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Issue Date: November 24, 2003
SpecOps crew honored for Afghan mission
By Bruce Rolfsen
Times staff writer
The 14 airmen aboard the AC-130H Spectre gunship thought they had missed their chance to see combat in Operation Enduring Freedom. That all changed the night of March 2, 2002, when the crew of Grim 3-1 saved the lives an Army company trapped in the Shah-e-Kot Valley during the early days of Operation Anaconda.
That mission now is recognized as the Air Force’s “most meritorious flight” of 2002.
On Nov. 10 the aircrew was presented the MacKay Trophy during a ceremony in Arlington, Va. The trophy first was presented in 1912. Past honorees include Eddie Rickenbacker, Chuck Yeager and Henry “Hap” Arnold.
“We knew it was a pretty special mission,” said the lieutenant colonel who flew that night as Grim 3-1’s fire control officer. He and the master sergeant who flew as lead gunner talked with Air Force Times and requested that their names not be used.
The airmen were on crew rest when word arrived that they were needed for the March 2 mission. A company of 82 soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division was surrounded by enemy fighters. More than two dozen soldiers had been wounded, and the Army intended to send in a pair of HH-60 Black Hawks after nightfall to fly the wounded to safety.
The helicopters needed someone to silence the enemy fire before they could land. That would be the job of Grim 3-1.
The AC-130 arrived shortly after sunset. An Air Force enlisted terminal air controller with the soldiers was in radio contact with Grim 3-1’s navigator and told the crew where to look for the enemy gun emplacements.
The Spectre’s 105 and 40mm cannon fire took the enemy by surprise, the lieutenant colonel said. The Taliban and al-Qaida fighters seemed to think they were being hit by ground artillery and fled to the other side of a ridge. The gunship followed.
“They knew something was wrong,” the lieutenant colonel said. Some of the targets were as close as 100 meters to the Americans.
Onboard the gunship, the master sergeant was helping the gunners deal with a cantankerous 40mm cannon that broke down.
After about 40 minutes, it appeared the enemy fighters had given up. But a rocket-propelled grenade exploded 20 feet from the first Black Hawk after it arrived. The gunship crew spotted a second RPG team getting ready to attack but fired on them before the rocket was launched.
The gunship continued to lay down suppression fire until the two Black Hawks and the wounded were safely away.
After two hours on station, the AC-130H was low on fuel and was replaced by a sister gunship before returning to its deployed base.
The master sergeant welcomed the MacKay Trophy but said the best reward came when the aircrew met the soldiers they had been defending, a few days after the fight.
“There is no award that could make you feel any better,” the lead gunner said.
The 2002 honor marks the second consecutive year an aircrew from Air Force Special Operations Command received the MacKay Trophy. Since 1980, six special-ops aircrews have earned it.
Bruce Rolfsen can be reached at (703) 750-8647 or brolfse@atpco.com.
------------------------------------------------------------ Albert Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results. ------------------------------------------ 
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