Posted on 04/21/2018 5:59:02 AM PDT by Twotone
It was March 4, 2002. American special operations forces were fighting to establish observation posts high above Afghanistan’s Shah-i-Kot Valley, as conventional troops continued their push through the valley floor below.
One of those men, Air Force Technical Sgt. John Chapman, was alone in the pitch-black, wounded and slowly regaining his consciousness in the thigh-deep snow of a 10,469-foot peak known as Takur Ghar, as scores of Al Qaeda fighters closed in.
The operators were due to lift-off from their Gardez base around midnight and quietly land near the base of the peak before climbing to the top. But maintenance delays and pressure from senior officers forced Senior Chief Petty Officer Britt Slabinski, the team’s leader, to nix the safer approach, instead opting to “land the x” of the peak at around 3 a.m.
It would prove a gross miscalculation in retrospect.
Chapman, an Air Force combat controller, and six members of Navy SEAL Team 6 — callsign Mako 30 — were to helicopter-insert high above the valley so they could direct air strikes and provide intelligence for conventional troops below, who were attempting to flush out an estimated 200 to 300 lightly-armed Al Qaeda fighters, just five months after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11.
For his actions earlier in the battle and for his incredible bravery on that peak, according to sources familiar with the matter, Chapman will be posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor later this year.
And “Chappy” — as he was known by his teammates — will be the first Air Force service-member to receive the nation’s highest award for valor since the Vietnam War.
(Excerpt) Read more at taskandpurpose.com ...
“”The PJ’s””
And for those who don’t know it was a PJ (William Pitsenbarger) who was awarded the MOH posthumously from the Vietnam war...took 34 years. He died in battle in 1966 and the MOH wasn’t awarded until 2000. Thankfully, his father was still alive to receive it at Wright Pat along with his stepmother. His mother had passed away some time before that. We never knew “Pits” but we became friends of his parents when we moved for a short time to OH. A most devastating loss; an only child.
Chapman (seen kneeling on one knee fourth from the right) is photographed with US and Afghan fighters
Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3762642/US-Air-Force-wants-posthumous-Medal-Honor-airman-hi-tech-analysis-surveillance-video-shows-heroically-fought-Al-Qaeda-gunmen-Afghan-mountaintop-2002.html
Forgot to say that Pits was the first enlisted AF member to receive the Air Force Cross...
I’ve always had Chapman in my mind as being killed in the first story that was put out about a helicopter crash. I wasn’t aware that there was a correction later to that.
Really glad he will be honored with the MOH.
16 years later, that’s an absolutely unreasonable delay. Wonder what the excuse for the bureaucracy is? The guy deserved to be awarded that medal Long ago. I wonder what family members have already passed away and will never see this? I wonder how many men he fought along side have lost their lives and never knew an action they were involved in resulted in a medal of honor?
Delaying this long is unreasonable. Witnesses can die, facts get harder to nail down etc. Shame on the command it took this long to do this.
I spent a few years in an ASOC as a medic. Interesting job, interesting people. And yes, the USAF does have ground troops outside the wire.
I agree.
Battle at Takur Ghar: Roberts Ridge.....
AMEN, when you need 500 lbs of raw BOOM and a HUN pilot with enough balls to deliver it a couple hundred feet off the ground a couple hundred feet in front of you. Who do you call ? Being a grunt pinned down with your face in the dirt with no place to go on a rice paddy meant the sound of an afterburnered Super Sabre was music to the ears.
Here’s the drone footage.....Air Force Tech. Sgt. John Chapman Firefight Afghanistan Battle of Takur Ghar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHUh2h20IPE
Which Grabeski, the WWII pilot or the female Lt Gen.?
I know. I did a lot of joint duty, and still heard it a lot. It was never said in anger, though, and we gave it right back.
Some of my best times where at the Fort Myers NCO club on a Friday afternoon/night, where we’d all hangout, Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines. Gals and Guys, and even a few officers who were cool would also get an invite now and then.
We were all basically all comms/computer people in the lowest basement of the Pentagon, working for the Joint Data Systems Support Center, although the Marines said they were riflemen first, which to a degree was true, but their skill as comms tech better served the Marine Corps, and Corps knew this as well. I’ve never heard of Marine pulled from a comms role to hump a rifle through the boonies filled with bad guys, except in training.
Gabby, the WWII Ace, I don’t know who the Lt Gen is.
Dittos here, Sir. I had one good bud, a CC’er, who I met in the NCO Academy in Charleston AFB back in 1984. He jumped with The 75th Ranger Regiment into Grenada from under 500 feet, called in air strikes against Cuban guns, bitched about busting his radio and having to call in air strikes on an army set. Thank God the fighters could get his directions!
Yeah - Joint duty here too. Including working with Canadians and Saudi’s (Iran/Iraq war)....Saudis were the worst. Run around with hair on fire, inclined to shoot first, then figure out if it was the right target. They wanted to target a commercial airlines once...was sitting on the scope and had to convince them it was indeed commercial from the flight path I recognized. I sympathized with the Navy when they actually did shoot one down. I had separated from USAF before that.
But as far as US forces, we did enjoy the good natured rivalry. We were a team when it came down to business.
The Canadians got drunk and wanted a fistfight....lol
Fun times ;-)
Yeah - the ones I worked with were badasses.
Back when al Qaeda was the enemy, unlike today.
Today we honor this man's sacrifice while also supporting al Qaeda-backed "moderate Syrian rebels" as they murder Christians a thousand miles away.
Go figure...
Terry Gabreski. Daughter-in-law of Gabby!
http://www.af.mil/About-Us/Biographies/Display/Article/104787/lieutenant-general-terry-l-gabreski/
Canadians, LOL! Huh!
I was at NORAD Cheyenne Mountain, we had a lot of Canadians there. We did used to rib them quite a bit!
We’d sometimes speculate just how many troops of Girl Scouts we’d need to invade and conquer them, and if it would require activating some Boy Scouts for the hairier assaults, like the Citadel in Quebec City or the Halifax naval base.
We were pretty mean.
Actually Canadians were really great troops and pretty damn tough. We’d still roll ‘em up if we ever really had to, but I cannot see a time when we’d ever have to.
SALUTE!
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