{"id":75353,"date":"2017-10-14T09:10:44","date_gmt":"2017-10-14T13:10:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/?p=75353"},"modified":"2017-10-14T09:10:44","modified_gmt":"2017-10-14T13:10:44","slug":"eleven-airmen-receive-valor-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/?p=75353","title":{"rendered":"Eleven Airmen receive valor awards"},"content":{"rendered":"

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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<\/a> tells the story of what happened next;<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Hunter\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019 advance and allowing medics to treat and move casualties.<\/p>\n

Smoke from the battle became so thick that the team maneuvered blindly through the village under Hunter\u2019s aircraft-aided direction. The ground force commander received a mortal wound and Hunter again braved enemy fire to protect his wounded teammate.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Frankie sends us a link to the news<\/a> that eleven airmen were decorated with valor awards for their bravery that day;<\/p>\n

Staff Sgt. Richard Hunter, a Special Tactics operator assigned to the 23rd Special Tactics Squadron, will be awarded the Air Force\u2019s highest medal, the Air Force Cross, for gallantry against an armed enemy in combat.<\/p>\n

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….<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On November 2, 2016 in Kunduz Province, Afghanistan, Air Force Staff Sergeant Richard Hunter was embedded … Eleven Airmen receive valor awards<\/span>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":75354,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[187],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-75353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-air-force"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75353","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=75353"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75353\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/75354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=75353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=75353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=75353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}