HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. - Secretary of the Air Force Barbara Barrett will present the Air Force Cross to a Special Tactics Airman during a Dec. 10 ceremony at 10:30 a.m. CST at Cannon AFB, New Mexico. Staff Sgt. Alaxey Germanovich, a Special Tactics combat controller with the 26th Special Tactics Squadron – unit under the 24th Special Operations Wing and Air Force Special Operations Command at Hurlburt Field, Fla. - will be awarded the nation’s second highest medal for gallantry against an armed enemy in combat. Germanovich was attached to a team of Army special forces and Afghan commandos on April 7, 2017, while on a mission to clear a well-fortified valley in Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan supporting Operation Freedom’s Sentinel. During an enemy ambush, Germanovich repeatedly exposed himself to sniper and machine-gun fire while directing numerous dangerously-close airstrikes from an AFSOC AC-130 gunship within 35 meters of his position. He then traversed 700 meters carrying a casualty up a mountain to a helicopter landing zone while directing close air support in the 8-hour fight. The Air Force Cross is second only to the Medal of Honor. Special Tactics is the Air Force’s most highly decorated community since the Vietnam War. The ceremony will be available via livestream on the Air Force Special Tactics Facebook page: Air Force Special Tactics | Facebook. (Source: 24th SOW 12/08/20)
No comments:
Post a Comment