Air Force Cross, 2 Silver Stars to be awarded at Pope Field next week

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (Tribune News Service) — An award for valor second only to the Medal of Honor will go to a Fort Bragg airman next week.

Senior Airman Dustin H. Temple will receive the Air Force Cross for extraordinary heroism while pitted against enemy fighters in Helmand province, Afghanistan, in September 2014.

Temple is a member of the 21st Special Tactics Squadron, based at Pope Field.

Two other members of the squadron, all combat controllers, also will be honored for the same 48-hour battle.

Tech. Sgt. Matthew J. Greiner and Senior Airman Goodie Goodman will each receive the nation's third-highest award for valor, the Silver Star.

According to officials, it will be only the second time the Air Force will award multiple Silver Stars and higher for the same event since Sept. 11, 2001.

The three medals will be presented by Air Force Lt. Gen. Bradley A. Heithold, commander of Air Force Special Operations Command, during a ceremony Wednesday on Pope Field.

Navy Vice Adm. Sean A. Pybus, deputy commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, and Army Capt. Evan Lacenski, leader of the 7th Special Forces Group team that all three airmen served with, are scheduled to speak during the event.

The three airmen are credited with saving the lives of 38 coalition soldiers who were low on ammunition and under attack by nearly 100 insurgents, according to the 24th Special Operations Wing, the higher command of the 21st Special Tactics Squadron.

According to medal citations, the men disregarded their own lives to save the members of their team, which included Special Forces soldiers and Afghan commandos.

Temple is credited with coordinating a counter assault involving F-16 jets, AH-1 attack helicopters, AC-130 gunships and an MQ-1 Predator unmanned aerial vehicle.

He also risked his life to save a teammate who was gravely wounded by a sniper, dragging the wounded man from a rooftop and then carrying him over more than 300 feet of open terrain to reach a medical evacuation helicopter.

Temple then remained in the open, providing cover for the helicopter, before returning to the compound where the rest of his team were fighting insurgents who were surging ever closer.

According to intercepted communications, the mass of enemy fighters were instructed to "Take the Americans alive."

Temple fought off the assault with air assets, leading "danger-close" strikes.

Then, with supplies dwindling, he again bounded across open terrain to retrieve ammunition from incoming aircraft.

Without his help, a Special Forces team member said the troops "would surely have been overrun."

While Temple fought on one side of the Helmand River Valley, Goodman and Greiner were in another position with more U.S. troops and Afghan commandos.

Within minutes of the assault, which started Sept. 27, Greiner had engaged enemy fighters by directing A-10 Warthogs and AH-64 Apache helicopters.

During the 48-hour battle, Greiner led defensive air strikes, all while rocket-propelled grenades and machine gun fire erupted from all directions.

With the special operations team in danger of being overrun, Greiner focused his efforts on halting the enemy advance, calling in four 500-pound bombs from a pair of F-16s, coordinating Hellfire missiles and strafing runs from Apaches on motorcycle-riding enemy fighters and then directed an AC-130 to stop a potential suicide attack.

At the same time, Goodman also controlled F-16s and Apaches from a nearby rooftop, where enemy machine gun fire regularly struck a wall within inches of his head.

Goodman stayed in the position, using it to help repel the assault and subdue enemy snipers.

At one point, he directed the loud AC-130 gunships to fly out of audible range to draw the enemy out of hiding before bringing the planes back in to assault them.

According to officials, the deployment was the second for Temple, fifth for Greiner and first for Goodman.

brooksd@fayobserver.com

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