Thirty-nine security forces personnel recently were awarded the Air Force Combat Action Medal for their actions defending US and coalition bases during an insurgent attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, in July. Maj. Gen. John McMullen, commander of the 9th Air and Space Expeditionary Task Force-Afghanistan, presented the medals to the airmen during a Sept. 2 ceremony at FOB Oqab, Afghanistan, states a base release. In the early morning hours of July 17, 2014, insurgents “launched more than a dozen rocket-propelled grenades and fired automatic rifles” at a NATO base, the Afghan Air Force’s Kabul Air Wing, and Oqab, all located at Kabul Airport, from a multi-storied building nearby, states the release. Security forces retaliated from guard towers and launched quick-reaction forces with carbines, launchers, and machine guns, unloading more than 3,000 total rounds on the insurgents. The battle ended after for more than five hours “when an Afghan-led quick reaction force—enabled by the suppressive fire from Air Force and Afghan forces on the base—arrived at the attackers’ position and cleared the building, eliminating the threat,” states the release.
The U.S. military is sending more fighter jets to the Middle East to step up its war with Iran, adding to what is already the largest buildup of airpower in the region since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. For now, the operation shows little sign of coming to a quick…