Hero

The word has been cheapened of late, so I am going to link to a story about a real hero.

When soldiers put a zoomie up for the Silver Star, he probably deserves a Medal of Honor.

Here's the story.  Repeated below.

“Danger Close!”

In the world of close air and fire support missions, when those words crackle over the net, you know the pucker factor is high. They mean that the FAC or FDC who is calling in the strike is within the potential blast radius of the munitions he is requesting. In other words, the bad guys have him by the belt buckle and he is dropping it close, real close, to friendlies.

On June 18, 2004 Air Force Staff Sergeant Earl Covel was a Joint Terminal Attack Controller (Air Force lingo for what we grunts call Forward Air Controller’s, the specialists that coordinate air strikes while attached to infantry units) working with a 10 man Special Forces team. The team was operating with
Peshmerga Turkish fighters in an undisclosed Iraqi city when their safe house came under attack by a force of over 200 insurgents.

Staff Sgt. Covel moved under fire to a rooftop forward of the safe house and settled into his battle station, alone except for one still anonymous SF operator who provided security for him.

"I set up my radios and requested air support," he said. "I figured that if I was in front, then all of my guys would be behind me so there wouldn't be the risk of them being hit by our planes."

Staff Sgt. Covel and the Green Beret were soon joined by SF sniper. The machine gunner and the sniper would lay down a base of fire so that Covel could quickly poke his head up to spot targets. Their exposed forward position soon began drawing heavy and accurate enemy machine gun fire and the sniper was hit in the side of his head, literally ripping his ear off. The Green Beret carried his wounded comrade to safety, leaving Covel alone with his commo gear, and the soldiers machine gun which he left behind for Covel to use to defend himself.

Soon US aircraft were stacking in the airspace above the desperate battle. The first in were a pair of Navy F-18 Hornets. They were the first of many “danger close” missions Covel would call for.

"When they were directly overhead, I couldn't hear anything it was so loud, and my ears were ringing from when they kicked in their afterburners to get out of there." Covel related.

The battle raged on for 36 grueling hours, and so did Covel. Acting not only as the tactical Air Controller, calling in targets for the aggressive fighter jocks, but also as an air traffic controller, choreographing the ballet of aircraft circling in the air, ensuring none collided in the tight confines of the battle space, all the while single handedly defending his position.

When the battle was over, not a single member of his team nor any of the Peshmerga were lost, and there were over 150 enemy corpses on the battlefield. On May 11, 2007, Staff Sgt. Covel was presented the Silver Star in a ceremony at McChord Air Force Base, Washington.

"I don't feel that I did anything different than anyone else in that same situation would have done. Any of the other guys who do my job would have done the same thing." Staff Sgt. Covel said.

Apparently the Green Berets, who Covel spent 36 hours exposed in his “own little corner of hell” protecting with his airstrikes, were slightly more impressed. They were the ones who submitted him for the decoration.

"When they told me, I thought they were kidding," said Covel, "I thought it was a joke. I was embarrassed that they would put me in for the Silver Star.”

Nothing to be embarrassed of in my book Staff Sergeant, you definitely earned that Silver Star in those 36 hours.