Eleven Airmen receive valor awards
On November 2, 2016 in Kunduz Province, Afghanistan, Air Force Staff Sergeant Richard Hunter was embedded with an Army Special Forces team when they were ambushed. AF.mil tells the story of what happened next;
Hunter identified multiple enemy locations and directed multiple danger close strikes that were so close that the team was blasted by dirt as they pushed deeper into the village.
Hunter’s team maneuvered through a narrow alley and ran into a locked metal gate that temporarily trapped them in an enemy ambush of grenades and machine gun fire, resulting in four friendly force injuries.
Hunter charged forward under a barrage of enemy fire to shield the wounded with his body while calling in suppressing fire. He coordinated close air support strikes, deconflicted airspace, and maximized fire support from overhead gunships, repelling the enemies’ advance and allowing medics to treat and move casualties.
Smoke from the battle became so thick that the team maneuvered blindly through the village under Hunter’s aircraft-aided direction. The ground force commander received a mortal wound and Hunter again braved enemy fire to protect his wounded teammate.
Hunter initiated the launch of the Quick Reaction Force (QRF) and casualty evacuation helicopter before joining two teammates to clear adjacent buildings to find temporary refuge from the enemy onslaught.
In the middle of the chaos, Hunter heard someone call for help. Peering over a wall, he saw a member of his team with serious injuries lying exposed, pinned down, and unable to move. Hunter led a fire team back into the kill zone at great risk to their lives to recover their wounded teammate. During this recovery, he directed airstrikes with a radio in one hand while dragging the rescued team member 30 meters to safety with his other hand.After the QRF arrived, the team maneuvered to an open field for helicopter evacuation and were again ambushed. Hunter directed overhead fires to eliminate the threat while helping to load the wounded.
Frankie sends us a link to the news that eleven airmen were decorated with valor awards for their bravery that day;
Staff Sgt. Richard Hunter, a Special Tactics operator assigned to the 23rd Special Tactics Squadron, will be awarded the Air Force’s highest medal, the Air Force Cross, for gallantry against an armed enemy in combat.
Also, five crew members of Spooky 43, the AC-130U gunship that supported the ground team, will receive Distinguished Flying Crosses and five will receive Air Medals with Valor for their role in the same firefight….
Category: Air Force
BZ!
Fvck yes & seconded on the BZ.
‘I’ll just hold on to this 105 round until I can slip it in her and slam-fire to prevent a cook off.’
(rack-BOOM)
‘While we’re waiting for the next to-go order for 105 airburst, let me put my pinky in your coffee. Bang! Instant iced coffee!’
That entire account and everyone involved – no words to do it and them justice.
^^^5 There are some bad asses in the Special Tactics Squadron!!
I wonder what SSgt Hunter was awarded. It reads like a MoH citation.
Air Force Cross.
Article says the Air Force Cross.
Wonder if it might be upgraded somewhere along the line, especially since some of those he was directing also received the Air Force Cross. That’s the highest award USAF can give an airman.
Very well done, all.
It’s in the article. AFC, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it gets upgraded. You’re right, that seems deserving of an MoH.
BZ, airmen!
its good that they get recognized, i just hope he shaves that mustache before he gets the award….
SF Beard, Macho. Within regs Mustache, not so much!
Damn millennials! All the poseurs are shamed and humiliated by men like this and I doubt this SSgt walks around bragging about his being a war hero….even though he really is a war hero.
I don’t know how men like this walk in the first place…
I mean if I had balls that huge, it would be very difficult to walk at all.
BZ!!
And somewhere a pajama boy is upset mommy didn’t put whipped cream in his hot chocolate.
Hey Hey Hey, that’s a natural thing to expect when you’ve been living with your mom for 35 years. Gosh!
DASH DOT DOT DOT DASH DASH DOT DOT
Once Morse is in your head you can’t escape it!
Fine job Staff Sergeant Hunter. Damned fine job indeed. Reads like a MoH citation to me though.
Wow. That really does sound like a citation for the Medal.
Very well done, young man. I predict many, many free beers in your future.
That is pretty bad ass! I think he gets extra credit for being an airforce guy!! 😉
(Speechless)
Yeah
I know what you mean.
No, you really do not. Silence is not one of your strengths.
So, an Air Force valor award is equivalent to what in the Army?
I would say the Air Force Cross is like an ARCOM with V in the Army.
I mean, really, that gay got a valor award for doing a call for fire?
Ok.
I meant, “that guy”.
Freudian slip or autocorrect. Can’t say which.
If it is auto correct is pretty bad, because that means I say gay so many times that it is auto correcting guy with gay.
Try the DSC
Hmmmm. Yeah, you would know better than the guys who were there.
If you had read the citation, you would know that there was quite a lot more to it than “doing a call for fire.”
But thanks for playing, Yef.
“I would say …”
And who – besides, of course, you – gives a tinker’s damn WHAT you would say?
Let me save you the ciphering – NOBODY.
Get, you twit! Ask any Grunt, any Ranger, any SF type, and he will tell you that AF Combat Controllers are about as ballsy as they come
“Yef” not “get”.
Yef: just WTF is your major malfunction?
Go away.
Whoa, i didn’t look at the picture.
He got Freddy Mercury moustache?
Damn girl.
Tell us, Yef … are you really a total ass, or are you just playing one on television?
Jerk.
Wow. They left a wounded comrade behind and had to go back and get him?
Accountability is 101 in infantry training.
Leave it to you to start picking apart an amazing act of bravery.
Hush Yef. Grown folks are talking. Putz.
What’s the citation read like for YOUR DSC, daddy?
F’in jaggoff…
That happens sometimes when folks on the battlefield aren’t all huddled in a big pile together. Getting separated happens.
Also, even this elite specimen of manhood has his limits in the number of appendages available for carrying/dragging people around.
How many people can YOU drag off the battlefield in one trip, Yef?
Why bother. Yef just sounds like a fool.
“Yef just sounds like a fool.”
Yef is also an unprofessional, petulant child whose petty jealousy is showing once again. He’s always the first to show up here and attempt to belittle, disparage, and disrespect the valor awards of others.
Yef constantly claims that he’s in the Infantry and that he has a CIB. I find that very difficult to believe, and I doubt that he’s ever been anywhere near an actual Infantry unit in combat. That’s because I know many Infantry combat veterans, and not one of them would ever come in here and say any of the stupid shit that Yef routinely does.
Actual combat veterans are much too professional and respectful to ever behave like Yef does around here.
but Yef DIDN’T say “I had the right to remain silent. I just didn’t have the ability.” But he should have, if he were funnier, more articulate, and more intelligent.