Marine F-35 squadron awarded rare Air Force combat award
Marines with VMFA-542 received the Gallant Unit Citation for their participation in air operations in the Middle East last year. The post Marine F-35 squadron awarded rare Air Force combat award appeared first on Task & Purpose.
A Marine Corps fighter squadron that flew over 1,000 combat sorties in just over six months last summer recieved a rare Air Force award for the 2025 campaign.
Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 542, who fly as the “Tigers,” was awarded the Air Force’s Gallant Unit Citation for combat missions flown between March 15-Oct. 7, 2025, according to an Aug. 19 Marine Administrative Notice on new awards. As a unit award, all members of the unit who were deployed for the campaign are authorized to wear the award.
According to an October 2025 release from the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, the Tigers flew 1,099 combat sorties, while deployed to the U.S. Central Command earlier that year. A spokesperson for 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing confirmed the squadron had received an Air Force award but neither the wing nor the MARADMIN that announced the award cited specific actions behind the Gallant Unit Citation. The MARADMIN noted that the unit was receiving it as an “additional participating unit” with the Air Force’s 378th Air Expeditionary Wing, a far-flung Air Force unit that oversees much of the service’s deployed combat aircraft. The 378th was presented with the Gallant Unit Citation in October 2025, during a change of command ceremony for the wing.
Major U.S. operations that occured during the Tigers’ deployment included operations Midnight Hammer and Rough Rider, along with sustained air engagements with Iranian drones and missiles targeted at Israel.
This month’s MARADMIN, nearly a year later, was the first announcement of the Marine Corps squadron receiving the unit award.
Second-highest Air Force unit award
The Gallant Unit Citation was created in 2004 to honor “Air Force active duty, Reserve, and Air National Guard units for extraordinary heroism in action against an armed enemy of the United States,” according to the Air Force’s personnel center. The award is second only in precedence to a Presidential Unit Citation, and is considered the unit equivalent to a Silver Star.
The award itself has been presented only a handful of times. Some past recipients include the 385th Air Expeditionary Group and the 621st Contingency Response Group, both of which received the award for their role in the evacuation of Kabul in August 2021.
“During the deployment, VMFA-542 made a significant operational and strategic impact in the CENTCOM AOR,” the October 2025 release said. “The squadron conducted Close Air Support, Armed Overwatch, and Defensive Counter-Air missions in support of Marine, Navy, Army, coalition, and partner nation forces.”
The Pentagon has been remarkably tight-lipped about the missions flown by U.S. aviators in the ongoing conflict with Iran, though what details that do leak out in official awards and other public announcements invariably paint the picture of intense, long-term combat operations. Six U.S. flyers died in a March 12, 2026, mid-air collision of two KC-135s.
The time period the award covers includes several U.S. military aerial engagements. In March 2025, the United States restarted combat operations against Houthi militants in Yemen, a two-month-long campaign that saw fighter jets conduct airstrikes throughout Yemen. Some pilots who participated later received Distinguished Flying Crosses and Silver Stars. U.S. fighter jets also flew intercept missions to take out Iranian missiles during the 12-Day War between Israel and Iran. And in late June, U.S. forces carried out Operation Midnight Hammer, the major air operation around B-2 Spirit stealth bomber strikes on Iranian nuclear sites. Several awards, including more Distinguished Flying Crosses, were presented this spring and summer to some airmen who took part in those operations.
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