A Bronze Star medal presented last month to TSgt. Jose Valentin, a joint terminal attack controller, came with a valor device to denote his courage under fire during a 2006 insurgent attack in Afghanistan. During one action, a combat reconnaissance patrol faced a larger enemy force, whose opening volley killed another JTAC instantly. Valentin ran through a barrage of fire to locate the enemy position and called in close air support, and he helped return fire as medical evacuation helicopters lifted off with wounded coalition troops. As the patrol traveled back to a coalition post, it came under continued attack, so Valentin directed additional CAS from the back of a truck. In his words, “We fought as we moved.” Valentin praised the work of his teammates and asked, during the ceremony, for a moment of quiet to honor SrA. Adam Servais, the JTAC who died during the initial attack. (Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force-Afghanistan report by Army SSgt. Marie Schult)
WATCH: The 2021 vAWS Day 3 Highlight Report
Feb. 26, 2021
Acting Secretary of the Air Force Roth, NORAD’s Gen. VanHerck, U.S. Space Command’s Gen. Dickinson, Spark Tank, and more from Day 3 of the Air Force Association’s virtual Aerospace Warfare Symposium.