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" just trying to get the story straight. "

Fox News DID report this as the Air Force Medal of Honor. If indeed it was the Air Force Cross, please cite your source, for clarification.

Fox News DID report this as the Air Force Medal of Honor.

Someone may have misspoke. When I heard it mentioned this morning on FNC, they got it right.

FYI

SECAF honors casualties, looks to future
by Tech. Sgt. Scott Elliott
Air Force Print News
09/05/02 - WASHINGTON -- In a speech to the service's first sergeants, the secretary of the Air Force paid homage to those who made the ultimate sacrifice in the war on terrorism, and painted a picture of the road that lies ahead.

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Dr. James G. Roche
While much has been accomplished, said Dr. James G. Roche, there is much left to do.

"We've achieved many of our objectives, but there remains much work to be done," Roche said at the Worldwide First Sergeant's Conference held recently in Jacksonville, Fla.

"We can't afford to get complacent or think for a moment we've got this enemy beaten," he said. "We need to prepare and resolve ourselves to see this through to the finish, regardless of where the fight takes us."

The forces of al-Qaida, he warned, are hard at work plotting their next acts of terror.

"They are a determined enemy and are likely now working on their next plan," he said. "We need to and will do our part to stop that from happening."

As armed conflicts go, casualties in the war on terrorism have been relatively light, but the secretary asked the assembled first sergeants to remember the airmen who paid the ultimate price.

"Let's never forget the seven of our fellow airmen who have lost their lives in this fight. Their collective sacrifice, along with the countless heroes who have gone before them, is why we live free in this great country," Roche said.

Those fallen airmen include:

-- Master Sgt. Evander Andrews, a civil engineer from Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho;

-- Master Sgt. William McDaniel II, a pararescueman from Kadena Air Base, Japan;

-- Tech. Sgt. John Chapman, a combat controller from Pope AFB, N.C.;

-- Tech. Sgt. Sean Corlew, an MC-130 Combat Shadow loadmaster from Hurlburt Field, Fla.;

-- Staff Sgt. Juan Ridout, a pararescueman from Kadena;

-- Staff Sgt. Anissa Shero, an MC-130 loadmaster from Hurlburt; and

-- Senior Airman Jason Cunningham, a pararescueman from Moody AFB, Ga.

Switching gears, the secretary turned his attention to challenges and priorities facing the service today.

"It's a very exciting time to be in our Air Force," he said. "As I think about our opportunities, I remain focused on the current century, not the (one) we left behind. As we look to the future, I ask you to briefly think about where we've been. We restructured and reorganized our force to meet a variety of threats versus a single threat, and we developed new ways of delivering military capability."

Of primary concern for both the near-term and long-range future, he said, is the expeditionary concept of operations.

"Fundamental to this effort is our transition to a capabilities-based expeditionary force," he said. "We need to make warfighting effects, and the capabilities we need to achieve them, the driving factor for everything we do."

To that end, the secretary said he and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. John P. Jumper have several institutional challenges to keep in mind, including saving money, employing platforms and evaluating strategies.

"We must find ways to reduce costs through the integration of enterprise systems, adoption of best practices and smarter management," he said.

According to the secretary, weapons delivery, intelligence gathering, interdiction and transport do not necessarily need to be assigned exclusively to large aircraft or small, to manned or unmanned systems, or to space.

"We need to continue our development of advanced technologies, such as (unmanned aerial vehicles), smaller weapons and multimission aircraft," he said. "We will never again build a single-mission aircraft."

Continued refinement of the air and space expeditionary force construct is also on the secretary's agenda.

"We need to continue to evaluate our AEF strategies to better deliver combat capability and manage the tempo of our operations for our combat support and low density/high demand assets -- a title we need to retire in our time," he said.

FOX News just reported this as the Air force cross the third since Vietnam for Airmen........Serious possible error here Dwar .....

This young man deserves the Congressional Medal of Honor and I hope that is what he received.

There is only one award called the medal of honor in the U.S. military. Take my word for it folks I am on active duty as a senior officer. It is the Congressional Medal of Honor. There is poosibly a version for each service, but the congress of the US must award it, and th President is the one who presents it.