Brooks Airman among first to receive Combat Action Medal

Published June 13, 2007
By 2nd Lt. Tania Bryan

BROOKS CITY-BASE, Texas -- A Brooks aeromedical evacuation instructor was one of six Airmen who comprised the first group to receive Air Force Combat Action Medals.

Staff Sgt. Daniel L. Paxton received the award from the Air Force chief of staff during a June 12 ceremony at the Air Force Memorial in Arlington, Va. Sergeant Paxton, currently assigned to the U.S. Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine, earned the medal for his actions while deployed with the 485th Expeditionary Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron to Iraq during March 2003.

Gen. T. Michael Moseley awarded the new medals to recognize Air Force members who were engaged in air or ground combat "outside the wire" in a combat zone.

The Air Force Combat Action Medal is also awarded to members who were under direct and hostile fire, or who personally engaged hostile forces with direct and lethal fire.

During the ceremony, General Moseley said, "As we thought about the 700,000 (Total Force) Airmen out there today who epitomize the warrior ethos while in combat on the ground or in the air, we began to think through this notion of a combat action ribbon that is part of our culture and our heritage. We believe our Airmen know this and understand this, and live it daily through their actions.

"In fact, since that awful day in September 2001, we've seen a dramatic increase in the number of Airmen engaged with or engaging hostile forces during performance of their duties, many of them on the surface, outside the wire, in nontraditional roles for Airmen," the general said. "We wanted an award to serve as an outward and visible reminder that combat is a fundamental part of being an Airman. And we wanted an Air Force-specific award for Airmen to wear proudly on their uniforms."

Eric Stephens, 311th Human Systems Wing Director at Brooks, pointed out that Sergeant Paxton was the only medic among the six recognized.

"The others were trained to be combatants, he was trained to save lives," said Mr. Stephens. "Sergeant Paxton is very deserving of this award."

While deployed to the Kuwaiti desert in 2003, Sergeant Paxton's unit was called upon to augment the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force as they made their trek into Iraq during the first days of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

"We were the first Air Force unit, outside of Special Operations, to go into Iraq," said Sergeant Paxton.

With no air resources projected, there was a plan to embed a Mobile Aeromedical Staging Facility into a Marine supply convoy to set-up a series of tactical aeromedical evacuation units at predetermined locations along the way from the boarder of Kuwait to near Baghdad, Iraq.

As the convoy approached Ash Shatra, Iraq on March 28, it came under heavy enemy fire. Mortars, rocket propelled grenades, machine gun and small arms fire bombarded Sergeant Paxton and his comrades. The team, with no intra-vehicle communications, reacted to the ambush and returned fire, successfully defending their assets.

Throughout the next 18 hours, the convoy came under fire five subsequent times. Each time members successfully engaged the enemy with return fire, defending themselves as they continued with their mission.

Sergeant Paxton also assisted in the care of over 110 critically wounded coalition forces and the launching of nine aeromedical evacuation missions.

"I don't feel like a hero I was just doing my job, but I am proud to receive this award," the sergeant said. "I think it is great that the Air Force is now recognizing combat actions."

"He doesn't describe himself as a hero, but he is," said Chief Master Sgt. Pat Battenberg, Command Chief of the 311th Human Systems Wing. "This medal acknowledges that our Airmen, once strictly warriors in the air, are now Airmen warriors on the ground as well."

Other recipients of the award were Maj. Steven A. Raspet, Capt. Allison K. Black, Senior Master Sgt. Ramon Colon-Lopez, Master Sgt. Charlie Peterson and Master Sgt. Byron P. Allen.

(Staff Sgt. Monique Randolph, Secretary of the Air Force Office of Public Affairs, contributed to this story)