Airman to Receive Air Force Cross

AirTrafficControl · March 4, 2009, 9:49pm

AirTrafficControl:

Good to see one of our own being recognized

A Pope Air Force Base, N.C., combat controller is scheduled to receive the Air Force’s second highest award for valor on March 10 in a ceremony at the Pentagon.

Staff Sgt. Zachary J. Rhyner will receive the Air Force Cross for his actions on April 6 in the Shok Valley in Afghanistan. Although shot in the left leg, he called in airstrikes, fired his M-4 rifle at the enemy and helped move other wounded people down a cliff.

Rhyner is assigned to the Air Force Special Operations Command’s 21st Special Tactics Squadron at Pope. At the time of the incident, Rhyner was a senior airman who had completed training less than a year earlier.

Combat controllers train for two years at Pope and elsewhere to do mostly covert missions in hostile territory. The “battlefield airmen” can parachute or infiltrate into enemy territory to set up drop zones, do air-traffic control or call in aircraft to shoot or drop bombs on the enemy. They often work on an Army Special Forces or Navy SEAL team and fight alongside soldiers and sailors while summoning Air Force firepower from overhead. The aircraft often are firing near “friendly” forces on the ground.

Rhyner is credited with saving his team from being overrun twice in a 6-hour battle in the Shok Valley. Members of A-Team 3336 from Fort Bragg’s 3rd Special Forces Group received 10 Silver Stars, the Army’s third highest award for combat valor, for their actions in that engagement.

About 100 Special Forces and Afghan soldiers each were carrying more than 60 pounds of equipment when they jumped from helicopters onto icy, jagged rocks and waist-deep running water in 30-degree temperatures to assault a terrorist stronghold in Afghanistan. Their objective was at the top of the mountains surrounding the valley.

They were ambushed by 200 enemy fighters, and Rhyner was shot within the first 15 minutes, according to an account from the Air Force Special Operations Command. The team came under fire from all directions from snipers, machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades.

Capt. Kyle Walton, the Special Forces team leader, treated Rhyner for his injuries as the Airman called in Apache attack helicopters.

Rhyner called in 4,570 rounds of cannon fire, nine Hellfire missiles, 162 rockets, 12 500-pound bombs and a 2,000-pound bomb, Air Force officials said.

Air Force officials estimate that 40 enemy were killed and 100 wounded in the engagement.

Rhyner is the second Pope airmen to receive the award since Sept.11, 2001. Air Force Tech. Sgt. John A. Chapman, also a combat controller, posthumously received the Air Force Cross for heroism under fire on March 4, 2002, near Gardez in the eastern highlands of Afghanistan. In 2005, The Military Sealift Command named a cargo ship the MV T Sgt. John A. Chapman in honor of the ‘‘battlefield Airman’’ in a ceremony at Sunny Point Military Ocean Terminal.

copied from Military.com

SeriousStudent · March 4, 2009, 11:37pm

My thanks and best wishes to SSgt. Rhyner and his family. I remember reading about the action that resulted in the Silver Star awards to the SF soldiers.

I hope he suffered no lingering damage from his wounds, and has made a full recovery. An AK round to the leg sucks.

trio · March 4, 2009, 11:58pm

yeah, that engagement was some serious, hardcore shit

one of the SF guys used one of his bootlaces to tie the partially severed part of his lower leg to his thigh after applying a tourniquet, and then continued to fight…

so long as men like that are on our side and stand vigilant to go in harm’s way I will sleep better at night

Shotdown · March 5, 2009, 12:37am

Well deserved.

AMMOTECH · March 5, 2009, 3:01am

Job well done by all.

.

chadbag · March 5, 2009, 4:22am

I am in awe when I read these stories.

I do find it interesting that an AF forward controller guy was bringing in Army Apaches…

Littlelebowski · March 5, 2009, 5:02am

Air is air.

Where can we read more online about this battle?

Rifleman_04 · March 5, 2009, 5:58am

There is a good article in this months (April) Soldier of Fortune about it.

Bighead · March 5, 2009, 12:29pm

I’m curious why you find that interesting. Working CAS assets is not service specific. During my 20 years in CCT I worked rotary and fixed-wing assets from all the services and a lot of different countries (dealing with some of the accents was interesting sometimes).

Another link I was sent regarding this story…

http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2009/02/airforce_rhyner_afcross_022609/

CarlosDJackal · March 5, 2009, 8:15pm

I used to do the same when conducting Joint Air Attack Teams (JAAT) except I did it from the cockpit of an Aeroscout Helicopter. In that case I performed the same tasks as CCTs being the central pointof control for Attack Helicopters, A-10s, and Artillery.

It’s better to have one individual coordinate and de-conflict these assets than to have a couple cause fratricide and mid-air collisions. CCTs have been around for years and some of them used to jump with us and help run our DZs. In fact, while we still humping M-16A1s, they had XM-177s (predecessor to the M-4s with the long Flash Hiders).

I’ve also trained with Army FOs (13F) who were trained to call in CAS and Naval Gunfire (back when we still had Battleships).

Decon · March 6, 2009, 2:04am

I think it’s sad that none of the links above were CNN, FOX, or NBC. Hopefully, they had something about it.

Bighead · March 24, 2009, 12:06am

Old thread but if anybody is interested the AF Cross recipient, SSG Rhyner, was interviewed on the Glenn Beck Show this weekend. Follow this link for the video.

parishioner · March 24, 2009, 12:22am

link is busted

exkc135driver · March 24, 2009, 1:28am

My congratulations to SSgt Rhyner … an award well deserved. I’m glad to see that the combat controllers are receiving the recognition they are due.