Lt. Col. Leffry Staha, the commander of the 22nd Special Tactics Squadron, delivered the
first speech of the ceremony.

Lt. Gen. Donald Wurster, the commander of the Air Force Special Operations Command, followed him.

And here is Tech. Sgt. Scott Iniss' citation read aloud.

A three-star general had just pinned three medals to Scott Innis’ left lapel, but the technical sergeant avoided talking about himself.

The 16-year veteran of the Air Force said he was happy his family could attend the ceremony and the honor bestowed on his unit, the 22nd Special Tactics Squadron.

But, someone asked Innis, what did it mean to him personally?

“I’m happy for my unit,” he replied. “I like that I got the promotion points. And I think it’s 10 percent on my retirement, and that’s kind of cool.”

Innis might have deflected the personal glory, but make no mistake – plenty of attention was focused on him.

A Silver Star has a way of doing that.

Innis received the nation’s third-highest award for valor at a ceremony in a hanger at McChord Air Force Base for calling in aerial strikes from an exposed position during an attack in Afghanistan last year. He also received a Bronze Star and the Air Force Combat Action Medal for his duty while working as a joint terminal attack controller attached with an Army Special Forces unit.

Thirteen other airman received medals at the ceremony, but Air Force officials asked the news media not to identify all but one for security reasons. Ten Bronze Stars, two Purple Hearts and 12 Air Force Combat Action Medals were awarded.

Lt. Gen. Donald C. Wurster, the commander of the Air Force Special Operations Command, was on hand to award the medals. He compared the elite airmen to warriors from the Old Testament.

“A dozen Special Forces soldiers with a combat controller is an extremely lethal force when combined with airpower,” he said after the ceremony. “We showed it in the early days of Afghanistan, and we continue to show it today.”

Innis’ medal stems from his actions on March 28, 2006, when Innis and other members of the Army Special Forces detachment came under fire of rocket-propelled grenades, mortar rounds, heavy machine-gun and small-arms fire from three directions. Despite the danger, Innis scaled a ladder to an observation platform stationed at the center of their firebase. The platform was the only structure visible outside the perimeter and received the bulk of enemy fire.

From that platform, he called in and helped guide aerial counterattacks. He remained on the platform despite several close calls during the 24-hour battle and also coordinated to get injured coalition soldiers evacuated. The airpower he directed led to the death or injury of more than 100 Taliban insurgents.

“He’s a quiet professional,” said Lt. Col. Jeffrey F. Staha, the commander of the 22nd Special Tactics Squadron. “He’s one of the guys I turn to handle tough missions.”

Tech. Sgt. Jason Dryer received a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart. In April, insurgents ambushed his unit in Afghanistan with rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire. Dryer fought through the ambush and called in an airstrike by an AC-130 gunship. He also called in strikes to quash second and third waves of the ambush.

He later injured his knee and soldier when an improvised-explosive device detonated near his vehicle in Afghanistan.

“I remember turning back to my friend and saying, ‘I can’t wait for this to be over,’ ” he said. “I turned back and don’t remember anything else. I woke up in my friend’s arms with all my clothes were cut off me and all bloody.”

He went to Kandahar for treatment and returned to his unit downrange about 10 days later.
Dryer said he’ll continue training and awaits his next assignment. Wurster had a message for him.

“I told him I didn’t want to give him another Purple Heart,” Wurster said, “so don’t earn one.”

=> Read more!

Robert Boyd is discovering helping people isn’t always easy.

The former Air Force veteran hoped to open an office in Puyallup that would serve homeless vets. He founded the Homeless American Veterans Relief Fund, which he said will complement the veterans’ services already in place through government agencies, earlier this year.

It’s an issue close to Boyd, who fought in Vietnam and was homeless for a time after leaving the Air Force.

“I just hoped to get a place where people could go to start over,” he said. “It can get tough when you’re on the streets.”

John Aldrich, a friend who owns a transmission shop, offered to provide free space from which Boyd could operate.

But a problem with insuring the building has sidelined the office’s opening – but only after he cleaned up the office, built new counters, accepted donations of free furniture and painted the room, Boyd said.

“I wasn’t subleasing because I wasn’t charging him anything,” said Aldrich of Meridian Transmission and Automotive Center. “I was just letting him use the office to get things going. And my insurance agent said, ‘Not a chance.’ ”

The building would be viewed as dual-purpose in the insurance company’s eyes, Aldrich said. And not telling the insurer wasn’t an option, he said.

“I’ve been in business 14 years,” he said. “I know how it is – people can walk in, fall down, and there you go. I had to make sure everything was covered.”

Boyd is now trying to work from his mother’s house, where he recently moved. He believes Aldrich didn’t handle the insurance situation well but said it’s past him. Veterans approach him often and ask about services, he said, and he wants to come through for them.

“This is just a bump in the road,” he said. “I’d like to get everything up and going so I can help people.”

It's about surgeons and special-ops today while I gleefully ponder a reason to file from one of my favorite bars in town.

I'm going to talk to Champ Weeks, a doctor with a baseball player's name at Tacoma General Hospital, about robotic-assisted surgery.

And this afternoon, I'm heading to McChord Air Force Base for a ceremony in which one airman will receive a Silver Star.