John Wayne Lives

[Ken White]

Sort of.

7-up!!!

[Meinertzhagen]

Just reading the title, I thought to myself, "I bet I know exactly what raid these awards are for." Sure enough, I was right. U.S. soldiers had never even been within 30 miles of that village before that day. That was one very long day for me and much, much worse for those guys. The aviators on that operation did some amazing flying and are in for similar awards as well.

The photo below is not the exact village they raided, but is nearby in Nuristan and similar in terrain and layout. Imagine air assaulting to the base of the village and assaulting up steep muddy terraces while under heavy fire. Insane.

[Icebreaker]

I am glad those guys are on our side.

[bismark17]

Thanks for posting that!!! Highly motivating reading during these challenging times.

[Tom Odom]

The rest of the story

Fayetteville (NC) Observer
March 11, 2009
Pg. 1

Airman Gets Medal For Valor

By John Ramsey, Staff writer

Shot through the leg in the opening minutes of a 6 hour firefight, Staff Sgt. Zachary J. Rhyner kept his focus and called in the airstrikes that kept his pinned-down unit from being overrun by insurgents in the mountains of Afghanistan.

The combat controller trained for covert missions was the center of attention Tuesday when he received the Air Force’s second-highest award for valor. Rhyner is only the third airman to receive the Air Force Cross since 2001.

In a ceremony at Pope Air Force Base, Michael B. Donley, Secretary of the Air Force, pinned the Air Force Cross to Rhyner’s chest. Then Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton A. Schwartz tagged him with a purple heart for his injury in combat. Rhyner received a standing ovation from 1,100 fellow airmen.

On April 6, 2008, during his first deployment to Afghanistan, Rhyner jumped into the Shok Valley with about 100 Special Forces and Afghan soldiers. As they began to climb from the valley into the village where they hoped to capture some high-value targets, they met an ambush from about 200 insurgents.