Posted on 03/11/2009 5:41:51 PM PDT by SandRat
3/11/2009 - POPE AIR FORCE BASE, N.C. (AFNS) -- Tears stood in Sue Rhyner's eyes as she talked about her son, who, in a ceremony March 10 here received the Air Force Cross, the highest military decoration awarded by the service, and a Purple Heart.
Staff Sgt. Zachary Rhyner of the 21st Special Tactics Squadron from Pope Air Force Base, N.C., received the medal for uncommon valor during Operation Enduring Freedom before a crowd of hundreds dotted with combat controllers' red berets.
The decoration is second only to the Medal of Honor, and is awarded by the president.
"This is overwhelming. I couldn't be prouder," Ms. Rhyner said. "Zac is part of an awesome group of individuals who personify teamwork; something he learned early on being one of five children."
Secretary of the Air Force Michael B. Donley presented Sergeant Rhyner the Air Force Cross for his actions during an intense 6.5-hour battle in Shok Valley, Afghanistan, April 6, 2008. The Air Force has not awarded the decoration in more than six years.
"Your actions are now and forever woven into the rich fabric of service, integrity and excellence that has connected generations of America's Airmen since the very inception of airpower," Secretary Donley said to Sergeant Rhyner.
"Rarely do we present an Airman with the Air Force Cross, let alone a Purple Heart, and with good reason. The Air Force Cross is reserved for those who demonstrate unparalleled valor in the face of insurmountable odds."
Secretary Donley added that among the millions who have served, only 192 Air Force Crosses have been awarded.
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz also presented Sergeant Rhyner with the Purple Heart. General Schwartz said special forces Soldiers lived to tell the story of the Shok Valley battle thanks to the courage, tenacity, teamwork, as well as the invaluable and selfless efforts of Sergeant Rhyner.
Despite injuries he sustained as the result of persistent insurgent fire, Sergeant Rhyner coordinated more than 50 aerial attacks to continuously repel the enemy during the beleaguering battle that occurred during his first deployment. According to the decoration citation, Sergeant Rhyner "provided suppressive fire with his M-4 rifle against enemy fire while fellow teammates were extracted from the line of fire."
"The team survived this hellish scene ... not by chance, not by luck and not by the failings of a weak or timid foe," General Schwartz said.
The general spoke emotionally and with gratitude for the team's devotion to duty and courage in the line of fire.
"A grateful nation could not be more proud for what you do and no doubt what you will do," the general said.
Lt. Col. Michael Martin, the 21st STS commander, echoed the efforts of Sergeant Rhyner and the aviators from above.
"Zac -- systematically with (F-15E) Strike Eagles, A-10 (Thunderbolt IIs) and AH-64 (Apaches) -- unleashed hell on the enemy," Colonel Martin said. "The enemy had the proverbial high ground that day on those mountain ridge lines, but it was the aviators in the sky who truly held the highest ground."
Colonel Martin credited the 335th Fighter Squadron from Seymour Johnson AFB, N.C., and the 81st Fighter Squadron from Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, for providing critical close-air support during the battle. Sergeant Rhyner's demonstration of teamwork among his colleagues and flying units was the linear theme of the ceremony.
For the same battle, an unprecedented 10 special forces Soldiers received Silver Stars, the Army's third highest award for valor in combat.
"It all boils down to teamwork," Colonel Martin said to Sergeant Rhyner. "You did exactly what you get paid to do -- kill the enemy -- and you did a damned good job."
Perhaps Sergeant Rhyner's heroism is bested only by his humility.
"Any other combat controller in the same position would've done just what I did," said the NCO who was a senior airman at the time of the battle.
Sergeant Rhyner's father, Paul Rhyner, said he now has only one expectation for his son and other special forces members in future missions.
"Come home safe; all of you," the elder Rhyner said.
I’m an AF brat and I’m so very proud of this young man....
Awesome!
Guess the Øbamanation had made its first strike at the military because I thought the US Air Force still awarded a Medal of Honor, but who am I to not believe the printed word?
The salutes and the beers from the grunts that accompanied this award should mean more to this man than a handshake from a marionette.
I guess that means that the Air Force Cross is the highest decoration awarded specifically by the Air Force (like the Navy Cross for the Navy), since the MOH is open to all services.
An amazing story. Shok Valley should be getting a lot more press than it is, but then again, it shows the professionalism and heroism of US soldiers and airmen, and we can’t have THAT in the media, can we?
}:-)4
God bless our troops.
Its the CONGRESSIONAL Medal of Honor and not specific to any service.
Further down in the article Tech. Sgt. Amaani Lyle, USAF writes: "For the same battle, an unprecedented 10 special forces Soldiers received Silver Stars, the Army's third highest award for valor in combat."
That is the correct US Army ranking of decorations as the Medal of Honor, Distinguished Service Cross (Equivalent to AF Cross) and then Silver Star.
I am used to the main street media not knowing their hind ends from a hole in the ground about even the simplest military matters, but-- Good heavens! A serving member of the US Air Force so lacking in knowledge of his own service's decorations while knowing the correct info about the US Army's?
That distant thunder we hear is without doubt Curtis LeMay spinning in his grave!
Plus, there are three versions of the Medal of Honor, one for the Army, Navy/Marines and the Air Force, yet to read the article one would not think so.
Then, Ray, then the article correctly say further down "For the same battle, an unprecedented 10 special forces Soldiers received Silver Stars, the Army's third highest award for valor in combat."
Does that mean the US Army awards a Medal of Honor, but the USAF does not?
Of course not. The writer of this article, Tech. Sgt. Amaani Lyle, USAF, is not very knowledgeable about his own service!
It takes away from the braver of Staff Sgt. Zachary Rhyner and all other members of our military past and present to have this article include such such a glaring error. That is what grates me so!
But, it's only been 8 years or so since this war has been going on and there is plenty of outstanding material. Obviously, it's "too soon" for Hollywood to get around to producing anything which shows our side in a good light. Instead, they are still producing the absolute crap which disparages our military members and their heroic deeds.
Hollywood is sitting on a gold mine if they would just produce some of these events, exactly as they happened.
But I suppose we'll just have to wait until Mel Gibson gets around to doing it. Hollyweird is simply too busy producing sh!tty films of our current wars or sex tomes to further debauch our culture and people, not build us up.
USAF veteran BUMP.
Combat Controllers are the baddest of the bad in the USAF.
Their mission is to jump behind enemy lines and direct aircraft to hit high asset targets.
No problems right? Behind enemy lines, surrounded by the enemy, calling in air strikes near your position. What could go wrong?
LIVE IN FAME
OR GO DOWN IN FLAME
NOTHING CAN STOP THE U.S. AIR FORCE!
Red Star over HollywoodThe Film Colony’s Long Romance with the Left
RONALD RADOSH
Overview
From the Author
Until now, Hollywood’s political history has been dominated by a steady stream of films and memoirs decrying the “nightmare” of the Red Scare. But in Red Star over Hollywood, Ronald and Allis Radosh show that the real drama of that era lay in the story of the movie stars, directors and especially screenwriters who joined the Communist Party or traveled in its orbit, and made the Party the focus of their political and social lives. The authors also show the Party’s attempts at influencing filmmaking; their greatest achievement being the film “Mission to Moscow,” which justified Stalin’s great purge trials.
Using material from the papers of Dalton Trumbo, Dore Schary, Albert Maltz, Melvyn Douglas and the FBI’s Hollywood file, and from the newly released testimony of formerly closed HUAC Executive Session hearings, the authors trace the growth of the Communist Party from the 1930s, when many notables toured the Soviet Union and came back converted, through the 1950s when Party members were held to account for their allegiance to another country.
The Radoshes’ most controversial discovery is that during the investigations of the House Committee on Un-American Activities, the Hollywood Reds themselves were beset by doubts and disagreements about their disloyalty to America, and their own treatment by the Communist Party. Their allegiance to the Communist Party and its ever changing line, combined with their outlandish behavior before HUAC, turned old liberal allies against them, and left them vulnerable to the eventual blacklist.
One case study, of actor John Garfield, looks at the strategy he tried to employ to avoid the blacklist, while working to keep the support of both the studios and the Hollywood Left. Acting more as an opportunist than an idealist, Garfield moved to espouse a strong anti-Communism, while at the same time avoiding naming the names of his old radical associates, by pretending to only have been a dupe. In constant agony, his evasions satisfied no one, and led to his fatal heart attack shortly before he as to again appear before HUAC, where he would have finally had to make a decision as to where he actually stood.
Based on a new and extensive interview with writer Budd Schulberg, Red Star over Hollywood opens up the Party cells and discussion groups that defined Hollywood radicalism. Ronald and Allis Radosh also bring their story into the present, describing how the men and women who agitated for Communism a half-century ago created a legacy used by Jane Fonda and others of the Hollywood Left of the 1960s, and by celebrities such as Tim Robbins, Susan Sarandon, Richard Dreyfuss and Sean Penn in the turbulent filmland politics of today.
Outstanding Sergeant Rhyner!
I am a former Combat Controller and I cannot tell you how proud my CCT buddies and I are of this young man.
I hope to make it to one of our reunions again and have the privilege of shaking his hand and buying him a brew.
Says highest decoration awarded by the SERVICE. Meaning in house; by the Air Force. MOH is aawarded by the Congress
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