Five members of Air Force Special Operations Command’s 20th Special Operations Squadron, Hurlburt Field, Fla., received Distinguished Flying Crosses and two received Bronze Stars for their actions during an April 2004 resupply mission in Fallujah, Iraq. The airmen awarded with DFCs are: Capt. Matthew Berry, MSgt. Randy Kensey, TSgt. Byron Allen, SSgt. James Bowling, and SSgt. Christopher Dalton. MSgt. Robert Colannino and SSgt. Jesse Lee received Bronze Stars. (Colannino also earned the Pitsenbarger Award.) The AFSOC airmen were flying two MH-53J Pave Lows into the Fallujah area to resupply coalition ground forces. One Pave Low was shot down by enemy fire; the second rescued the crew of the first. Both crews had to return enemy fire and aid the injured.
Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III visited Tbilisi, Georgia on Oct. 18 ahead of the NATO ministerial meetings in Brussels Oct. 21-22, and assured the aspiring NATO member that the U.S. is at its side. During the visit, Austin signed a defense memorandum to enhance deterrence amid continued Russian hybrid…