Since the beginning of Vietnam War in 1965, only twenty-two enlisted men were awarded this medal. Twenty of these medals were awarded during the Vietnam War. Ten of these twenty were awarded to Pararescuemen. This is an extraordinarily large number considering that no more than seventy-five Pararescuemen served at any one time in Vietnam or Thailand. Since the end of the Vietnam War only three additional Air Force Crosses have been awarded to an enlisted airman. Two of them went to Pararescuemen and the third was awarded to a Combat Controller. PJ Timothy Wilkenson received the Air Force Cross for action in Somalia. PJ Jason Cunningham and CCT John Chapman both received an AF Cross for action in Afghanistan. They both received the medal for heroism in the same battle and they both died within a few meters of each other. Because they fought and died together, both are listed on this site. Technically one might state that CCT are not assigned to Air Rescue. To this webmaster, this is a moot point because in this case, both Jason and John were specifically on a SAR mission when they were KIA. Since the advent of Special Tactics Teams, the line between air rescue and special operations has become blurred. PJs and CCT assigned to an STS are dual tasked for both SAR and special operations missions.