FORT DRUM, N.Y. -- Aviators of 10th Combat Aviation Brigade have earned more than 80 Air Medals for Valor for distinguished achievements during the unit's 2010-2011 deployment to eastern Afghanistan. Six more Soldiers received Air Medals for Valor during a ceremony Monday at Wheeler-Sack Army Airfield. In addition, a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter crew chief received the French Cross for Military Valor.
"These aviators displayed the epitome of selfless service; they exposed themselves to danger in support of Soldiers on the ground," said Col. David J. Francis, 10th CAB and Task Force Falcon commander. "All they knew was that there were Soldiers on the ground that needed help."
Three OH-58 Kiowa helicopter pilots received the Air Medal for Valor for actions in April 2011. On April 11, 2011, Capt. Benjamin H. March provided security and reconnaissance for a dismounted French Special Forces patrol while under heavy enemy fire. His targeting and weapons effects guidance allowed ground forces to break contact without taking further casualties.
Two days later, Chief Warrant Officer 5 Michael Mogg and Chief Warrant Officer 2 Keenan Bachmeyer each led a scout weapons team in successfully supporting coalition ground forces while braving enemy fire. Mogg's actions resulted in neutralizing the enemy, whereas those of Bachmeyer allowed coalition troops to close contact with enemy forces.
Moving forward to May 25, 2011, Capt. George A. Navarro, an AH-64 Apache helicopter pilot displayed exceptional courage while supporting a hasty air assault in the Do Ab Valley in Nuristan Province.
"We were receiving reports that the district center was about to be overrun," Navarro said. "About 60 National Guard Soldiers were brought to the district center, and within two minutes they began taking fire."
According to his award citation, "due to Capt. Navarro's actions, the enemy threat was eliminated, allowing ground forces to maneuver from hostile fire."
"That day those National Guardsmen were three weeks from going home," Navarro said. "The biggest thing for me was making sure every one of them got to go home."
The following month, June 6, 2011, Chief Warrant Officer 3 Justin A. Popp, an OH-58 Kiowa pilot, distinguished himself as an aerial flight scout weapons team air mission commander by skillfully maximizing the effectiveness of his team in massing of fires, which led to the enemy giving up its fight.
"Ground forces were in contact from a heavy machine gun," Popp said, describing a significant engagement during the operation. "We were trail ship of a flight of two (OH-58 Kiowa helicopters) and began taking fire from two directions."
Popp located the heavy machine gun and engaged it, killing several insurgents.
"I'm just glad to help the guys out and allow the convoy to move forward so they could consolidate," he said.
A little more than a month later, Capt. Thomas J. Terry displayed extreme courage and bravery as a co-pilot gunner of the lead OH-58 Kiowa helicopter responding to an ambushed convoy July 21, 2011. According to Terry's award citation, countless lives were saved as a result of his heroic actions and exemplary communication with forces on the ground that day.
The above aviators all earned the Air Medal for Valor, established in 1942, for their valorous achievements during aerial operations.
Fast forward to Oct. 16, 2011, when French troops in the Tagab Valley in Kapisa Province, were in a firefight with the enemy and had significant casualties. When Sgt. Aaron Freese, a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter crew chief, took off with his crew that day to accompany a medical evacuation helicopter, he didn't expect that his aircraft would be asked to land, too.
"Normally the chase helicopter doesn't land," Freese said. "But there were a lot of casualties."
Under fire, Freese's crew landed, and he pulled two French casualties on board, which allowed the ground troops to continue to fight. The French government awarded Freese the French Cross for Military Valor.
Maj. Gen. Stephen J. Townsend, Fort Drum and 10th Mountain Division (LI) commander, presented the awards. He served as deputy commanding general for operations in Regional Command East while the 10th CAB was deployed to eastern Afghanistan.
"I've read the reports about the incredible bravery done by the Soldiers of this brigade," Townsend said. "I'm a ground guy, but I spent half my deployment in an aircraft, and I know aviators look down at the Soldiers on the ground and ask, 'how do you do that?'
"Well, I also know the guys on the ground look up at you and your Kiowas, your Apaches, your Black Hawks and Chinooks, and you're taking fire," he continued. "I can't believe you do what you do. From a ground guy to you in the air, thank you."
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