bobdina
05-22-2009, 10:00 PM
1 airman, 2 Bronze Stars
Combat controller awarded valor medals for firefights with Taliban
By Michael Hoffman - Staff writer
Posted : Friday May 22, 2009 17:01:18 EDT
Master Sgt. Ken Huhman wasn’t impressed until a round slammed into the radio antenna next to his head.
The Taliban sniper wasn’t half bad, but the combat controller was the better shot.
A former force reconnaissance Marine, Huhman killed 41 Taliban fighters and called in airstrikes for 26 hours after his unit — as he describes it — “stirred up a hornet’s nest” trying to track down stolen Afghan police cars. The 16 U.S. Special Forces and Afghan National soldiers had their hands full taking on more than 200 militants.
All the American and Afghan troops escaped alive, but Huhman knows he came close to death when that bullet hit his radio.
“Thankfully, he wasn’t that good,” Huhman said.
That firefight, in early September 2007, would earn Huhman one Bronze Star with valor. Another battle, just two months later, would bring him a second Bronze Star with valor.In that second firefight, Huhman found himself facing down the Taliban again. The number of fighters was smaller, but they were just as fierce.
This time, Huhman used his experience as a Recon Marine to help save the lives of his Army Special Forces Operational Detachment — or ODA.
Army leaders ordered his ODA to scout an enemy strong point near Kandahar. First, Huhman identified seven militants setting up a mortar position, and then called for air support. The enemy never got the chance to attack.
After the airstrike, though, Huhman and the others in his unit were trapped in a valley. Peering down at them from the hills were more than 300 Taliban fighters.
Near the beginning of what would turn out to be an 11-hour battle, a round hit near Huhman and temporarily blinded him.
Having his sight didn’t matter, though.
“At the time I was just worried about the team,” Huhman said in an account posted on Air Force Link, the service’s Web site. “Once I couldn’t see, I used the aircraft as my eyes to make sure they could see the convoy. I let them know I didn’t have visual and that I had to rely on them.”
Huhman regained his vision in time to shoot a Taliban fighter armed with an RPG launcher taking aim at the U.S. and Afghan convoy.
Then, he directed airstrikes from two FA-18 Hornets and one AC-130 gunship to keep a group of 50 fighters from descending into the valley. By the time all was said and done, the aircraft had emptied their ammunition.Later that night, the unit received intelligence of a high-level meeting of Taliban leaders nearby. Huhman directed a precision airstrike of two 500-pound bombs and one Hellfire missile killing the leaders. Huhman and his fellow troops held their position until reinforcements moved in to relieve them
“That one was actually worst than the first one,” he said. “Just my opinion, but without the aircraft I don’t think any of us would have walked away from that one.”
Huhman received his two Bronze Stars with valor at a May 7 ceremony at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas. Brig. Gen. A.J. Stewart, Air Force Recruiting Service commander, presented the medals.
“His contribution to the special tactics team, and all our combat controllers who are embedded, is just immeasurable,” Stewart said of Huhman. “What they are able to do, and do it under fire in the mountains of Afghanistan, is amazing.”No GPS, no problem
Lt. Col. Eric Ray shares Stewart’s respect for Huhman, who was a member of his 23rd Special Tactics Squadron. Huhman called in most of the airstrikes for that first battle without his GPS device, which broke early in the fight. The combat controller reverted back to using a grease pencil, a map and a radio to call in precision strikes.
Huhman directed two F-15E Strike Eagles to drop two 500-pound bombs just 50 meters from his position — what’s called “danger close” — to take out Taliban fighters entrenched on a hilltop. It was part of a strategy to create an escape route out of the valley.
Before leaving, Huhman directed U.S. bombs to obliterate the Afghan police vehicles so that Taliban fighters disguised as legitimate police could no longer harass villagers in western Afghanistan.
Now back home for more than a year, Huhman is clean-shaven — most special operators wear beards in country — and now serves as a recruiter.
Huhman said he needed to take a break from the back-to-back deployments to spend more time with his family. Since the 2001 terrorist attacks, Huhman has deployed twice to Afghanistan and once to Iraq. Before then, he deployed three times to Iraq as part of Southern Watch.Huhman is one of the combat controllers that Air Force Special Operations Command has put on the recruiting trail to better prepare special tactics recruits to complete the intense training they endure.
“He’s definitely walked the walk,” said Capt. Steve Cooper, who was Huhman’s team leader at the 23rd STS. “Recruits are going to listen to what he has to say.”
Huhman is surprised at how little is known about Air Force special operators.
“The vast majority of the high school students I meet don’t even know that combat controllers and PJs even exist,” he said.
A self-described adrenaline junkie, Huhman didn’t start out with the Air Force. He spent four years in the Marine Corps assigned to the 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion before switching services 12 years ago.
Huhman said he joined Air Force Special Operations Command in 1996 for the “mission opportunities” since combat controllers get attached to Army, Navy and Marine special operations units. The bonus pay and “quality of life inside the Air Force” didn’t hurt either, he said.
“Actually, since I came over I have had quite a few of my Marine buddies follow me,” he said.
Combat controller awarded valor medals for firefights with Taliban
By Michael Hoffman - Staff writer
Posted : Friday May 22, 2009 17:01:18 EDT
Master Sgt. Ken Huhman wasn’t impressed until a round slammed into the radio antenna next to his head.
The Taliban sniper wasn’t half bad, but the combat controller was the better shot.
A former force reconnaissance Marine, Huhman killed 41 Taliban fighters and called in airstrikes for 26 hours after his unit — as he describes it — “stirred up a hornet’s nest” trying to track down stolen Afghan police cars. The 16 U.S. Special Forces and Afghan National soldiers had their hands full taking on more than 200 militants.
All the American and Afghan troops escaped alive, but Huhman knows he came close to death when that bullet hit his radio.
“Thankfully, he wasn’t that good,” Huhman said.
That firefight, in early September 2007, would earn Huhman one Bronze Star with valor. Another battle, just two months later, would bring him a second Bronze Star with valor.In that second firefight, Huhman found himself facing down the Taliban again. The number of fighters was smaller, but they were just as fierce.
This time, Huhman used his experience as a Recon Marine to help save the lives of his Army Special Forces Operational Detachment — or ODA.
Army leaders ordered his ODA to scout an enemy strong point near Kandahar. First, Huhman identified seven militants setting up a mortar position, and then called for air support. The enemy never got the chance to attack.
After the airstrike, though, Huhman and the others in his unit were trapped in a valley. Peering down at them from the hills were more than 300 Taliban fighters.
Near the beginning of what would turn out to be an 11-hour battle, a round hit near Huhman and temporarily blinded him.
Having his sight didn’t matter, though.
“At the time I was just worried about the team,” Huhman said in an account posted on Air Force Link, the service’s Web site. “Once I couldn’t see, I used the aircraft as my eyes to make sure they could see the convoy. I let them know I didn’t have visual and that I had to rely on them.”
Huhman regained his vision in time to shoot a Taliban fighter armed with an RPG launcher taking aim at the U.S. and Afghan convoy.
Then, he directed airstrikes from two FA-18 Hornets and one AC-130 gunship to keep a group of 50 fighters from descending into the valley. By the time all was said and done, the aircraft had emptied their ammunition.Later that night, the unit received intelligence of a high-level meeting of Taliban leaders nearby. Huhman directed a precision airstrike of two 500-pound bombs and one Hellfire missile killing the leaders. Huhman and his fellow troops held their position until reinforcements moved in to relieve them
“That one was actually worst than the first one,” he said. “Just my opinion, but without the aircraft I don’t think any of us would have walked away from that one.”
Huhman received his two Bronze Stars with valor at a May 7 ceremony at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas. Brig. Gen. A.J. Stewart, Air Force Recruiting Service commander, presented the medals.
“His contribution to the special tactics team, and all our combat controllers who are embedded, is just immeasurable,” Stewart said of Huhman. “What they are able to do, and do it under fire in the mountains of Afghanistan, is amazing.”No GPS, no problem
Lt. Col. Eric Ray shares Stewart’s respect for Huhman, who was a member of his 23rd Special Tactics Squadron. Huhman called in most of the airstrikes for that first battle without his GPS device, which broke early in the fight. The combat controller reverted back to using a grease pencil, a map and a radio to call in precision strikes.
Huhman directed two F-15E Strike Eagles to drop two 500-pound bombs just 50 meters from his position — what’s called “danger close” — to take out Taliban fighters entrenched on a hilltop. It was part of a strategy to create an escape route out of the valley.
Before leaving, Huhman directed U.S. bombs to obliterate the Afghan police vehicles so that Taliban fighters disguised as legitimate police could no longer harass villagers in western Afghanistan.
Now back home for more than a year, Huhman is clean-shaven — most special operators wear beards in country — and now serves as a recruiter.
Huhman said he needed to take a break from the back-to-back deployments to spend more time with his family. Since the 2001 terrorist attacks, Huhman has deployed twice to Afghanistan and once to Iraq. Before then, he deployed three times to Iraq as part of Southern Watch.Huhman is one of the combat controllers that Air Force Special Operations Command has put on the recruiting trail to better prepare special tactics recruits to complete the intense training they endure.
“He’s definitely walked the walk,” said Capt. Steve Cooper, who was Huhman’s team leader at the 23rd STS. “Recruits are going to listen to what he has to say.”
Huhman is surprised at how little is known about Air Force special operators.
“The vast majority of the high school students I meet don’t even know that combat controllers and PJs even exist,” he said.
A self-described adrenaline junkie, Huhman didn’t start out with the Air Force. He spent four years in the Marine Corps assigned to the 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion before switching services 12 years ago.
Huhman said he joined Air Force Special Operations Command in 1996 for the “mission opportunities” since combat controllers get attached to Army, Navy and Marine special operations units. The bonus pay and “quality of life inside the Air Force” didn’t hurt either, he said.
“Actually, since I came over I have had quite a few of my Marine buddies follow me,” he said.