{"id":81470,"date":"2025-06-11T19:28:01","date_gmt":"2025-06-11T19:28:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2025\/06\/11\/uss-oscar-austin-crew-accepts-combat-award-for-red-sea-deployment\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T20:08:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T20:08:09","slug":"uss-oscar-austin-crew-accepts-combat-award-for-red-sea-deployment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/news\/your-air-force\/2025\/06\/11\/uss-oscar-austin-crew-accepts-combat-award-for-red-sea-deployment\/","title":{"rendered":"USS Oscar Austin crew awarded combat action ribbon for Red Sea actions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Crew members of the Arleigh Burke-class Aegis guided missile destroyer Oscar Austin have been awarded the Combat Action Ribbon for providing combat support to U.S. naval forces in the Red Sea amid attacks by Houthi rebels, the Navy announced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sailors and other personnel aboard the vessel were awarded ribbon, colloquially known as a CAR, after completing Oscar Austin\u2019s first forward-deployed Naval Forces-Europe patrol in the U.S. Sixth Fleet and Fifth Fleet, which operate out of Europe and Africa, and the Middle East, respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m honored to have assumed command of Oscar Austin during her first patrol as a forward deployed warship,\u201d said Cmdr. David Nicolas, who assumed command of the warship in May. \u201cHaving served previously as the ship\u2019s executive officer, I feel immense pride in witnessing the growth and development of the crew in their preparation for and completion of Patrol One.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The destroyer briefly visited the Mediterranean Sea before joining the Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group as it battled frequent missile and drone attacks from Yemen\u2019s Houthi rebels \u2014 an Iran-backed terrorist group \u2014 over several months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Donald Trump\u2019s administration began conducting large-scale bombings against Houthi sites in Yemen on March 15, a shelling that ended in May after the U.S. claimed to have hit more than 800 targets<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\t