The Air Force Meritorious Unit Award or MUA is a mid level unit award of the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

. Established in 2004, the award recognizes those units who demonstrate exceptionally meritorious conduct in direct support of combat operations. Eligible service is retroactive to 11 September 2001.

Criteria

Approved in March 2004 by the

Secretary of the Air Force A secretary, administrative professional, administrative assistant, executive assistant, administrative officer, administrative support specialist, clerk, military assistant, management assistant, office secretary, or personal assistant is a w ...

, the Air Force Meritorious Unit Award is awarded in the name of the Secretary to recognize squadrons, groups, or wings for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding achievement or service in direct support of combat operations for at least 90 continuous days during the period of military operations against an armed enemy of the United States on or after 11 September 2001. The recommended unit must display such outstanding devotion and superior performance of exceptionally difficult tasks as to set it apart and above other units with similar missions. The degree of achievement required is the same as that which would warrant award of the

Legion of Merit The Legion of Merit (LOM) is a military award of the United States Armed Forces that is given for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements. The decoration is issued to members of the eight ...

to an individual. Superior performance of the normal mission alone does not justify award of the MUC. Service in a combat zone is not required, but service must be directly related to the combat effort. The Air Force MUA is worn immediately after the

Gallant Unit Citation The Gallant Unit Citation (GUC), a United States Air Force unit award, was approved in March 2004 and is awarded to any Air Force unit which distinguishes itself by extraordinary heroism while engaged in armed combat with an enemy force on or afte ...

(GUC) and before the

Air Force Outstanding Unit Award The Air and Space Outstanding Unit Award (ASOUA) is one of the Awards and decorations of the United States Department of the Air Force, unit awards of the United States Air Force and United States Space Force. It was established in 1954 as the A ...

(AFOUA). Additional awards of the MUA are denoted by bronze

oak leaf cluster An oak leaf cluster is a ribbon device to denote preceding decorations and awards consisting of a miniature bronze or silver twig of four oak leaves with three acorns on the stem. It is authorized by the United States Armed Forces for a speci ...

s. The Air Force MUA is not awarded to any unit or unit component that was previously awarded the Air Force Outstanding Unit Award, the

Air Force Organizational Excellence Award The Air and Space Organizational Excellence Award (ASOEA) is a unit award of the United States Air Force and United States Space Force created by the Secretary of the Air Force on 26 August 1969 as the Air Force Outstanding Unit Award. The award i ...

(AFOEA), or unit awards from other service components for the same act, achievement, or service. The component commander will automatically consider all disapproved Meritorious Unit Awards for the Air Force Outstanding Unit Award.

References

{{USAF decorations Awards and decorations of the United States Air Force Awards established in 2004