Things That Make You Go HMMMMM

From page 23 of the Army Times dated, 24 MAR 2008.

In honor of the 5th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq the Army Times has published some facts and figures. One such figure was the number of flight hours flown in support of operations.

USAF: 633,000 (since 2005, no data was available for years prior)
US Army: 2.2 million (this figure was for both OIF and OEF, one can assume the OIF figure will be a little more than half of this because there are more aviation ops in OIF)
USMC: 576,000

Another figure was awards given

MOH: Army: 1
USMC: 1

DSC/AF Cross/ Navy Cross
USAF: 0
USA: 8
USMC: 17
USN: 1

Silver Star
USAF: 11
USA: 385
USMC: 77
USN: 40

Legion of Merit
USAF: 3
USA: 59
USMC: 28
USN: N/A

Distinguished Flying Cross
USAF: 269
USA: 96
USMC: 24
USN: N/A

Bronze Star
USAF: 1881 (91 for valor)
USA: 58,877 (1,843 for valor)
USMC: 1,940
USN: 2,258

There was no info given for Air Medals.

What is interesting to me, other than the sheer number of bronze stars awarded to every first sergeant and commander company grade and above, is the fact that although the Army outflies the USAF in hours by about a 2 to 1 ratio, the DFC ratio is reversed (roughly).

I guess those guys are just that much more brave than us Army guys...that or thier chain of command is actually willing to reward people for actions taken on the field of battle. What a novel concept.