Scott
09-11-2009, 08:41 AM
No medals for medics
HEARTLESS defence bosses are snubbing RAF medics by refusing to award them Afghan service medals.
Dedicated teams have evacuated thousands of badly wounded troops home from the war zone, saving dozens of lives.
But MoD red tape says they do not qualify for a regular campaign medal.
More than 200 doctors and nurses from the Tactical Medical Wing's Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron, based at RAF Lyneham, Wilts, are affected.
It is the latest blow to Forces' morale - and as part of our Don't You Know There's a Bloody War On campaign, The Sun demands the injustice is reversed.
Applications submitted by the medics to the MoD's medal office recently have all been turned down.
Despite spending months in Afghanistan, the nurses do not spent 30 days continuously in the country, which is the ground troops' criterion for the Operation Herrick gong.
They have also been judged not to qualify under RAF pilots' rules, flying 30 combat sorties over the country. One RAF medic said: "It would mean so much to all of us. We don't understand why we're left out.
"The loadmasters on our flights get the medal, and we go everywhere they go - it makes no sense.
"Nobody does the job for medals - every one of us is in it for trying to save as many guys as possible, and we work our socks off to do that. But it would be nice to get the recognition that we've served our country."
A total of 2,469 sick troops have been flown home by the teams from Afghanistan in the past three years.
Spending up to ten days in the war zone at a time, the teams pick up the wounded at Kandahar Air Base on C17 giant jets or Tristar troop transporters specially fitted out with intensive care bays.
It is then an eight-hour flight to Birmingham Airport or RAF Brize Norton, Oxfordshire. On learning of the medals snub, veterans minister Kevan Jones has ordered Chief of the Defence Staff Sir Jock Stirrup to look into the rules urgently to help the medics.
An MOD spokesman said: "The aeromedical teams provide excellent care to personnel being evacuated from theatre. The military chiefs are reviewing medal qualification criteria and they are best placed to make recommendations on the need for any changes."
HEARTLESS defence bosses are snubbing RAF medics by refusing to award them Afghan service medals.
Dedicated teams have evacuated thousands of badly wounded troops home from the war zone, saving dozens of lives.
But MoD red tape says they do not qualify for a regular campaign medal.
More than 200 doctors and nurses from the Tactical Medical Wing's Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron, based at RAF Lyneham, Wilts, are affected.
It is the latest blow to Forces' morale - and as part of our Don't You Know There's a Bloody War On campaign, The Sun demands the injustice is reversed.
Applications submitted by the medics to the MoD's medal office recently have all been turned down.
Despite spending months in Afghanistan, the nurses do not spent 30 days continuously in the country, which is the ground troops' criterion for the Operation Herrick gong.
They have also been judged not to qualify under RAF pilots' rules, flying 30 combat sorties over the country. One RAF medic said: "It would mean so much to all of us. We don't understand why we're left out.
"The loadmasters on our flights get the medal, and we go everywhere they go - it makes no sense.
"Nobody does the job for medals - every one of us is in it for trying to save as many guys as possible, and we work our socks off to do that. But it would be nice to get the recognition that we've served our country."
A total of 2,469 sick troops have been flown home by the teams from Afghanistan in the past three years.
Spending up to ten days in the war zone at a time, the teams pick up the wounded at Kandahar Air Base on C17 giant jets or Tristar troop transporters specially fitted out with intensive care bays.
It is then an eight-hour flight to Birmingham Airport or RAF Brize Norton, Oxfordshire. On learning of the medals snub, veterans minister Kevan Jones has ordered Chief of the Defence Staff Sir Jock Stirrup to look into the rules urgently to help the medics.
An MOD spokesman said: "The aeromedical teams provide excellent care to personnel being evacuated from theatre. The military chiefs are reviewing medal qualification criteria and they are best placed to make recommendations on the need for any changes."