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Good Conduct Medal poised for comeback

You can’t keep a good medal down.

The Air Force Good Conduct Medal, discontinued by the service in late 2005, is poised for a comeback, and enlisted airmen were happy to hear it.

The medal’s reappearance stems from January’s awards summit — a meeting held every four to five years to discuss awards and decorations. There was collective agreement among the personnel office representatives to reinstate the award, Air Force spokesman Capt. Thomas Wenz said. A proposal to that effect is awaiting approval of Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne, who is expected to decide on the proposal within 30 days.

If the proposal is approved as is, the medal would be retroactively awarded from the date it was discontinued, giving tens of thousands of airmen a shot at the award. Criteria for the medal remain the same, Wenz said.

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The decision to discontinue the Good Conduct Medal came out of a meeting of the Air Force Uniform Board in October 2005, which decreed that no more GCMs would be awarded, though airmen who had received the award could continue to display them and keep the awards in their records. Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley approved the change.

In a Feb. 8, 2006, news release announcing that decision, the Air Force offered this rationale for discontinuing the decoration: “[G]ood conduct is expected, and should not be regarded as exceptional.”

However, the medal’s demise rankled many airmen, especially among the enlisted corps, the only airmen eligible for the medal.

“If we start slicing away bits and pieces [of] enlisted history, then it kind of shows a disrespect to the enlisted side of the house,” said Tech. Sgt. Jennifer Hughes, of the 81st Training Wing, Keesler Air Force Base, Miss.

The medal’s historical value was a key factor in the decision to propose its return, Wenz said, adding the reversal is “a part of our efforts to reclaim the heritage of the Air Force. We want people to embrace the heritage of the Air Force, especially our younger troops.”

‘Pat on the back’

Enlisted airmen interviewed by Air Force Times were unanimous in their support of the medal’s return.

In an age in which all airmen are expected to conform to the highest standards and adhere to the service’s “core values,” the good conduct medal still bears meaning, Hughes said.

“Not everybody has good conduct, unfortunately, and I think those [who] are most deserving should be awarded it.”

To Tech. Sgt. Jason Hutchison, of Keesler’s 81st Comptroller Squadron, the rationale for eliminating the decoration made sense, but the medal’s value to young airmen merits its return.

“As a young troop, everything that you get in the Air Force is kind of special to you,” he said.

As airmen progress through the ranks, the medal serves as a signpost in the roadmap of their careers, said Senior Master Sgt. James Weller, a member of the Pennsylvania Air National Guard’s 111th Fighter Wing and of the Orders and Medals Society of America.

In the Guard, Weller said, a GCM ribbon on your blues shows you came from the active side of the house. If you’re an officer, wearing a GCM tells your enlisted troops you’ve marched in their boots.

It can also be a matter of family pride: “If you have a tradition of service within your family ... you can look back and your father and grandfather might have received the award,” Weller said.

To a young airman, the medal represents a rare reward for “hard work in day-to-day operations,” said Airman 1st Class Shaunlee Salyers, of the 37th Training Wing at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas. “It’s not daily that you get a pat on the back for what you do.”

‘Conspicuous by its absence’

If the medal proposal is approved, it would be the first time since the creation of the Air Force that the service discontinued and then reintroduced an award or decoration, said Charles P. McDowell, a former president of the medals society.

“It struck me as kind of strange that the Air Force would unilaterally do away with its Good Conduct Medal while other services hadn’t taken any comparable action,” McDowell said. The Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and even the Air Force Reserve and Air Guard all issue good conduct medals.

The Air Force medal was created by Congress on July 6, 1960, and the basics of who can qualify for it can be altered only with the approval of Congress and the president, said Denise Harris, chief of Air Force awards policy and programs. But Wenz said the board’s decision didn’t overstep federal law because it didn’t set out to eliminate the medal entirely, Wenz said.

Reinstated, the good conduct medal would again serve as carrot and stick for young airmen, Weller said. Though the presence of the medal is almost ubiquitous on enlisted airmen’s uniforms, “the omission of the award stands out just as much,” he said.

So says the award’s own guidelines: “The AFGCM is conspicuous by its absence. Failure to qualify for the award casts doubt on an individual’s value as a member of the Air Force.”

And that concept is not lost on young airmen.

As a military justice paralegal, “I see pretty much all the people that do get in trouble and that aren’t really doing anything positive for the Air Force,” said Airman 1st Class Audri Chavez, of the 37th Training Wing. “I just feel like there are so many people ... that are representing the Air Force in a positive way, the Good Conduct Medal is just another way to show” approval.