{"id":36759,"date":"2013-07-24T06:20:29","date_gmt":"2013-07-24T10:20:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/?p=36759"},"modified":"2013-07-24T06:20:29","modified_gmt":"2013-07-24T10:20:29","slug":"airman-earns-second-silver-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/?p=36759","title":{"rendered":"Airman earns second Silver Star"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Ismael<\/a><\/center><\/p>\n

In the Air Force Times<\/a>, is a story about Tech Sergeant Ismael Villegas who has been awarded a second Silver Star for his actions in Afghanistan in 2011;<\/p>\n

During a battle early in the mission, a friendly element was pinned down by hostile fire. Villegas ran toward the troops to get a sight on the insurgent\u2019s position. While completely exposed to the small arms fire, Villegas coordinated with an overhead remotely piloted aircraft and fixed-wing air support to drop 14,000 pounds of bombs.<\/p>\n

In another instance, Villegas volunteered for a patrol to explore the area, and his team came under enemy fire. The group was inside a structure, stacked up on a door, when an RPG hit. Shrapnel shredded the wall in front of them and hit a Green Beret soldier next to him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI heard the screams, so I grabbed him, pulled him back and began directing air support in the area,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Villegas moved between his team and the enemy, providing additional cover fire and controlled close air support within 60 meters of him to stop the onslaught and help the patrol fight their way over the kill zone.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

From Stars & Stripes<\/a>;<\/p>\n

A Silver Star citation credited Villegas, a native of Mexico City, with controlling 40 aircraft that dropped 32,500 pounds of bombs over his 18-day mission. It also said he constantly risked his life during a series of engagements.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Thanks to David for the links.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the Air Force Times, is a story about Tech Sergeant Ismael Villegas who has been … Airman earns second Silver Star<\/span>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[187,130],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-air-force","category-real-soldiers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=36759"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36759\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}