After reading virtually every "operator in the news" article and various other award citations, etc. I am curious to why there is basically no mention of special tactic officers? All the awards, all the recognition, is essentially pure cct rather than sto. Is this simply because there were no sto on the missions or because it is the job of the sto to recomend and write these airmen their medals? Where are the young sto team leaders during all of this? I've read about mission responsibilities of sto but I was just shocked to not find mention of them. Can anyone help me out here? Thanks in advance.

What you have to realize first is STOs make up a very small fraction of the deployed personnel w/in the ST community but they are doing great thing all of the time. Second, not nearly every awards ceremony is covered by the press unless a Silver Star (or higher) award is being presented and even after that... not all of the articles show up of this web site. Believe me, there are STOs getting Bronze Stars (w/valor and w/out), Purple Hearts etc... but that doesn't mean you're going to hear about it. One article posted in the forums spoke of Capt Terrero who was presented a BSM and AF combat action medal. What you don't know is that he laid waist to some $hitheads. Know this... of the company grade STOs at my unit... all have conducted combat operations w/in the last year or so... half have been in no $hit gunfights, killed men with guns, splattered them with bombs and survived... it doesn't mean they are going to get some big award for it... that's what we're paid to do. And you're not going to hear any STO stand up and thump his chest and say "look what I did"... quiet professionals bro.

I appreciate your response and if my question offended you for some reason I apologize, you seemed on the defensive side and I didn't mean for my question to rub anyone the wrong way. I'm an ROTC cadet training to be a sto and am simply trying to get as much insight from operators as possible. I'm third generation air force preceded by 52 years of service and 2 DFC's and 2 bronze stars between my father and his that haven't even been spoken of why they were awarded, I've been raised by the epitome of a quiet professional. I'm glad you told me of your sto knowledge, I'm learning every day.

ewallace- I was not on the defensive concerning your question at all. I get fired up b/c our men in Special Tactics do SO MUCH and most get little to no recognition for it. The aggressiveness of my response was not aimed at you... It's just frustrating when you have single guys that will kill more men in one deployment that an entire battalion will kill in the same time frame and no one knows about it. Maybe we are a little "too quite" regarding our exploits.

If you have questions regarding STO selection, the pipeline and life in ST send me a private message and I'll respond.

Couldn't agree more, pm'd.