Distinguished

RescueBy Marc V. Schanz, Senior Editor

USAF’s rescue airmen helped fi ght off a deadly ambush and pull combatants from a mountain fi refi ght in Afghanistan.

uring a 7.5-hour mission, Afghanistan—received the Distinguished assigned to the 33rd Rescue Squadron two HH-60 Pave Hawk Flying Cross with Valor device. USAF at Kadena. crews made a 320-mile Chief of Staff Gen. Mark A. Welsh III Capt. Matthew Carlisle, Capt. John trip, rescuing six wound- presented the awards at Kadena AB, Larson, MSgt. Scott Spangler, and SrA. ed New Zealand soldiers, Japan, this past August. Joshua Brown also received the DFC with an Afghan soldier, and Welsh said it was his honor to present Valor at other presentations. an Afghan national and recovered the fi ve of the airmen from the mission with Even within a community known for Dremains of two New Zealanders killed in the medal, one of USAF’s highest decora- heroism, Welsh said the mission that day action. They did all of this while under tions, and do so in front of their peers. truly stood out as an example of airmen heavy direct fi re and in temperatures “They embody the spirit of airmen, at their fi nest. sometimes rising above 100 degrees, by coming to the aid of others under the The crews of Pedro 83 and Pedro 84 completing their mission with just minutes most diffi cult of circumstances,” Welsh came to their deployment with the 83rd of fuel remaining. said. “This is what they do.” ERQS that August from many corners For their actions on Aug. 4, 2012, Recognized were Capt. Michael H. of the rescue and pararescue jumper (PJ) members of two pararescue crews—Pedro Kingry, Capt. Gavin H. Johnson, Capt. community. Kingry’s history is typical: 83 and Pedro 84 of the 83rd Expedition- Matthew M. Pfarr, TSgt. Scott D. La- He deployed seven times between 2007 ary Rescue Squadron at Bagram Airfi eld, gerveld, and SSgt. Robert G. Wells, all and 2013 to places such as Balad AB, 32 AIR FORCE Magazine / February 2014 Pedro 83) and Brown (the ship’s gunner) The formation was lucky. There was a were on their first deployments. lull in the fighting, and the B-1 crew saw Pedro 84 was Larson’s flight. He was no immediate threats to the choppers. On on his second deployment, as was his the approach to the landing zone, however, copilot, Johnson. Lagerveld was Larson’s Kingry got another update: There were flight engineer and a seasoned pro, having now seven casualties waiting for rescue. earned a previous DFC with Valor for a Steep cliffs flanked the landing zone, mission flown in Kunar province. located in a valley. Kingry and Pfarr in The crews had just come on duty Pedro 83 stayed overhead while Larson and were beginning the daily ritual of and Johnson brought Pedro 84 in for a preparing their kits when the call for landing, taking on three patients. After help came in. lifting off, Pedro 83 came in, picking up “We essentially … were immediately the other four. launched. If the mission had dropped five They weren’t going to make it back minutes earlier, it would have been the to Bagram in a direct shot, though. The other guys who would have executed,” engines were guzzling fuel to stay aloft Kingry said. in the thin mountain air, and the crews The radio came alive: “Attention on had to dump some gas to accommodate the net, attention on the net, scramble, the weight of the patients. scramble, scramble.” It meant someone Pfarr watched the gas gauge level fall. faced a life-or-death situation, and the “It was a very tricky balance between crews needed to get airborne immediately. keeping enough fuel to get somewhere, Kingry’s and Larson’s HH-60s spooled and dumping enough fuel so that we could up and took off, headed north toward [extract wounded] on the site,” he said in the wilderness of Afghanistan’s craggy the Air Force interview. mountains. Two New Zealand troops With fuel dwindling and their patients were wounded in a firefight with enemy in critical condition, the flight had to get forces, they were told. to the nearest forward operating base, As Pedro 83 and 84 sped toward the Combat Outpost Khilagay, in Baghlan call, the mission picture started to fill in: province. As they bore down on it, Kingry The pickup location was farther north of recalled, his PJ team told him two of the Bagram than their usual range, located in first casualties had been killed in action, the jagged mountains and valleys of the and they were working hard to keep the nominally peaceful Bamyan province. others alive. The target lay in the middle of a steep Once both helicopters touched down mountain range, and the Pave Hawks and the patients had been offloaded, couldn’t climb over the mountains or Kingry looked at the fuel gauge: about they’d burn all their fuel too early. Kingry 300 pounds, or just 15 minutes of flying plotted a course through valley passes at time, left. lower altitudes, saving fuel but extending “I had never seen the gauge read that the journey. The crew knew they’d need low and I just felt thankful that we had air refueling and called the operations made it” to the combat outpost, he said. center for tanker support. “That’s when we got the call that the Halfway there, the ops center called New Zealand forces had taken additional USAF photo by SSgt. Christopher Boitz back: They were flying in to save five casualties.” patients now, not just two. The site was After a hurried ground refueling, Kin- likely still a hot combat zone, and coali- gry and Larson took their Pave Hawks Iraq; Camp Bastion, Afghanistan; and tion troops were still under fire and taking up again. The Kiwi troops had three two hitches at Bagram, as well. casualties. more wounded. The HH-60 pilots coor- PJs and Pedros from across the Air Details slowly emerged as the two-ship dinated with an F-16 in the area to make Force joined the Kadena airmen at Ba- of Pave Hawks approached the target. A a “show of force” in the valley before gram. B-1 overhead would provide close air they returned; the jet screamed down at “Our formation was a pretty good mix support, and they got the frequencies so low level, making a deafening noise and of experienced aircrew and GA [Guard- they could talk directly to the bomber. letting the bad guys know that airpower ian Angels, the PJ complement to the Thirty minutes from the extraction site, was on the scene. aircrew], along with really sharp young Kingry helped develop a plan with the But things got worse on Kingry’s and guys,” Kingry said in an interview. B-1 and the joint terminal attack control- Larson’s second trip into the valley. The MSgt. Tracy Debbs, for example, was ler on the ground for the Pave Hawks to fighting had picked up again. Pedro 83 a seasoned PJ. He was the team leader approach, land, and get the casualties out. infilled its PJs, then covered the team for the GAs. Spangler was on his fifth “We were able to go in there with a from above. deployment. weapons pattern. … We didn’t want to Geography didn’t cooperate. On this just fly in and land ... because we knew extraction, the rescue airmen would have A Matter of Minutes there would be enemy presence,” Kingry to use a hoist, hovering over the extraction In contrast, Pfarr (Kingry’s copilot in said in an official Air Force interview. site—leaving helicopter, crew, PJs, and AIR FORCE Magazine / February 2014 33 Afghanistan. takes off from Bagram Airfield, 83rd Rescue Expeditionary Squadron A USAF HH-60 Pave Hawk from the 34

USAFAP photo photo/Terry Scott M. Ashe Ash AIR FORCE Magazine

USAF photo by A1C Failey R. Davis AP photo/Terry Ashe / February 2014 / February casualties vulnerable to enemy fire. A rock At this point, the enemy was sup- outcropping surrounded their position. pressed, but the formation had a new set It also meant Pedro 83 had to dump of problems. fuel again to make the helicopter lighter. Because Pedro 83 had dumped gas That in turn gave the team even less time to attempt the hoist, and then spent five to carry out the rescue. As the Pave Hawks minutes in a weapons pattern, the Pave moved into position in the valley once Hawk was now below “bingo fuel,” the more, the PJs on the ground skillfully bare minimum needed for a return to vectored them in, while making sure they the outpost. But PJs were still on the and the casualties could remain behind ground, and the casualties needed to be cover as much as possible. hoisted aboard. As Kingry maneuvered his aircraft “We could either leave the area” and and prepared to deploy the hoist, Larson try to retrieve the PJ Guardian Angel took Pedro 84 to another extraction site. team and casualty later, or “we could He landed and picked up the remaining [extract] them immediately and hope to patient. get fuel from the on-call tanker,” Kingry Meanwhile, at the first site, Pedro 83’s said of the crew’s dilemma. Leaving the copilot Pfarr called out on the radio: team on the ground meant the PJs and Muzzle flashes at the 10 o’clock position, the casualties would have to stay put for about 300 meters away. at least another 90 minutes, just yards The enemy had them in their sights away from the enemy. and let loose. It was not much of a choice. The forma- “I was holding the aircraft in a hover tion decided to get their guys out. They and looked out … and basically I saw had just one shot at doing it. five or six ... bright flashes of light all Johnson, Pedro 84 copilot, called in aimed at our aircraft,” Kingry said. He an HC-130 tanker as close as it could instantly pulled the aircraft around and get to the Pave Hawks, while Kingry ordered his gunner, Brown, to put a burst and Pfarr shot back to the mountainside of .50-caliber fire in the direction of the to retrieve the team and casualties. In the shooting. next several minutes, Spangler —Pedro “I remember telling our gunner, … 83’s flight engineer—performed what ‘Burst, 10 o’clock, 300 meters. Burst, Kingry called “the best combat hoist that 10 o’clock, 300 meters,’ ” Kingry said. I’ve ever seen.” The Pave Hawk had its “Then I finally just yelled ‘Shoot ’em! team and the casualties off the mountain. Shoot ’em!’ ” Flying out of the valley, Kingry and Kingry and Pfarr went into weap- Pfarr knew they didn’t have enough fuel ons pattern to destroy the threat in the to make Khilagay again and would have USAF photo by TSgt. Matt Hecht mountainside, putting out the call to to get gas from the overhead tanker. If Larson—who was still on the ground at they didn’t, the only option was a PL, a the second site—to come to their aid as precautionary landing, somewhere in the soon as he could. Brown continued to middle of Afghanistan. pour rounds at targets. Carlisle, Pedro An HC-130 from Camp Bastion had 83’s combat rescue officer onboard, let gone up to refuel the HH-60s. It met up out a long burst on the right gun. He had with the Pave Hawk formation at 1,500 taken over the gun so Spangler could feet above the valley floor—a danger- man the hoist. ously low altitude for such a large, slow- moving target. Bingo Fuel “The HC-130 guys really saved us,” As Pedro 83 went into the weapons Kingry said. “They stayed on station pattern, Kingry and Pfarr heard Larson throughout the entire flight and brought over the radio. Pedro 84 was airborne, and their entire crew down into [small-arms] both its gunners (Lagerveld and Wells) and [man-portable air defense system] began firing torrents of .50-caliber fire at threat areas in order to get us fuel.” the enemy. Over the next five minutes, But getting the fuel into Pedro 83 and both Pave Hawks expended about 500 84 would not be easy. High altitude and rounds of ammunition; Lagerveld and rough air made the probe-and-drogue Wells delivered most of the fire. refueling dicey.

Far left: SSgt. Robert Wells (r) describes his crew’s 320-mile mission to rescue criti- cally wounded coalition combatants in 2012 to Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh III. At left: Welsh presented five airmen with Distinguished Flying Crosses during his visit to Kadena AB, Japan. They are (l-r) Capt. Michael Kingry, Capt. Gavin Johnson, Capt. Matthew Pfarr, and TSgt. Scott Lagerveld. The other four air-

USAF photo by A1C Hailey R. Davis R. Hailey A1C by photo USAF men received their DFCs at other presentations.

AIR FORCE Magazine / February 2014 35 The Distinguished Flying Cross is awarded for “heroism or extraordinary achievement” during flight. USAF photo by SrA. Maeson L. Elleman L. Maeson SrA. by photo USAF

Kingry approached the tanker, bounc- Then, Kingry and Pfarr looked out and all our other brothers in rescue would ing around a lot, and noticed the gas gauge saw the probe of Pedro 84 make contact have done any differently. I think the hovering at the 300-pound level—again. with the tanker. The relief was palpable. award isn’t really about our formation; Johnson, on Pedro 84, remembered his it’s more of a reflection of the sacrifices Little Cause to Celebrate flight engineer saying if he didn’t con- guys in our community have made in “We had to get gas or we weren’t nect on this last pass, they’d be screwed. over a decade of service in Afghanistan,” going to make it back,” he said. As he “We got lucky,” Johnson said. The said Kingry. approached the tanker, the air suddenly formation made it back to Khilagay, The war in Afghanistan is slowly smoothed out. Before long, the drogue landed, and unloaded all its casualties, winding down for rescue crews. US basket connected to their probe, and Pedro then received orders to remain at the military presence in the country steadily 83 took on enough fuel on its first try to base in case the New Zealand team back declines, and soon NATO will hand off get back to Khilagay. in the Bamyan mountains needed further responsibility for security to the Afghan Pedro 84, though, had trouble. The assistance. Those calls thankfully never military and government. The unrelent- turbulence foiled numerous attempts to came, and Pedro 83 and 84 returned to ing deployments of the war will give way connect to the tanker. Bagram. to something else, but the need for the Kingry and Pfarr, watching Pedro 84 On the somber flight home, the crews Air Force’s rescue cadre will remain. run ever lower on fuel, began to think the carried the remains of two of the New “I think the entire concept of combat unthinkable: about landing in hostile ter- Zealand troops killed in action. Between rescue is one of the things that makes ritory. They searched for an unpopulated the crews, there was little celebration. the US military unique,” Kingry said. area nearby that was flat enough and posed “We debriefed and captured all our No matter what scenario the Air Force small risk of brownout—the raising of lessons learned so that we could pass or the other services may see themselves so much dust that it blinds the crew and them on to the oncoming shift,” Kingry playing out in the future, the Pedros makes landing perilous. recalled. The crews had a sense that they’d and PJs know they will be called on The PJs in the back of Pedro 83 came just survived an uncommon mission. Their to stand alert. “We pride ourselves on up with a worst-case scenario: They commander put in a recommendation for the fact that no matter what, we will would load the other patient into their a single action air medal that, after review do whatever it takes to try and get you bird and put as many people as possible by the awards panel, was upgraded. home,” Kingry said. into the cabin. The remaining personnel Kingry, Pfarr, and the others look at The Defense Department, he said, would stay with the grounded aircraft the experience as a testament to their “owes it to every fighter pilot that goes for security and wait for them to return. community and the missions their peers into the merge, every soldier that jumps “It was not a course of action that any have carried out over and over, for more into a convoy, and every marine that hits of us wanted to choose,” Kingry said. than a decade. the beach to do everything in their power Pfarr described those minutes as the “I don’t think anyone in our formation to have a force dedicated to bringing most harrowing of the sortie. thought that we had done anything that them home.” n 36 AIR FORCE Magazine / February 2014