The Pentagon will award the Meritorious Unit Commendation to hundreds of troops who took half within the evacuation of Afghanistan final yr following the swift collapse of the U.S.-backed authorities there.
Secretary of Protection Lloyd Austin introduced the awards Wednesday, a yr after a suicide bombing befell at Hamid Karzai Worldwide Airport in Kabul that killed 13 U.S. service members and a minimum of 170 Afghan civilians.
About 124,000 individuals from Afghanistan have been evacuated with hundreds later resettling within the U.S.
Any unit concerned within the mission, together with a minimum of 10 bases that housed hundreds of Afghan evacuees, will obtain the Meritorious Unit Commendation (MUC) or its equal. Mr. Austin additionally needs the Pentagon to hold out an “expedited evaluation” of all navy items that have been current on the airport throughout the hurried evacuation to find out whether or not further navy decorations, such because the Presidential Unit Quotation, needs to be awarded.
“Since World Struggle II, the nation has acknowledged the extraordinary heroism of navy items in motion in opposition to an armed enemy with the Presidential Unit Quotation,” Mr. Austin stated in a press release. “The President directed these actions after session with me and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Workers.”
Mr. Austin known as the evacuation “one of many largest, most tough, and most harmful humanitarian operations in U.S. navy historical past.”
“No different navy might have protected so many lives below such difficult circumstances in such a brief period of time — not simply due to our airlift or our logistics capabilities, however most of all due to the immense compassion, ability, and dedication of American service members,” he stated.