Photo By Sgt. Maj. Nathan Hoskins | Baldwin, Fla., native, Chief Warrant Officer Carl Duncan a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter...... read more read more
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CAMP TAJI, Iraq – Soldiers of the 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division gathered on June 25 for a ceremony where five of their own received Combat Action Badges with one also receiving a Purple Heart.
The CABs and Purple Heart came from an incident on March 25 when the aircraft the Soldiers were in came under small arms fire.
As safe as air travel is, there is always an exception to the rule as the Soldiers of C Company "Ghost Riders," 3rd Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment, learned.
Fort Worth, Texas, native Sgt. Jonathan Dillenberg, a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter crew chief for C Co., earned his CAB and Purple Heart all in one shot, he said.
Dillenberg, along with the rest of his crew, were headed to pick up some passengers from Baghdad, March 25, when a bullet passed through a cabin window and fragmented when it hit the top part of the frame to one of the passenger seats, said Bethel, Alaska, native Chief Warrant Officer Kris Nicholson, a UH-60 Black Hawk pilot for the Ghost Riders and fellow CAB recipient.
A piece of the bullet lodged into Dillenberg's left forearm, said Nicholson.
Luckily, there were no passengers on board yet, said Dillenberg.
"If there had been a passenger in that seat it would have been (deadly); so it was good that there weren't any," he said.
Immediately after the crew realized they were being engaged, the Soldiers used evasive maneuvers to ensure the safety of the aircraft and crew, said Baldwin, Fla., native, Chief Warrant Officer Carl Duncan, a Ghost Rider pilot who also received a CAB.
After they conducted a quick self-evaluation to make sure no one else was injured, they continued on to their planned destination, said Dillenberg.
"We flew ... to pick up our passengers. I decided (my wound) wasn't that bad. We finished our mission," he said.
The infliction of the wound didn't hurt as bad as when they took the piece of bullet out, said Dillenberg with a smile.
Dillenberg learned from the incident that the training that they do all the time is well worth it, he said.
"All the training that we do and how everything is standardized really helped out in that situation," said Dillenberg. "It's a higher stress level and everybody knew what they were supposed to do because we trained (to do it)."
After the ceremony, Duncan smiled and asked his commander for the story of the incident not to be posted on their unit's family readiness group web site – he didn't want his wife to know he was in any danger.
After the laughter subsided in the room, the request was dutifully denied.
| Date Taken: | 06.25.2007 |
| Date Posted: | 06.29.2007 11:35 |
| Story ID: | 11039 |
| Location: | TAJI, IQ |
| Web Views: | 226 |
| Downloads: | 152 |
This work, Air Cavalry Soldiers recognized for actions in combat, by SGM Nathan Hoskins, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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