The Arctic "A" should be for THE SERVICE, not DATE
"To the USAF Uniform Board and Chief of Staff of the AF — Please amend the eligibility criteria for the AF Arctic "A" Device TO INCLUDE EVERYONE who wears the AF Overseas Short Tour Service Ribbon (AFOSTSR) AND SERVED A REMOTE TOUR ABOVE THE ARCTIC CIRCLE AT ANY TIME, period. Eliminate the 10 February 2002 "Established" date from the award criteria; because THIS IS A DEVICE, NOT A MEDAL OR RIBBON. No promotion board points are impacted. I'm not certain that eliminating the "Established" date would impact anything at all, the only prerequisite then being that the member have the AFOSTSR to wear the "A" on. REASON: THE DEVICE SHOULD BE AWARDED ONLY FOR SERVING A SHORT TOUR ABOVE THE ARCTIC CIRCLE; THE DATE "ESTABLISHED" IS IRRELEVANT TO THE PURPOSE OF THE AWARD—SERVICE ABOVE THE ARCTIC CIRCLE. There is no question that Pituffik SFB is "remote. " But what AF created is more of a "Pituffik Space Base Club" Device, rather than actually recognizing service above the Arctic Circle. BAD MOVE! Members who served above the Arctic Circle in Alaska were "remote," just like Pituffik. However, in some ways I think units above the Arctic Circle in Alaska were even more "remote," since they had far fewer visitors to their sites. In addition, there IS A PRECEDENT here: The Korean Defense Service Medal was established in December 2002. However, it was AWARDED TO PRACTICALLY EVERYONE who served in the Republic of Korea (ROK) since 28 July 1954! You could make an administrative exception to DD Forms 214, whereas it need not be recorded AS LONG AS the member served for the appropriate time in the ROK. Please amend the criteria, USAF. The Awards and Decorations Program allows military members to PROUDLY DISPLAY THEIR "SYMBOLS OF SERVICE. " AF members are proud of their Arctic tours—let us SHOW OUR PRIDE! Thank you."
