Air Force to award three medals
Bobo sends us a link to the Washington Post which reports that “These U.S. airmen refused to be taken hostage in Afghanistan. Now they’ll get valor awards.” about Sergeant Matthew J. Greiner and Senior Airman Goodie J. Goodman, who will both receive the Silver Star and Senior Airman Dustin H. Temple (that’s him in the middle), who earned himself an Air Force Cross. All three earned their medals on September 27, 2014.
I’m not going to cut and paste the story written by our friend, Dan Lamothe, so you should click over and read it yourself. But, you should know that Senior Airman Temple is only the third recipient of the Air Force Cross from the Afghanistan War behind Jason Dean Cunningham and John Chapman, both of whom were awarded the medal posthumously.
Category: Air Force
Holiest of holies, good work, gentlemen.
BAMFs.
Respect Knuckles to my Airmen.
Got-DAMN awesome job.
SMSgt Chip
/Here, let me carry your bags, gentlemen.
Well done, men. This old soldier salutes you.
And, lest we forget: RIP SFC Andrew T. Weathers, US Army. He was wounded in this incident, and later DOW on 30 September 2014.
SFC Weathers was the only friendly death or serious injury in this engagement. Due to the actions of these three, the other 39 friendly personnel (15 US, 24 Afghan) were apparently extracted without serious injury.
Well done, men. God Bless
Outstanding job by these PJ’s!
Good to see some authentic Valor is still occurring.
Gentlemen, I Salute You!
HOO-AH!
Well done, young men!
Note to self. Do not play poker with Goodman.
He called off 130s to sucker the bad guys out. They bit, whereupon he had hellfire rain down upon them.
When I read stories such as this about guys like this, all I see are steel balls in uniform, armed, and pissed off. It was a bad day for the enemy.
Well done gents!
And ftr, they are Combat Controllers (CCTs) not PJs…
Not to quibble too much, but the correct rank is Technical Sergeant, or TSgt, for the gent on the left.
Well done, guys!
Thanks USAF!!!
If the most dangerous thing in the military is a 2Lt with a compass, then the second most dangerous thing is a Combat Control specialist with a radio.
Simply outstanding.
*slow applause, standing*
Outstanding job!!!! Salute!!
I know very few of the guys still in cause I am getting old. But the PJs that I worked with, and the CCT guys are all special kind of guys. They have been proving their stuff in the GWOT since the early days of Afghanistan embedded with SOF units from around the world. Calling in air, treating the wounded, and just being general badasses. They say the Special Tactics Sq out of Pope is the most decorated unit in the Air Force.
It would not be a stretch for a Medal of Honor Citation. I am humbled by men and women such as these.
Doug Sterner and I have discussed this many times. Politics is the reason no Airman has received a MOH during the GWOT. USAF Leadership in the 5-sided building is still dominated by conventional pilots. As long as the conventional pilots aren’t getting Valor awards, no SOF Airman( especially enlisted) will get a MOH.
Unfortunately true…something latent in the personality of the zipper suited sun god emerges when they pin eagles or stars onto their pajamas. They tend to forget the lowly enlisted guys and glas…
The unsung heroes of the military. I read about the PJ’s and CCT’s and am struck by their bravery and intestinal fortitude. These guys are truly bad asses.