I know I am going to get a lot of grief with my following comments, but-This is what I have despised about medals since its conception. This whole CREW should receive the same medal. Period. The fact that the copilot and SMAs only received an Air Medal, suggests that they were not essential and played no role in the mission. This was a crew event, they act as one, with one leader. Individually, the mission is a failure, together, it is successful. Thankfully on all my missions where we received medals, the whole crew was awarded the same medal.
I wonder what awards were bestowed on the ground troops in this fight?
I was wondering the same thing. I guess the Senior Airmen simply brought the others drinks and snacks during the flight. /sarcasm