Hercules Crew Receives Air Force Combat Action Medal After RPG Attack. An aircrew assigned to the 774th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron poses for a group photo in Afghanistan, Sept. 2019.

The Combat Action Badge — created in 2005 — is for Army soldiers outside those job fields but who are also "actively engaging or being engaged by the enemy," according to U.S. Army publications.

Chapman, an Air Force combat controller, was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor in August 2018 for his bravery during the 2002 Battle of Takur Ghar in Afghanistan, in which he charged enemy ...

It started as a routine nighttime airdrop mission last fall for five airmen aboard a C-130 Hercules tasked with safely releasing much-needed supplies for Afghan National Army forces below. As they ...