Portraits In Courage

On May 4, 2010, Captain Barry Craw ford Jr., then a special tactics officer assigned to the 23rd Expeditionary Special Tactics Squadron in Afghanistan, and a team of approximately 100 Army Special Forces and Afghan commandos flew into the steep mountains of Laghman Province. When the team landed in darkness, they heard enemy chatter on their radios. Within 30 minutes of landing, they found a substantial weapons cache inside the village. Captain Crawford also received reports that armed enemy forces were maneuvering into fighting position in the high ground. As soon as the sun came up, the coalition team came under heavy enemy fire from all sides from over 100 fighters. The team was pinned down in the middle of the village and had no choice but to run the gauntlet of enemy fire. Enemy fighters used sniper and machine-gun fire to target the friendly forces, and as insurgent forces closed in, three Afghan commandos were gravely wounded and two others were killed. Recognizing that the wounded Afghan soldiers would die without medical evacuation (medevac), Captain Crawford ran into the open to guide a medevac helicopter to the landing zone. Even though one of his radio antennas was shot off mere inches from his face, without hesitation Captain Crawford ran across the open terrain, engaging enemy positions with his rifle and calling in AH-64 strafe attacks. This allowed the medevac team to move in toward the casualties. As the casualties were being moved, the team was once again pinned down by enemy forces that were threatening the medevac landing zone. Stuck in an open, narrow valley with mountain cliffs around them, the medevac helicopter took small arms fire and was able to depart with only four of the five casualties. With the enemy only 150 meters away at times, Captain Crawford once again called for “danger-close” attacks from AH-64 and F-15E aircraft overhead. In order to mark the enemy locations, he exposed himself to enemy fire by running more into the open and engaged the enemy while directing airstrikes. As a result, the medevac helicopter was able to return and exfiltrate the last casualty. Throughout the harrowing 10 hour fight, Captain Crawford braved effective enemy fire and consciously placed himself at grave risk on four occasions, all while controlling over 33 aircraft and more than 40 airstrikes on a well-trained and prepared enemy force. More than 80 insurgents were killed during the engagement, including three high-ranking enemy commanders.

For his brave actions that day, Captain Crawford was awarded the Air Force Cross, the second highest military decoration, behind the Medal of Honor, that can be awarded to an Airman. * Captain Crawford was a special tactics officer when this event occured but is now training to become an Air Force pilot.

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