Stars & Stripes reports that Air Force Captain Charlotte A. Raabe and Staff Sergeant Gary P. Bjerke of the 9th Special Operations Squadron were awarded Distinguished Flying Crosses for their actions on January 5, 2016 aboard their MC-130J special operations aircraft over an Afghanistan firefight.
Their award citations said enemy fire hit the aircraft multiple times as it successfully dropped the ammunition to a Special Forces team at the base, enabling a successful counterattack.
Bjerke’s identification of ground threats “prevented further successful emergency engagement with the aircraft,” while Raabe’s “decisive actions and expeditious recalculation of the combat airdrop” was key to the mission’s success, the citations said.
“When the crew was told they had to put their bundles within 50 meters of the compound walls, or risk losing it to the enemy, they didn’t hesitate,” [Brig. Gen. William Holt II] said. “And they didn’t hesitate because there were friendly forces on the ground who were under fire from 360 degrees around the compound. They had already taken two casualties and were in danger of being overrun.”
Outstanding flying by the Captain and SSgt.
Neither was flying. They were crew in the back.
Duly noted. Good “crewing” then. Either way, hell of a job resupplying the ground guys
Amen, May the Lord bless them!
Way to go.
Brave Zulu, Air Force!
The Air Force was contracting the risky drops to Blackwater a few years ago, its nice see some big brass ones growing back.
Gotta love the Herks.
Coming to the support of troops on the ground? Youze done did good. Well deserved awards.
A DFC for an airdrop?
Yes, their MC130 had a few “ground fire” hits.
We going to give silver stars for every ground vehicle with a bullet hole too?
Yep. Looks like that is exactly what happened. Took only a few rounds instead of allowing themselves to be shot down. And the recipients of that airdrop lived to fight another day.
Nope, not likely to get a silver star for every ground vehicle with a bullet hole in it, unless it gets those bullet holes while delivering something absolutely necessary for the survival of some folks surrounded by enemy combatants.
Pretty much anybody can drive most ground vehicles. Flying a C-130 while dropping crap out the back end? Not quite so many. Even fewer fly into enemy fire while dropping a load on the exact spot it needs to be.
Just doin’ the job.
I bet they checked the fuel gauge before taking off! Almost every pilot does.
Delivering their “packages” within the distance of about half a football field is commendable, more so when someone is shooting at you.
I’m thinking that bird had to be REALLY low for that kind of accuracy … taking small arms fire would appear to support that.
Well done Air Force. Thanks for doing the job that kept our guys from being over run.
IIRC, a “Broken Arrow” situation?
I thought “Broken Arrow” was an incident of loss/damage/destruction of a nuclear weapon.