SSgt. Trevor Brewer, an airman from Gray, Tenn., received Germany’s highest civilian award for his role in helping to apprehend the Islamic extremist who shot two airmen to death in a cold-blooded bus attack last March at the main airport in Frankfurt, Germany. “I was definitely fearful, but I knew if I didn’t take action, the attack could have continued and someone else could have gotten hurt,” said Brewer, reported the Associated Press (via Fox News). Brewer received the Federal Cross of Merit from German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich on Monday in Berlin, along with American Lamar Conner, a civilian airport employee, who also helped catch shooter Arid Uka. A jihadist-inspired Kosovar Albanian, Uka entered the bus for airmen on March 2, 2011, and began shooting, killing SrA. Nicholas Alden and A1C Zachary Cuddeback and wounding two other airmen. Uka turned his pistol on Brewer and fired, but the gun jammed. Uka fled and Brewer chased after him, according to AP’s account. Brewer accepted the cross on behalf of Alden and Cuddeback.
The six-week government shutdown did not affect the hours flown by Air Force pilots, a service spokesperson told Air & Space Forces Magazine—avoiding what could have been a major blow at a time when flying hours are already lower than they have been in decades.
