AFGSC awarded Joint Meritorious Unit Award

Adm. Charles A. Richard, commander, U.S. Strategic Command, presented the Joint Meritorious Unit Award to Air Force Global Strike Command during a ceremony held at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, May 18.  

The award was presented to AFGSC in recognition of the command’s accomplishments during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic from April 1-Nov. 30, 2020.

“This award is really about the command’s performance throughout the COVID pandemic, but there’s more to that … what Global Strike accomplished inside the pandemic environment was nothing short of remarkable,” Richard said.

“This is a unit award, which means that everybody had to participate,” he said. ”It took everyone in Global Strike responding to this challenge, and that’s why you are all going to be honored with what I think is a very prestigious award given what you’ve both accomplished individually and together as a team.”

During the COVID-19 pandemic, AFGSC operations, maintenance, defenders, mighty medics, and support teams found ways to innovate and ensure the foundation of our national security was strong.  AFGSC planned and executed 63 bomber task force missions and 112 National Airborne Operations Center sorties, totaling more than 1,658 hours in support of six geographic combatant commands, and French, Turkish and Dutch allies.

Additionally, AFGSC’s missileers and missile maintainers achieved the highest intercontinental ballistic missile readiness since the end of the Cold War, while AFGSC’s UH-1N and Defender force ensured the success of the critical nuclear security mission across five states and more than 33,000 square miles.

AFGSC’s Surgeon General mitigation plans for two-thirds of the United States nuclear triad ensured the Air Force's nuclear capabilities were 100 percent mission ready, securing the health and readiness of the Command forces.

Gen. Anthony Cotton, commander, Air Force Global Strike Command, accepted the award on behalf of all Airmen assigned to AFGSC.

“I’m incredibly proud and even more confident in our future. My greatest confidence is in the men and women who make up AFGSC,” Cotton said. “Every Striker - civilian, enlisted, officer - you all hold the bar really high. And we see it every single day.”

Airmen assigned to any Global Strike Command unit from April 1- Nov. 30, 2020, for a period of 30 days or more are authorized to wear the Joint Meritorious Unit Award ribbon, according to the Air Force Personnel Center.