Air Force A-10 pilot recognized for saving ground troops’ lives in Afghanistan
“I am honored and humbled to be awarded this medal, but I’m convinced that any A-10 pilot would be able to do just as well, if not better.”
BY DAVID ROZA | PUBLISHED NOV 28, 2022 4:32 PM
The Air Force A-10 Warthog community has a decades-long tradition of saving the lives of ground troops under fire, and one pilot was formally recognized for his actions when he received one of the highest Air Force awards for heroism last week.
Maj. Kyle “Metric” Adkison, of the 59th Test and Evaluation Squadron at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, received the Distinguished Flying Cross with combat device for an August 2019 mission where he and his wingman, Capt. Erin Fullam, flew danger-close strafing passes and coordinated a crowded airspace to kill enemy fighters and protect friendly troops in an urban area in Afghanistan.
“I am honored and humbled to be awarded this medal, but I’m convinced that any A-10 pilot would be able to do just as well, if not better than Capt. Fullam and I,” Adkison said in a press release. “We just happened to be the ones flying the lines that day.
The press release did not provide details on the exact date or location of the battle, or what hostile group was shooting at friendly forces that day, or whether the friendly troops belonged to the U.S. military or one of its allies. As first noted by Air Force Times, Aug. 27, 2019 was a particularly violent day in Afghanistan, where 162 people died and 47 were injured, “primarily Taliban fighters in air strikes,” according to the BBC, though it was not clear if that was the day Adkison’s mission took place.
https://taskandpurpose.com/news/air-force-a-10-distinguished-flying-cross/
