The Outstanding Airman of the Year Ribbon is a military award of the United States Air Force which was created on February 21, 1968 by order of Secretary of the Air Force Harold Brown. The first presentation of the award was in June 1970. The Outstanding Airman of the Year Ribbon is the highest personal ribbon award of the United States Air Force.
The Outstanding Airman of the Year Ribbon is awarded to any enlisted member of the U.S. Air Force who is nominated by their Major Command, Field Operating Agency, or Direct Reporting Unit for competition in the 12 Outstanding Airmen of the Year Program.
Airmen selected as one of the 12 Outstanding Airmen of the Year are authorized to wear the Outstanding Airman badge for one year, and are permanently awarded the ribbon with a bronze service star. Any future awards of the ribbon are represented by oak leaf clusters.
Famous quotes containing the words outstanding, airman, year and/or ribbon:
“Both Socrates and Jesus were outstanding teachers; both of them urged and practiced great simplicity of life; both were regarded as traitors to the religion of their community; neither of them wrote anything; both of them were executed; and both have become the subject of traditions that are difficult or impossible to harmonize.”
—Jaroslav Pelikan (b. 1932)
“The current flows fast and furious. It issues in a spate of words from the loudspeakers and the politicians. Every day they tell us that we are a free people fighting to defend freedom. That is the current that has whirled the young airman up into the sky and keeps him circulating there among the clouds. Down here, with a roof to cover us and a gasmask handy, it is our business to puncture gasbags and discover the seeds of truth.”
—Virginia Woolf (1882–1941)
“I know not whether Laws be right
Or whether Laws be wrong;
All that we know who live in gaol
Is that the wall is strong;
And that each day is like a year,
A year whose days are long.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)
“For this your mother sweated in the cold,
For this you bled upon the bitter tree:
A yard of tinsel ribbon bought and sold;
A paper wreath; a day at home for me.”
—Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892–1950)