Air Force Special Operations Command presented MSgt. David Halvorson a Bronze Star for his work in Southwest Asia as maintenance production superintendent for MH-53 Pave Low helicopters. Halvorson led 56 airmen from 11 career fields to maintain the four MH-53s, at one point operating from the back of a truck during threat of mortar and rocket attack to get the Pave Lows ready to pursue high-value targets. Halovorson’s efforts led to a 100 percent launch rate for 15 high-priority missions, culminating in capture of 15 Iraqi insurgents and terrorists.
Special-ops aviators, a physicist from the intelligence community, and an enlisted Marine with decades of deployments: U.S. Space Command’s military and civilian leaders who spoke May 7 were as likely to come from strictly space backgrounds as not. These are some of the day’s insights from inside the command, which…