McChord Airman earns top leadership award Published Dec. 15, 2005 By David Kellogg 62nd Airlift Wing Public Affairs MCCHORD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. (AFPN) -- A joint tactical air controller with the 5th Air Support Operations Squadron at Fort Lewis is the junior enlisted recipient of the 2005 Lance P. Sijan Air Force Leadership Award. Senior Airman Grailin Blamer was recognized for his quick and cool-headed thinking while providing air cover for Soldiers in Iraq. He will receive the award in Washington, D.C., early next year. The Sijan Award annually recognizes officers and enlisted Airmen who demonstrate outstanding leadership. According to Airman Blamer’s commanders and award citation, he fought heroically while serving in and around Mosul, Iraq, from October 2004 to April 2005. As a JTAC, he was responsible for calling in airstrikes while on combat and patrol missions with the 1st Battalion of the 24th Infantry Regiment. He coordinated fighter and bomber strikes to support Soldiers under ground attack. “I go where the Army goes. What I see, I tell the pilot,” Airman Blamer said. The lives of many Soldiers fell on his shoulders. “It’s an honor to get the award,” he said. “A lot of guys deserve it just as much as I do. It’s an honor to be singled out like that.” His commanders weren’t surprised the Airman received the Air Force award. “He is a team player,” said Capt. Matt Neuman, a squadron flight commander who served four months in Iraq with Airman Blamer. “He is a single Air Force guy in the whole battalion of Army guys. The battalion commander would not roll without him. “He worked himself a lot. It didn’t matter how tired he was,” the captain said. “He was one of those guys that (Soldiers) wanted to go fight with.” While there are numerous examples of his bravery and leadership, Airman Blamer’s comrades remember one battle in particular. From a forward operating base, Maj. Dennis Pearson, the 1st Air Support Operations Group director of operations, listened over the radio to Airman Blamer and a patrol of Soldiers. The patrol had found live mortars and was waiting for explosive experts to arrive. Suddenly, a suicide car bomber barreled into one of the Stryker vehicles, setting it ablaze. Soldiers ran to put out the flames and recover the crew. Mortar rounds and gunfire erupted from every direction. Insurgents had ambushed them. Airman Blamer’s radio went dead, and Major Pearson’s heart sank. If Airman Blamer had been killed, then no one on the battlefield could have called in air strikes, Major Pearson said. For three long minutes the radio was silent. Then Airman Blamer hollered back onto the radio. He and the Soldiers had been fighting for their lives. It took him a few minutes to “get himself situated,” he said. Major Pearson felt relieved, then ecstatic, to overhear Airman Blamer call in two fighter gun runs, a laser Maverick missile and a laser-guided 500-pound bomb. The patrol defeated the attackers and suffered only minor injuries. “He wasn’t afraid to get into the action,” said Lt. Col. Larry Germann, the squadron commander. Now, his commanders point out Airman Blamer as an “informed leader of his squadron.” Although he’s usually quiet, when Airman Blamer does give advice, people listen, Captain Neuman said. “People respect what he’s done,” he said. “Guys naturally want to follow him.” The award was named after Capt. Lance Sijan, whose plane crashed along the Vietnam-Laotian border in 1967. He evaded capture for 46 days, despite having a mangled leg and arm. After being captured, he overpowered a guard and crawled into the jungle, but was recaptured. He later died in a Vietnamese prisoner-of-war camp. He was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously.