Guardsman to receive Air Force Cross for heroism in Afghan firefightCapt. Barry Crawford is fifth recipent since 9/11
April 11, 2012|By Matthew Hay Brown, The Baltimore Sun
As they prepared for the helicopter assault in volatile eastern Afghanistan, the team of American and Afghan special-forces soldiers was told it might encounter 10 to 15 enemy fighters on the ground.
But when the sun rose over Laghman Province that day two years ago, the men found themselves taking machine-gun fire from a force of more than 100.
"It turned into a battle of survival," Maryland Air National Guard Capt. Barry F. Crawford Jr. said Wednesday. "The enemy was completely around us. They had called in reinforcements, and they were using the terrain to their advantage."
During the 14-hour firefight, Crawford ventured into open ground to radio a helicopter to evacuate wounded soldiers, to overcome an ambush by firing on enemy positions and to call in more than 40 airstrikes.
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(couldn't post in Attention to Orders area, but my Early Bird feed this AM is where it came to me anyway, so...)
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