The big deal is over awarding of the Bronze Star, the medal which you may recall General Marshall came up with to reward ground troops (and the intend was really for combat troops) during WWII since soldiers were not eligible for Air Medals being handed out by the air corps to its pilots.
After Kosovo, the Air Force handed out 185 Bronze stars: 2-03s, 25-04s, 70-05s, 58-O6s, 3-O7s and 2 E4s, 3-E5s, 3-E7s, 5-E8s, 12-E9s, and one civilian. The junior enlisted wing nuts were members of a search and rescue team that pulled out a downed pilot. They earned a case of beer from the pilot, but a medal, what the hell, they're E4s. The rest is pretty tough to explain, especially since very few were pilots. The Bronze stars went to commanding officers of units that did brave stuff like putting up tent cities at Aviano (great TDY, no doubt they made a $100 per day per diem too) or even responded to a last minute supply request back at a stateside airbase where the B2s were flying out of. I have no idea what the civilian did to earn his or hers.
The Navy for its part gave out: 1-O1, 1-03s, 7-04s, 26-05s, 26-O6s,1-O7s, 1-O8, 1-O9 --and-- 1-E5, 3-E6s, 1-E7. An O9 for God's sake ??? That has got to be the three-star who commands the joint headquarters in Naples: COMUSFORCALZONE or something like that. The chief petty officer got his as the "first chief petty officer to assume the duties as a Battle Force Tomahawk Land Attack Cruise Missile Officer" overseeing more than 150 launches of the cruise missile from 10 different platforms. 10 different platforms, I guess that means 10 different ships. I suspect his finger got really really tired, and he had to spend an extra long time in the wardroom drinking the shakes off before retiring to the comfort of his stateroom.
The Army, for once in the right, did not award a single Bronze Star. We put two Apache battalions, one MLRS battalion (+), and one Mech Bn into Albania for a couple of months - the most backward country on the planet, rivaled only by North Korea. Those boys sucked, no doubt about it, and killed a couple of pilots in high publicity training SNAFUs, but never fired a shot in anger. Just could not guarantee that no one would get hurt and no civilian would be killed when you launch rockets 200 km deep. Probably for the better. A few MSMs, and for sure, lots of ARCOMs and AAMS, but no Bronze Stars.
What really galled me the most was the quote of some air farce pilot who, when interviewed, said something along the lines: when you go to a dining-in and are wearing your dress blues, how can that civil engineer LTC sit next to me, a fighter pilot, wearing his bronze star when he is not a real fighting man like me, and not be ashamed. The irony in his statement really sums up a lot about the source of inter-service rivalry, or should I say animosity.