3rd Combat Aviation Brigade Public Affairs Office
CAMP STRIKER, Iraq – Two pilots with Combat Aviation Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division were awarded the Air Medal for valor for their actions during an engagement with an enemy anti-aircraft machine gun team.
Chief Warrant Officer 3 Daniel Lynn, Company B, 1st Battalion, 3rd Aviation Regiment, and 1st Lt. Ryan Murphy, also with Company B, were investigating a suspicious vehicle during a security mission south of Baghdad Sept. 6, when their aircraft was hit by small-arms fire from insurgents. Lynn noticed muzzle flashes from a heavy caliber AA machine gun manned by two enemy fighters.
Lynn and Murphy faced down the heavy-caliber weapon as it fired at them and another AH-64 Apache. Murphy fired the attack helicopter's 30 mm cannon, killing the two enemy gunners.
The pilots then destroyed the AA gun with a Hellfire missile.
Both pilots were also awarded Air Medals for their service during their deployment to Iraq, which began in May 2007.