Air Force names top combat controllers

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WASHINGTON (AFPN) --  Four veterans of Operation Enduring Freedom earned top honors as the Air Force’s 2002 Combat Controllers of the Year, according to officials.

Capt. Patrick Ward, from the 23rd Special Tactics Squadron at Hurlburt Field, Fla., is the Combat Control Company Grade Officer of the Year.

Ward served as the airfield manager and chief air traffic controller for Afghanistan’s primary airfield. Also, he spent 75 days as the forward mission commander, where he was responsible for more than 50 special reconnaissance, direct action, combat search and rescue, landing- and drop-zone surveys and continuous airfield operations.

Master Sgt. Michael Lamonica, of the 24th STS at Pope Air Force Base, N.C., is the Combat Control Senior Noncommissioned Officer of the Year.

Lamonica earned the Bronze Star and three combat parachute jump stars for combat actions in Afghanistan. Lamonica was the lead NCO for all special tactics operations, supporting a 140-man classified joint-task force. In addition, he served as the lead planner and operator on nine high-risk classified combat missions deep inside enemy territory. His battlefield successes included managing command and control of 18 aircraft for a 180-man assault force that eliminated an al-Qaida mountain base.

Tech. Sgt. Jason Hill, from the 24th STS, is the Combat Control NCO of the Year.

During Operation Anaconda, OEF’s largest operation, Hill avoided minefields and al-Qaida patrols to man a surrounded observation post for seven days. From there he controlled the aerial delivery of more than 100,000 pounds of munitions on enemy targets. During the battle, he was personally responsible for the deaths of 46 al-Qaida fighters along with the destruction of two enemy operations. Also destroyed were three bunkers, four fighting positions, two mortar positions, one sniper position, an enemy consolidation point, a 12.7 mm heavy machine gun and two assault trucks.

Senior Airman Seth Marinaccio, of the 23rd STS, is the Combat Control Airman of the Year.

Marinaccio was among the first to deploy to OEF. He worked through austere conditions and language barriers to prepare for more than 500 airlift sorties that brought more than 5,000 military members and a million tons of cargo to Afghanistan. On the battlefield, Marinaccio served as lead team controller to the quick reaction force responding to the Mazar-e Sharif prison uprising where his control of aircraft ensured the life-saving return of casualties.