The Louisiana National Guard awarded SSgt. James Lam, a joint terminal attack controller, a Bronze Star with Valor device for his actions under fire during a three-hour firefight in Afghanistan in 2012. Lam, then a member of the Louisiana Guard’s 122nd Air Support Operations Squadron, was attached to a the 1st Battalion, 179th Infantry Regiment tasked with locating high-value targets in Afghanistan when they came under direct rocket-propelled grenade and machine gun fire on Feb. 23, 2012, according to a Louisiana Guard release. During the firefight, Lam left cover to help soldiers get ammunition for a machine gun. “I did my job, nothing more, nothing less,” Lam said at a Dec. 6 ceremony. “If we do it right, what we do as a JTAC, it brings those infantry guys home—and for me, it’s about bringing home those infantry soldiers and combat arms soldiers.” Lam is now a member of the Oklahoma Air National Guard.
A Defense Department team is on the ground in Ukraine assessing what the country needs to protect itself from air, naval, electronic, and cyber warfare threats as Russian troops gather on multiple fronts, a senior Ukrainian defense official told Air Force Magazine, describing an emphasis on what assistance can be…