Air Force Tech. Sgt. Brian Claughsey earns a Silver Star
Devtun sends us a link at Military.com about Air Force Tech. Sergeant Brian Claughsey and his Silver Star that he was awarded yesterday at Pope Field, North Carolina for his actions in Kunduz, Afghanistan on September 28, 2015.
For four days, with no sleep and under constant fire from Taliban guns or mortars, Claughsey directed U.S. airstrikes during the battle.
It’s a pretty long story and I don’t want to seal the work of the folks at Military.com so you should click over and read about the Tech Sergeant’s valor. This is from the Air Force Times;
Lt. Col. Stewart Parker, the 21st Special Tactics Squadron commander, said he has enjoyed his time working with Claughsey.
“You’d never know if you met him on the street the kind of hero he is because he just doesn’t wear it on his sleeve,” Parker said.
Claughsey said receiving the Silver Star is “really humbling” and shows him that the other combat controllers and Special Forces team members had confidence in him.
“It’s humbling to be a part of such a large team and such a joint force that did a really incredible job of getting the city back to the Afghan people, who deserved to have their city,” he said.
Claughsey has also been selected to attend officer training and he’s on his way to become a second lieutenant.
Category: Air Force
Just stay away from calling airstrikes on hospitals….
🙂
That’s as funny as trying to figure out who daddy is on father’s day at your house
Except an AC130 DID bomb the crap put of a hospital during this operation. Over several hours.
And killed about a dozen innocent people.
And AC130s just don’t bomb shit on their own. They need a ground controller.
Did your Daddy ever teach you about taking responsibilities for your actions?
And yeah. This was an accident and part of what happens in war.
Now get back to your mama’s basement.
Did you personally experience or have knowledge of Claughsey calling in that strike on a hospital? If so, state such. If not, why are you throwing the whole hospital strike thing out there when the thread is a discussion about his valor? That’s pretty dickish to lob an accusation about something in which you have no proof, trying to tarnish what he did to earn the silver star.
and we all know the muzzies never, ever try to hide behind a mosque, aid station, or school. No, never, ever. Be glad only a dozen may have been killed. In older less correct days someone could have decided to take out the entire block just to make sure.
I’m not a fashion kind of guy but I can see that those shades match his grin.
Congrats Sgt. Claughsey.
Endurance personified. (Cat naps don’t count.) And he has a nice smile, too.
I was think that too. 4 days without sleep, the fog of war had to be very thick. It says a lot that he was able to continuously function without making a devastating mistake.
Good on him and good on his teammates. Their bravery, outstanding training and maybe a little divine intervention made for a great victory.
BZ to TSgt Claughsey!
It’s really refreshing to read about honest to God heroes. Congratulations Airman!
Thank you for your service, Sir.
What grinds my gears is it took over 18 months to get the man his award officially.
I think the Soviets in WW2 made it a habit of awarding medals as soon as an operation was done, on the spot.
There is no reason that a regimental commander shouldn’t have authorization to award a Silver Star to his unit members and a Division Commander a Navy Cross.
There are a lot of channels for it to go through. BN S-1, BDE S-1, DIV G-1, TF G-1, CENTCOM G-1, then it’ll get kicked back and sent forward again and again.
BUT, you are right. If the guys he was with say it was worth a Silver Star, some O4 or O5 8-9 layers away shouldn’t be able to say “not good enough “.
On my last deployment to A-Stan, if we were recommending a BSM for someone, it had to be submitted 8months from the date of award. That means that you were writing it 9 months from the date of award which was only 3 months into the deployment. Kind of hard to tell that they were going to deserve this award that early and many that did deserve it, missed the deadline. The whole awards system is a pain and needs an overhaul.
Maybe it’s just me, and certainly a Silver Star is a wonderful honor, but his cumulative actions seem deserving of a higher honor in my eyes.
Only 8 Air Force Crosses have been awarded since 2002.
The Citations are on this wiki page. Some ballsy stuff.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Force_Cross_(United_States)#Recent_recipients
I think he is deserving of an Air Force Cross.
BZ, TSgt Claughsey.
BZ!
More than likely it was submitted as an Air Force Cross which was downgraded (if you want to call it that) to the Silver Star.
BZ!
Combat Controllers = bad ass motor scooters. (Notice you don’t see too many fake ones.) Maybe they police their own?