January 19, 2011 at 1:02pm
This from Air Force Times: A security forces officer and a joint terminal attack controller injured in Afghanistan each received the Purple Heart on Wednesday from the Air Force's top officer.
More than 300 airmen looked on as Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz presented the honor to Capt. Gil Wyche and Senior Airman Brandon Cullen Towle during a visit to Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan.
Wyche, a security forces officer assigned to the 966th Air Expeditionary Squadron, received shrapnel wounds during an insurgent attack on his base in Jalalabad in mid-November. Fighters using small arms and grenades rushed the perimeter of Forward Operating Base Fenty. Despite the wounds, Wyche and his team repelled the attack.
"We knew where we were going and we knew it was a hotbed," Wyche, deployed from RAF Lakenheath, England, said in a news release. "But, nothing can prepare you until the bullets actually start flying, grenades start getting thrown on top of you, and you start firing back. My guys responded very well."
Towle, a JTAC assigned to the 817th Expeditionary Air Support Operations Squadron, was working out at the gym at FOB Connolly in Nangarhar province in early January when an indirect-fire round exploded near him. Shrapnel pierced his upper thigh. He ran to cover in a bunker, where medics treated the wounds.
Towle then began calling in airstrikes that helped end the assault.
"This wasn't the first time these guys attacked us," said Towle, who is in the fifth month of his six-month deployment from Pope Air Force Base, N.C. "I just wanted to eliminate the threat once and for all."
22nd Special Tactics Squadron, 262nd Information Warfare Aggressor Squadron, 361st Recruiting Squadron, 446th Airlift Wing, 5th Air Support Operations Squadron, 62nd Airlift Wing, 62nd Maintenance Group, 62nd Medical Squadron, 62nd Mission Support Group, 62nd Operations Group, 728th Airlift Squadron, Afghanistan, Air Mobility Command, Air Rodeo, Awards, Ceremony, Contest, Defense News, Dependent, Deployment, Education, Environment, Family Readiness, Food and Drink, Furlough, Health, History, Holidays, Honors, Iraq, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Lacey, Lakewood, Madigan, McChord Air Museum, McChord Base Exchange, McChord Commissary, Memorial, Military Discount, Military Policy, News To Us, Olympia, Space-A Travel, Sports, Tacoma, Training, U.S. Air Force, USO, Veterans, Web/Tech, Weekly Volcano, Western Air Defense Sector
Thanks for listing down some of the things to consider when buying renters insurance. I totally...
you are say about this Air Force highly recommends absolutely right and i appreciate your...
This is real take it serious, my name is marian i, who will believe that a herb can Cure...
Its always a treat to be able to get on base and all of the planes from around the world come...
Thanks for giving us nice info. Fantastic walk-through. I appreciate this post.
Read Comments