Lt. Gen. Eric Fiel Presents AF Crosses

SAN ANTONIO - Members of our nation's military often earn military decorations or awards for their accomplishments, and among one of the highest decorations they can receive is the Silver Star.

It's given for gallantry in action against an enemy of the United States.

With a loud applause, and a room full of peers, friends, and family, two Airmen received that honor Monday at a special ceremony at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland.

"It's an honor (and) it's surreal," said Staff Sgt. Dale C. Young, a Silver Star-awardee. "You look at guys who have been through this before. I've always seen those before me up on stage receiving medals, and you definitely look up to them."

Young and Tech Sgt. Ismael Villegas both received the special decoration for their efforts in combat.

For Villegas, receiving this medal is a familiar feeling, as he was previously awarded one a few years back.

"It's never the same feeling, but it's always a surreal feeling," he said. "I'm honored to represent my Combat Control career field."

Both men say the medals serve as a reminder of the bigger task at hand.

"You react, you shoot, you move, you communicate with everybody else. You pray when you get a chance," Young said. "Aside from that, you're just doing what you've been trained to do."

"We're fighting for something bigger than ourselves, and we also do it so people can enjoy the freedoms back here," Villegas said.

Air Force Times                                                      July 21st, 2013

Combat Controller among most-decorated troops since 2001
One joins exclusive group of valor award recipients in war on terror

Two Combat Controllers with a decade of connected service will share the stage to receive medals of valor.

For one, he will become just the second airman to receive two of the highest three valor awards in the global war on terror. The other will stand next to his former mentor and be honored for a battle that helped turn the tide in Afghanistan.

Tech. Sgt. Ismael Villegas will receive a Silver Star with the first oak leaf cluster July 22 for actions during an 18-day battle in February 2011 in Afghanistan, helping destroy more than 20 insurgents and their holdouts, along with saving a Green Beret.

Staff Sgt. Dale Young will receive his first Silver Star for a four-day battle in May 2009 that resulted in the deaths of more than 90 insurgents and destruction of more than $1 billion in black-tar heroin.

The two Combat Controllers have known each other for more than a decade, with Villegas taking Young under his wing during his first assignment at RAF Lakenheath, England.

“Tech. Sgt. Villegas and Staff Sgt. Young are perfect examples of what it means to be a battlefield airman,” said Lt. Gen. Eric Fiel, commander of Air Force Special Operations Command. They risked their lives and courageously engaged with enemy forces for days and weeks at a time to ensure the successful completion of their missions and the safety of their SOF teammates. It is inspiring and humbling to serve with these warriors, and I am honored to present them with the Silver Star.”

'Stirring up a hornet's nest'

On Feb. 6, 2011, Villeagas was serving as the lead joint terminal attack controller with a group of elite Army Green Berets. He and his team were tasked with retaking an area of Helmand Province. It was supposed to be a weeklong mission. Immediately upon entering the area, the group met stiff resistance from enemy small arms fire, improvised explosive devices and mortars. The group pushed through, holding their objective and forming an area hold so the Taliban wouldn’t come back in behind and surround the group. Their task: to hold the area, and it wasn’t easy. “It was pretty much trench warfare,” Villegas said. “There were a lot of RPGs, a lot of mortars. We continued to fight through the assault though. “The area hadn’t had any U.S. or coalition presence in a few years, so we encountered a lot of resistance. We had to establish a presence, and we ended up stirring a hornets nest, so to speak.”

The resistance was so fierce, the team’s mission was extended by more than a week. The Silver Star citation outlines three instances of valor where Villegas “selflessly and repeatedly risked his life during nonstop enemy engagements.”

“We were extremely effective, and there was a lot more enemy than we initially anticipated,” Villegas said. “It was necessary to clear the area.”

During a battle early in the mission, a friendly element was pinned down by hostile fire. Villegas ran toward the troops to get a sight on the insurgent’s position. While completely exposed to the small arms fire, Villegas coordinated with an overhead remotely piloted aircraft and fixed-wing air support to drop 14,000 pounds of bombs.

In another instance, Villegas volunteered for a patrol to explore the area, and his team came under enemy fire. The group was inside a structure, stacked up on a door, when an RPG hit. Shrapnel shredded the wall in front of them and hit a Green Beret soldier next to him.

“I heard the screams, so I grabbed him, pulled him back and began directing air support in the area,” he said.

Villegas moved between his team and the enemy, providing additional cover fire and controlled close air support within 60 meters of him to stop the onslaught and help the patrol fight their way over the kill zone.

Over the course of the 18-day mission, Villegas controlled 40 aircraft, dropping more than 32,500 pounds of ordnance. His work resulted in 21 enemy killed and the destruction of eight fighting positions and two communication repeaters.

With the awarding of the second Silver Star, Villegas joins an exlusive club. He is only the second airman to receive multiple high valor awards in the global war on terror, joining Staff Sgt. Sean Harvell, according to Doug Sterner, the curator of the Military Times Hall of Valor. There are a total of 11 troops across all services to be awarded multiple high valor awards.

Villegas was presented his first Silver Star in 2011, for a September 2009 battle in Afghanistan. In that instance, he was the only JTAC in an Army Special Forces team tasked with clearing a road of IEDs near Bagh Kosak when his team was ambushed. He ran 200 feet across an open minefield to a higher position to return fire and call in air support. During the 16-hour firefight, the airstrikes killed 32 enemy insurgents and saved the lives of his teammates.

Villegas, a 16-year Air Force veteran, has now been twice recognized for his work with Green Berets — the elite troops that first drew him to the military. His plan originally was to join the Green Berets or other special operations forces, until he came across a pamphlet about Combat Controllers.

To him, the awards show the importance of the training Combat Controllers receive.

“It’s pretty humbling to represent the Combat Controller community,” said Villegas, now a recruiting liaison at Joint Base San Antonio. “A lot of credit goes to the Combat Controllers that trained me and the training I received.”

For now, he’s enjoying his liaison position. But going forward, “wherever the Air Force calls me to service is where I’ll go.”

Operation Siege Engine

Staff Sgt. Dale Young took a similar route to the Air Force, an interest in special operations that brought him to the Combat Controller community. He was only 17 when he enlisted in his home town of Akron, Ohio, convincing his parents to agree to let him join. Over an 11-year career, he has deployed twice as a JTAC. In May 2009, he joined a team of Army Special Forces, Navy SEALS, Air Force Combat Controllers, Afghan commandos and other government agencies for Operation Siege Engine, a large onslaught into Taliban-controlled territory to get it ready for U.S. Marines to come in and hold. It was a known enemy stronghold near Helmand Province and a known headquarters with big money from drug traffickers, Young said. The team moved in under the cover of darkness May 19, and at first, there was no enemy contact. They moved in to the village. Two roads in the village center crossed at a bazaar, and this is where the Taliban began to fight. It began with small arms fire from within 150 meters. Then RPGs and 107 millimeter rockets.

“Some of the elements were receiving fire so intense that they couldn’t return fire,” Young said.

Young, the lead JTAC on the team, ran to the center of the village and found the highest vantage point he could. He began coordinating with an AC-130 and helicopter gunships above. He directed a show of force, gun strages to try to quell the enemy fire. The fighting continued, with some enemy small arms and rocket fire impacting within 10 meters of Young’s position, the award citation says.

He broke his cover, found a better view of the enemy location and radioed aircraft above to drop 500-pound bombs onthe enemy.

“The guns were not as effective as we would have liked,” Young said.

The firefights were on and off at times during the 94-hour battle. At one point, another JTAC was wounded. Young organized the aircraft above to bring in a UH-60 Pave Hawk to medically evacuate the airman.

On the last day of the mission, Young got intel that there was a high-value target in the area and coordinated with a remotely piloted aircraft to launch two Hellfire missiles. At another location, a sniper was holed up in a compound that intelligence showed held a Taliban leader. That ended with two 2,000-pound bombs dropped from B-1B Lancers.

“After that, there really wasn’t any more enemy activity,” Young said.

After quieting the area, the team found a massive enemy cache: $1.2 billion worth of black-tar heroin, 300,000 pounds of poppy seeds, IED making materials and weapons. Their mission of clearing the area was complete. With one thing left to do, Young radioed the coordinates of the cache to the B-1s.

“We were making sure the enemy couldn’t come back to use it, sell it or have any effect in that area whatsover,” Young said.

On the ex-filtration helicopter, Young made sure all personnel were accounted for. As they flew away from the battlefield, he gave the go-ahead for the B-1s to drop thousands of pounds of bombs in the area and the weapons and drug caches. Young estimates that the B-1s dropped more than 90,000 pounds of ordnance.

All told, the enemy equipment and drugs were destroyed, and Young’s actions during nearly four days of battle contributed to more than 90 Taliban killed in action.

“We were to prepare the area for the Marines; we didn’t expect this much enemy combat,” Young said. “But as the 94 hours continued, that’s what happened.”

Young is now an instructor at the Combat Controller selection course at Joint Base San Antonio, and he is finishing his degree. But after so much time in, “it would be a waste to get out for sure,” and he is considering putting his name in to become a special tactics officer.

For him, the Silver Star highlights the team effort. Everyone had a job, and he did his.

“There were so many people involved on this mission,” he said. “It just goes to show how well we worked together. It’s an absolute honor to receive the Silver Star.

“Looking at the guys previously awarded, these guys make history in our career field and in the Air Force. It’s a great thing for Combat Control. ... You never stop learning. You’ve got to take advantage of the people who have gone before you.”

It was the second Silver Star awarded to Villegas, who is currently the only active-duty two-time recipient in the Air Force. Villegas is assigned to the 24th Special Operations Wing at Hurlburt Field and presently works as a recruiting liaison for the 369th Air Force Recruiting Group at Lackland.

Young is assigned to the 342nd Training Squadron at Lackland as an instructor in the entry level course for all special operators.
 
 Both recipients expressed how humbled and honored they were by the award.
 
"I was surprised," Young said. "It was submitted as a Bronze Star with Valor and after statements from some of my team members, different boards recommended an upgrade to Silver Star. It's an honor."
 
 Villegas, a 16-year veteran with eight deployments, used "surreal and shock" to describe his reaction.
 
 "The first one (in 2011) you don't even expect -- that in itself is a shock," he said. "To receive two -- that's even more incredible. For me to be awarded a second one is even more of a shock."
 
 Both men received their awards for gallantry in action during separate military operations near Helmand province, Afghanistan.
 
 Villegas' citation states he risked his life from Feb. 6 - 24, 2011 during nonstop enemy engagements. In an 18-day mission riddled with trench warfare battles, Villegas controlled 40 aircraft that delivered more than 32,500 pounds of precision ordnance. The air strikes resulted in 21 enemies confirmed killed in action and destroyed eight fighting positions and two communication repeaters.
 
 During the mission, Villegas gathered intelligence from fortified insurgent positions at great risk. He also protected, covered, then pulled to safety a teammate hit by shrapnel.
 
 Col. Marc Stratton, the commandant of the Inter-American Air Forces Academy at Lackland, was one of Villegas' first commanders when both served in the 21st Special Tactics Squadron, Pope Air Force Base, N.C., in 2002. Stratton is a special tactics officer who has spent 25 years in the career field.
 
 He recalled that Villegas, then a senior airman, impressed his teammates in the field when directly engaged with the enemy on numerous missions during his first deployment to Afghanistan.
 
 "Little did any of us know, at the time, that we would be here many years later at an event recognizing his courage under fire, not merely for one isolated incident, but for consecutive exceptional selfless actions during successive engagements over time," Stratton said.
 
 "In short, this oak leaf cluster carries a great deal of significance," he said. "The award of a second Silver Star is very rare for good reason."
 
 Young compared the award upgrade to "the kind of stuff you see in movies and TV."
 
 "You never really see yourself in that position," he said. "The training we get is so good, so precise and key in building our skills.
 
 "This is a tribute to my supervisors, the first controllers I met and the ones who taught me everything I know," Young said.
 
From May 19-23, 2009, near Helmand province, Young's citation states he served as the primary Combat Control joint terminal attack controller assigned to an Army Special Forces team. Young's element was under continuous enemy fire for 94 hours.
 
Young controlled up to 11 coalition aircraft and ensured safe and effective fires on enemy positions despite small-arms and rocket fire within 10 meters of his position. The mission also destroyed more than $1 billion in black tar opium.
 
 During his remarks, the AFSOC commander cited the humility and training of special operations Airmen.
 
"Special operations is a community of quiet professionals," Fiel said. "If you ask these men or anyone who wears our berets their thoughts about decorations, I think they would all say, 'I was just doing what I was trained to do.'
 
 "The citations detail your amazing acts of heroism and bravery," he said. "Your stories are truly inspiring."

Combat Controllers Bring Doom on Al Qaeda & The Taliban If asked to name, without a shred of evidence or data for backup, three groups of American combatants that have caused the most mayhem and chaos in Al-Qaeda and the Taliban, these would be my guess: Apache helicopter pilot/gunners, AC-130 gunners, and Air Force Combat Controllers.

Please read this Air Force Times article (above) about two of the latter, Combat Controllers Technical Sergeant Ismael Villegas and Staff Sergeant Dale Young, and the awards they earned.   With his second Silver Star, TSgt Villegas joins that rare group of heroes with TWO of the 3 highest awards for valor in the global war on terror.  He is the second Airman to achieve this, following in the footsteps of fellow Combat Controller Sean Harvell. Outstanding job, TSgt Villegas… FIRST THERE!- BK   From the article: TSgt Villegas: During a battle early in the mission, a friendly element was pinned down by hostile fire. Villegas ran toward the troops to get a sight on the insurgent’s position. While completely exposed to the small arms fire, Villegas coordinated with an overhead remotely piloted aircraft and fixed-wing air support to drop 14,000 pounds of bombs. In another instance, Villegas volunteered for a patrol to explore the area, and his team came under enemy fire. The group was inside a structure, stacked up on a door, when an RPG hit. Shrapnel shredded the wall in front of them and hit a Green Beret soldier next to him.

“I heard the screams, so I grabbed him, pulled him back and began directing air support in the area,” he said.
 
Villegas moved between his team and the enemy, providing additional cover fire and controlled close air support within 60 meters of him to stop the onslaught and help the patrol fight their way over the kill zone.
 
Over the course of the 18-day mission, Villegas controlled 40 aircraft, dropping more than 32,500 pounds of ordnance. His work resulted in 21 enemy killed and the destruction of eight fighting positions and two communication repeaters…
 
From the article: SSgt Young: In May 2009, he joined a team of Army Special Forces, Navy SEALS, Air Force combat controllers, Afghan commandos and other government agencies for Operation Siege Engine, a large onslaught into Taliban-controlled territory to get it ready for U.S. Marines to come in and hold.
 
It was a known enemy stronghold near Helmand Province and a known headquarters with big money from drug traffickers, Young said.
 
The team moved in under the cover of darkness May 19, and at first, there was no enemy contact. They moved in to the village. Two roads in the village center crossed at a bazaar, and this is where the Taliban began to fight.
 
It began with small arms fire from within 150 meters. Then RPGs and 107 millimeter rockets.
 
“Some of the elements were receiving fire so intense that they couldn’t return fire,” Young said.
 
Young, the lead JTAC on the team, ran to the center of the village and found the highest vantage point he could. He began coordinating with an AC-130 and helicopter gunships above. He directed a show of force to try to quell the enemy fire. The fighting continued, with some enemy small arms and rocket fire impacting within 10 meters of Young’s position, the award citation says.
 
He broke his cover, found a better view of the enemy location and radioed aircraft above to drop 500-pound bombs on the enemy.
 
“The guns were not as effective as we would have liked,” Young said.
 
The firefights were on and off at times during the 94-hour battle. At one point, another JTAC was wounded. Young organized the aircraft above to bring in a UH-60 Pave Hawk to medically evacuate the airman.