Air Force introduces Volume VIII of Portraits in Courage

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Lesley Waters
  • Air Force Public Affairs Agency, Operating Location - P
WASHINGTON --  The Air Force released its eighth volume of Portraits in Courage, highlighting three teams and 13 Airmen for their honor, valor, devotion and selfless sacrifice in the face of extreme danger to themselves and others.

"Our Airmen are faced with situations like this each and every day around the globe," wrote Air Force Chief of Staff Mark A. Welsh III and Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force James A. Cody in the volume's preface. "And each of them has their own story. In fact, it would take many volumes to highlight them all. They believe in integrity, in service, in excellence and are ready and willing to go in harm's way."

Cody recognized five of the 22 Portraits in Courage recipients during the Portraits in Courage VIII Honorees Luncheon at the Women's Memorial, Arlington, Va., Feb. 5.

The 22 recipients represent all major commands and multiple career fields including medical, pararescue, Air Force Office of Special Investigation, explosive ordnance disposal and others. To date, the Air Force has recognized 175 Airmen through this project.

"There's a reason I don't worry about the future of the Air Force," Welsh said. "It has nothing to do with technology. It has nothing to do with talent. It has to do with heart. I'll never worry, not while these guys are on our side. This is your Air Force."

All of this year's Portraits in Courage stories and stories from previous volumes are featured on the Air Force Portraits in Courage website: http://www.af.mil/specials/courage/index.html.

This volume features:

-- Nursing students and Cadet 1st Lts. Quianna Samuels, Alison Nordlander and Ashlyn McNeely just finished their Air Force ROTC Leadership Laboratory requirements on the Baylor University on the Waco, Texas, campus. As they walked from their car, a deafening blast shook the air and a mushroom cloud climbed into the evening sky, the result of a massive explosion at a fertilizer plant a mile away. For more than four hours, these future Air Force officers treated dozens of injured people as fires continued to burn through the night and heavy smoke blanketed the site. (Since publication, Nordlander and Samuels received their commissions in May 2013 and became second lieutenants. Samuels is stationed at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va. and Nordlander is stationed at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla).

-- Staff Sgt. Mark Hajduk and Senior Airman Garrett Amorose, both EOD technicians from the 345th Civil Engineer Squadron at Eielson AFB, Alaska, and their team were tasked with clearing a region of improvised explosive devices during the second day of an air assault. After the team cleared their eighth IED, a massive explosion detonated 40 meters away. The team responded immediately and found a scene of confusion with several startled but uninjured Soldiers lying on the ground near the blast site; however, one soldier had ended up in a 15-foot-deep well. He suffered a traumatic amputation of both legs and a partially amputated arm. Hajduk and Amorose helped treat and care for the Soldier until his medical evacuation.

-- Maj. Matthew Komatsu, Master Sgt. Paul Barendregt, and Tech. Sgts. Kyle Minshew and Dan Warren, a combat rescue officer and pararescuemen, respectively, received a call for help following an insurgent attack on Bastion Airfield in Afghanistan. The number of casualties was unknown. Despite a lack of reliable intelligence, the team headed across the airfield. Amidst a blazing fuel farm and attack helicopters hovering overhead, they encountered a firefight between a British quick response force and several insurgents. The Airmen, assigned to the 212th Rescue Squadron at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska, sprinted uphill the length of a football-field in full view of enemy fire to reach casualties.

-- Master Sgt. Andrew Adrian, a 673rd Civil Engineer Squadron EOD technician at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, partnered with British special operation forces and Afghan commandos on a mission to sweep and clear enemy compounds. His quick and fearless actions during the mission prevented the death of the two commandos and protected the remainder of the unit from grave injury.

-- Staff Sgt. Michael Blout, a 23rd Special Tactics Squadron combat controller at Hurlburt Field, Fla., averted catastrophe during high-risk combat operations when his team entered Chak Valley, a known hotbed of insurgent activity in Afghanistan's Wardak Province. The team split into two elements to patrol through dense, jungle-like undergrowth where one of the elements was ambushed and immediately took casualties.

-- Tech. Sgt. Ronnie Brickey, an Air Force Special Operations School EOD technician from Hurlburt Field, visually identified a victim-operated, pressure-plate improvised explosive device, which saved the life of another EOD technician. After rendering the IED safe, Brickey's team immediately received fire from three separate locations.

-- Special Agent Willie Cooper from the AFOSI Detachment 111 at Edwards AFB, Calif., was finishing reports in his deployed office at Camp Simba, Kenya, when he was notified of a plane crash just outside of the Kenyan naval base airstrip, an area known for its population of leopards, poisonous snakes and lions. Within 10 minutes of the incident notification, Cooper organized a response team, directed personnel to gather medical supplies and rapidly departed to respond to the crash site.

-- Master Sgt. Tracy Debbs, a 56th Rescue Squadron pararescueman at Royal Air Force Lakenheath, England, rallied his team and sprinted to their helicopters at Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan, after learning a coalition soldier from New Zealand had sustained injuries in a firefight and required immediate evacuation. Upon landing at the site, they discovered more casualties and encountered enemy fire.

-- Master Sgt. Christopher Doggett, a 17th Training Wing military training leader at Goodfellow AFB, Texas, accompanied by his wife, Brook, was one of 26 wounded-warrior veterans who were honorary guests and members of the procession in the 2012 Midland/Odessa, Texas, "Hunt for Heroes" Veterans Day Parade. The wounded warriors and their spouses were divided into two groups of 25 and seated on two decorated, flatbed tractor-trailers, each driven by individual trucks. On one section of the parade route, the trucks -- with trailers in tow -- had to cross a set of railroad tracks. When one of the trucks was struck by a train, Doggett leapt into action.

-- Staff Sgt. Kyle Fulton, a 23rd Special Tactics Squadron combat controller at Hurlburt Field, and his comrades were alerted to a nearby fire caused by a large explosion. En route, Fulton established communications with aircraft approaching the scene, identified friendly positions, and coordinated aircraft attacks on insurgents maneuvering north of the base's perimeter wall. Upon exiting his vehicle at the scene, Fulton began taking point-blank fire from hidden insurgents.

-- Tech. Sgt. Jarrod Mills, a 315th Civil Engineer Squadron EOD technician at Joint Base Charleston, S.C., deployed directly into a known insurgent stronghold in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan to clear a homemade explosive production site. His EOD team searched an island in the middle of the Helmand River where they found and destroyed 50 kilograms of explosives and captured one insurgent who was scouting their movements.

-- Staff Sgt. Nicole (Nellist) Richardson, a 802nd Civil Engineer Squadron EOD technician at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas, faced her most challenging mission as a member of an EOD team deployed to Helmand Province, Afghanistan. The team was tasked with assisting the Marine Corps' 1st Combat Engineer Battalion by clearing routes, mitigating the threat from IEDs and keeping supply routes open; however, while en route, several vehicles in Nellist's convoy were damaged by IEDs and people were injured. The team's position came under direct enemy attack from rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and small-arms fire.

-- Special Agent Robert Powers, assigned to AFOSI in Quantico, Va., and his then-fiancée, now wife, were shopping at a local grocery store in nearby Norfolk when he heard someone say there was a fire in the men's restroom. Customers began fleeing the building, concerned about their own safety. Powers, however, entered the restroom to see if anyone remained inside and found an elderly man engulfed in flames from waist down.

-- Master Sgt. DeLorean Sheridan, a 21st Special Tactics Squadron joint terminal attack controller at Pope Army Air Field, N.C., was completing a routine pre-brief for a combat control mission at his deployed location in Wardak Province, Afghanistan. While his team loaded gear into their vehicles, an Afghan national police officer suddenly turned and opened fire with a truck-mounted machine gun merely 25 feet away. Simultaneously, 15 to 20 insurgents just outside the village engaged the base with heavy machine gunfire.

-- Maj. R. Shaine Thrower, a 315th Weapons Squadron nuclear and missile operator at Nellis AFB, Nev., was off-duty on his way to pick up his daughter from a field-trip when he noticed her bus was on fire. He promptly jumped out of his car and ran to the door of the bus where he directed the driver, who was unaware of the fire, to evacuate all passengers immediately. As he fought the flames, there was an explosion.

-- Senior Airman Andrew Williamson, a 48th Rescue Squadron pararescuman from Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz., responded to an urgent medical evacuation request. Two Soldiers were trapped inside a burning armored vehicle that had struck an IED. Williamson and three team members loaded a British helicopter with 200 pounds of extraction gear and landed a quarter mile from the fiery scene. Williamson and his team were forced to carry the equipment through an enemy-held village. (Courtesy of Air Force News Service)