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Eight Night Stalkers Earn Distinguished Flying Cross
(April 19, 2011) |
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JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. (4/14/2011) –“I flew super
fast, I flew low, and I flew hard, like I stole it,” said
Chief Warrant Officer 3 Todd Peterson, Chinook helicopter
pilot, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment
(Airborne), about the night that his crew and two others
flew a dangerous but crucial mission that sacrificed their
lives for the safety of other forces and earned them the
Distinguished Flying Cross for their heroism and valor.
Eight Soldiers of the 160th SOAR who braved the mission
were awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross during a
ceremony at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, April 11. |
Eight Night Stalkers
of 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment
(Airborne) are applauded by the audience after
being awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross
during a ceremony at Joint Base Lewis-McChord,
Wash., April 11, 2011. The soldiers received the
award for exceptional heroism and valor during a
dangerous but crucial mission in Afghanistan in
2009, that required them as MH-47 Chinook
helicopter crews to put their lives in immediate
danger for the well-being of other forces and
mission accomplishment. |
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Awardees were: Chief Warrant Officer 4
Bernard Litaker, Jr.
Chief Warrant Officer 3 Maciek
Mankowski
Chief Warrant Officer 3 Todd Peterson
Staff
Sgt. Benjamin Tate
Staff Sgt. Stanley Yeadon
Sgt.
Jason Brown
Sgt. Jeremy Gribble
Spc. Matthew Jones
On that September night in Afghanistan, 2009, unexpected
orders came down for a mission in which success depended on
the expertise of highly skilled MH-47 Chinook helicopter
crews, Navy Vice Adm. William H. McRaven, commander of the
Joint Special Operations Command and task force commander
forward at the time of the mission, reminisced during his
speech at the ceremony.
Without much intelligence on
the target or knowledge of the decree of the enemy threat,
the three helicopter crews of 160th SOAR quickly developed a
plan and took flight. To their surprise, they came under
intensive enemy fire about five miles from the objective.
“I was thinking wow that's a lot of RPG's. I thought
this is the craziest thing I've ever been on,” said
Peterson. “The sheer volume of fire that we took that night
from the enemy, how prepared they were for us to come in
there was surprising.”
That night McRaven followed
the fight intently over the radio, and could recall over 54
RPGs being fired at the team forcing the crews to stray from
the original plan and rapidly adapt to the increasingly
hostile situation.
“The helo's had to land right next
to the objective. It was the only chance for success, the
only chance for survival. In what was unquestionably heroic
flying but more importantly incredibly skillful flying, all
three crews set their helo's down in a composed landing
zone,” said McRaven.
The crews landed only meters
from their target, completed the objective and prepared for
the intense flight back as they remained continuously
engaged with the enemy.
“Our ability to get into such
a heavily defended area and get out successfully surprised
the heck out of me. It was pretty amazing overall,” said
Peterson.
Once they were out of harm's way the crews
began to relax, but the comfort was short-lived as they
received a call for support from the ground forces.
“Once we got that call to come back we were like, ‘wow we
have to go do this again,' but we had to go get them, we put
them in and we weren't going to leave anybody behind. So we
just bumped fists and headed back out there. There was no
question in my mind that we weren't coming out of it, but
because of our gunners we are all here and we were
successful,” he added.
Now, two years after the
event, McRaven sees it only fit to recognize every member of
the three crews. The Distinguished Flying Cross recognizes
servicemembers whose exceptional acts of heroism, valor and
achievement while engaged in aerial flight act above and
beyond the call of duty and set them apart from others in
like situations.
“I think that the Distinguished
Flying Cross is the purist recognition of heroism in the
service. It was clear to me that every Night Stalker who
volunteered for this mission and fought in the crucible of
that night warranted either a DFC or the Air Medal of
Valor,” said McRaven. “On (that night) there was no doubt
that uncommon valor was a common virtue of (these men).” |
Article and photo by Army Spc. Ashley Outler
28th Public Affairs Detachment
Copyright 2011 |
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