   Shoot Blues, Tell VileRat! 02:05, 16 June 2024 (UTC)