Airman, comrades receive Silver Stars

Secretary of the Air Force James Roche presents the Silver Star to Staff Sgt. Michael Shropshire at a ceremony Thursday at Pope Air Force Base, N.C. Shropshire was one of five airmen to receive the award. Courtesy photo

POPE AFB, N.C. – A Fort Drum airman was one of five 18th Air Support Operations Group members to receive Silver Stars from the secretary of the Air Force here Dec. 9 for their handling of close air support missions during Operations Enduring and Iraqi Freedom.

“You’ve shown the world what American airmen will do to defend the weak and bring peace to the oppressed,” said Secretary James Roche during a ceremony.

The airmen were brought to the group headquarters to receive the honor during the secretary’s three-day visit to Pope. Lt. Col. James Fairchild, Tech. Sgt. Eric Brandenburg, Jr., Tech. Sgt. Jason Quesenberry and Staff Sgt. Thomas Case are assigned to the 17th Air Support Operations Squadron, Fort Benning, Ga. Staff Sgt. Michael Shropshire is assigned to the 20th Air Support Operations Squadron, Fort Drum.

Although he was not assigned to the group in 2002 when the heroic act occurred, Fairchild is now the 17th ASOS commander. The Silver Star was awarded for his efforts as an F-15E weapons officer in a two-ship F-15E at Shah e Kot Valley, Afghanistan, in March 2002 during Operation Anaconda. During this mission he was able to support tactical air controllers on the ground.

“Those guys are the real heroes,” he said. “I’ve had the opportunity to meet about a third of the guys who were on the ground, and shaking their hands is probably the best reward there is.”

Because of the close proximity of friendly ground troops to enemy targets, his flight was forced to improvise and use A-10 like techniques. The F-15s began with strafe passes, or low-flying, close-range machine gun fire. But after their 20 mm ammunition was exhausted, the flight got the ground troops permission to begin using laser-guided bombs. They helped each other work successive bombs closer to Taliban and al Qaeda forces without injuring U.S. forces nearby. Fairchild’s aircraft was able to safely drop a single laser-guided bomb as little as 200 meters away from the friendly ground troops.

He said the hardest part about the mission was knowing that the guys on the ground were taking fire, but according to his citation, the flight was directly responsible for the eventual rescue of 23 military personnel.

The colonel said he was proud to receive the award with three of his own troops. “I really enjoy the mission that were doing now. I couldn’t ask to be working with better guys.”

Quesenberry was honored for his efforts during an attack that killed a combat controller and wounded three Army Rangers while assigned to a Ranger team near western Iraq. During the attack, he risked exposure to rocket and small arms fire in order to direct close-air support aircraft and cover his teammates.

After being wounded by a rocket he disregarded his injuries and saved his team’s only communications link, his radio and Global Positioning System from a burning vehicle. The sergeant said the survival instinct kicked in, and he just wanted to help out other team members who were hurt more seriously. Despite heavy bleeding, Quesenberry refused medical treatment so he could continue coordinating air cover as the team moved to a safer position. The sergeant then treated the wounded, established a hasty defense and controlled air cover while coordinating their evacuation.

Quesenberry was awarded the Purple Heart at an earlier time for his injuries, which took him off duty for about three months.

Brandenburg was honored for his courage and calmness during a three-day firefight as the terminal attack controller noncommissioned officer in charge while attached to a ranger battalion near western Iraq. With rocket-propelled grenades exploding over his head, Brandenburg fought off the enemy while requesting and controlling close air support. The sergeant moved forward through the intense firefight to get better vantage points to control the air strikes and was actually blown into the air by an exploding artillery shell.

“Your training kicks in,” he said. “You train hours on end to be in that kind of situation. When it actually happens, you’re kind of shocked for a second, and then your training takes over and it’s second nature.”

Case was honored for his efforts during the same firefight. After his unit began receiving fire, Case used his own weapon to fight off the enemy, while directing air strikes. During the onslaught, Case was frequently hit by fragments of concrete and shrapnel from the blasts, but continued to control up to 14 aircraft at a time. These attacks punctured his rucksack and often knocked him to the ground.

He said the most frightening moment was when artillery start to come down on their heads. “They can shoot at me all day long,” he said, “but when the big bombs start falling, it’s a little bit different.” He said what got him through was faith in the men their with him and in God.

The two sergeants together directed about 700 air strikes during the fight.
Shropshire was honored for his contribution to Operation Iraqi Freedom at Abu Sukhayr, Iraq, in March 2003 when the Army unit he was attached to was attacked and surrounded by enemy forces. Surrounded, cut off, under a hail of enemy gunfire and in the largest sandstorm in four decades, Shropshire coordinated close air support while constantly switching from the radio handset to his rifle.

The sandstorm cut the controller visibility dramatically, and it was compounded by rain. “It was basically raining mud,” he said. Because of this fact, he heavily relied on outside technology like the Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System, which helped him to “see” through the muck.

The sergeant then left the security of his armored vehicle to confirm enemy armor locations. Low on ammunition, in a blinding sandstorm and under intense enemy fire, the sergeant directed the munitions that destroyed 10 T-72 tanks. This act dismounted enemy forces about to overrun the unit’s position. He then quickly repaired his bullet-ridden satellite antenna and coordinated other air strikes.

“I couldn’t have done this by myself,” he said. “There were a lot of people on the outside working their pieces to help me accomplish my mission. The joint team worked out really well.”

Tactical air controllers are Air Force specialists who are assigned to Army combat maneuver units around the world. They are typically a two-airmen team that works in an Army ground unit to direct close air support toward enemy targets on the ground. Airmen of the 18th ASOG operate and are deployed from 18 different locations across the United States.