Posted on 02/14/2006 5:33:47 PM PST by SandRat
In the officers' club of Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, where aviators swap stories of danger and daring, few can top the tales of Maj. Joseph Galletti.
He and his crew braved a blinding sandstorm in Iraq and repeatedly dodged enemy fire to carry out a rescue that made history. The awards they received for it put them in the company of some of the biggest names in aviation.
In December, the 32-year-old helicopter pilot was among those awarded one of the service's highest honors, the Mackay Trophy for "most meritorious flight of the year." Galletti also won a Distinguished Flying Cross, one of the top medals for a military aviator.
An unassuming man not given to boast, Galletti eschews the title of hero and insists that it takes teamwork to conduct a rescue in hostile territory.
He and his team "were basically as white as sheets" by the time their award-winning mission was done, he recalled.
They were part of the 64th Expeditionary Rescue Squadron, a combat search and rescue unit at Balad Air Base, in northern Iraq. On April 16, 2004, they learned an Army Chinook helicopter had crashed a few hours earlier in a sandstorm about 75 miles away.
There had been no word from the five downed soldiers, and their precise location wasn't clear. Rescuers didn't know whether they'd be saving the troops or picking up their remains. They brought five body bags, just in case.
They also didn't know how bad the sandstorm was, said Galletti, who co-pilots an Air Force HH-60 Pave Hawk, one of two helicopters that flew to the rescue.
He remembers thinking as they lifted off: "If something out there was bad enough to bring that helicopter down, and we're in a helicopter, what's going to happen to us?"
Nearing the vicinity of the Chinook crash, they got a taste of what the downed Army pilot had been up against.
The wind-whipped sand was thick and disorienting. Crew members could barely make out five soldiers moving on the ground. The downed Chinook, they later learned, was only about 100 feet above ground when it crashed, likely the reason those aboard survived.
"We were very shocked that they were all still alive," Galletti said. On the first pass, they overshot the soldiers' location, and when they turned to double back, things turned even more perilous.
As sand swirled, the two rescue choppers lost sight of each other, of the survivors and of the ground.
After several hair-raising minutes of flying blind — "It seemed like forever," he said — the crews regained their bearings and decided to turn back into the storm. The weather was so bad that "if we had turned around and gone home, I'm sure no one would have questioned it," Galletti said. "But we kept thinking about the five survivors on the ground."
The two Pave Hawks finally set down and picked up the soldiers, then headed back for a triumphant return to base.
But there was more danger ahead. About halfway back, an alarm beeped inside the other Pave Hawk, indicating the craft was under attack from the ground. Then the alarm sounded inside Galletti's aircraft, too.
The two choppers dodged at least six surface-to-air missiles before touching down safely.
At that point, "we were all very happy to be on the ground," Galletti said. "There was a lot of shaking hands and hugging."
The citation that came with the Mackay Trophy said of Galletti and his colleagues: "Their gallantry and devotion to duty reflect great credit upon themselves and the United States Air Force."
Galletti, who was with the 347th Rescue Wing at Moody Air Force Base when the rescue occurred, transferred to the Tucson air base in late December. Now he's sharing his observations with colleagues here.
Tucsonan Vern Pall, a past president of the Tucson chapter of the Military Officers Association of America and an Air Force retiree, said D-M airmen will benefit from having a hero such as Galletti in their midst.
"The experience and insight he brings with him can teach them more than weeks of training," Pall said. "He is someone who can tell them: 'Here's the way it really is when the pressure's on.' "
Galletti, a 10-year Air Force veteran, said he's just thankful things turned out well.
"If that's the best story I have to tell my grandchildren, I'm happy with that," he said.
DFC now worn by Pilot at D-M AFB Tucson, AZ
Good pics at the source. Thank goodness all involved survived.
Amazing the "Red" Star even published this.
BTTT
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