April 2010 Dude Flight Mission Saved 30 Trapped Joint Special
Operators In Bala Morghab, Afghanistan
By: Larry Stencel, MSgt, USAF (ret)
(Author's note: Because the pilot of Dude 01 is the son of
my closest USAF friend, I was able to glean from him and his fellow
crewmen additional information -- not otherwise revealed -- about
the combat mission the four award recipients flew on April 6th,
2010).
Four F-15E Strike Eagle crewmembers then assigned to the 48th
Fighter Wing, RAF Lakenheath, UK serving on temporary duty at
Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan were awarded the 2010 Mackay Trophy by
USAF Chief of Staff, General Norton Schwartz, and National
Aeronautic Association Chairman, Walter Boyne, at the NAA Fall
Banquet in Arlington, VA on November 7th.
(L-R) Larkin, Cornwall, Tsoutas,
Wells
The Mackay Trophy was first awarded in 1912 by Clarence Mackay
to Lt. Henry “Hap” Arnold who went on to become a
five-star General of both the Army and Air Force. It was
later deeded to the National Aeronautic Association and is awarded
annually to “the most meritorious flight of the year by an
Air Force person, persons or organization that demonstrates
gallantry, intrepidity, initiative, resourcefulness and achievement
of outstanding results in combat or non-combat conditions.”
Other recipients include Capt. Eddie Rickenbacher, Lt. James
“Jimmy” Doolittle and Capt. Charles “Chuck”
Yeager.
The recipients this year -- pilot/lead Lt. Col. Donald Cornwell
(now retired) and his WSO, Capt. Leigh Larkin, in Dude 01 and his
wingman Capt. (then 1Lt.) Nicholas Tsougas and his WSO, Lt. Col.
Dylan Wells, in Dude 02 -- were recognized for a combat mission
they flew on April 6, 2010 over Bala Morgab, Afghanistan near the
Turkmenistan border in support of a joint special operations task
force clearing the town of insurgents. During the operation,
approximately 100 well armed, organized and entrenched insurgents
had ambushed and separated the special operations team members who
began taking casualties. Because the weather was “well
below” launch minimums for a helicopter rescue force, a
ground rescue team was sent in. Enroute, this team hit an IED trap
and began taking small arms fire itself. At this point, with the
situation on the ground becoming dire and ammunition running low,
the special operations task force joint tactical air controller,
“Jaguar 12,” put in a call for “Dude
Flight” air support. “Dude” is the call sign
associated with all F-15E Strike Eagle missions in Afghanistan.
(N.B.: so the story goes, the term “Dude” comes from
the movie, "The Big Lebowski")
Initially sent north to a different location and mission, Dude
01 and 02 received the call and set course for the newly assigned
location hundreds of miles away while awaiting further
instructions. Realizing that the new far north location would leave
the flight short of fuel for protracted operations or return to
Bagram Air Base, Lt. Col Cornwell assumed responsibility for
directing a KC-135A tanker crew to move closer to the target
location while higher authority for this decision was being sought.
After arriving on scene and contacting the JTAC controller on the
ground directly, Dude Flight was told that the area was heavily
populated and in a mountain valley . Capt. Larkin and Lt. Col.
Wells studied the terrain around Bala Morgab and worked out a plan
to fly “show of force” flyovers to interrupt the
insurgents and allow the joint special operations team time to
regroup to defensible positions. Unfortunately, even after five
show of force low flyovers, the insurgents regrouped themselves and
began to attack the special ops team again.
F-15E Strike Eagle File Photo
With the situation on the ground deteriorating to
“desperate,” something had to be done. Jaguar 12 then
directed that Dude Flight drop precision GPS guided ordnance
adjacent to their position at “danger close” distances.
This distance means that there is a 1 in 10 chance that friendly
forces could be injured by the bomb blasts. It also requires the
JTAC controller to obtain the authority for same from the on scene
ground commander and transmit his initials to the aircrews after
receiving higher authority clearance. Unable to contact the
Combined Air and Space Operations Center directly due to terrain
masking his radio, the controller worked with Capt Larkin who
obtained clearance for him via SatCom. Because poor weather
conditions precluded the aircrew requirement to visually identify
the targets, Capt Larkin conveyed the absolutely dire situation to
HHQ while simultaneously using air-to-ground radar to verify target
distances from the friendly forces. With clearance to drop
received, coordinates for four targets were transmitted, checked
and carefully rechecked by both WSO‘s. In all, four 500 pound
and two two-thousand pound GPS guided JDAM weapons were dropped on
four positions. All hit their assigned targets; no friendly forces
were injured while 80 Taliban insurgents were killed. There were no
collateral civilian casualties and all 30 US, British and Afghan
joint special operations team members were subsequently rescued and
survived.
At the NAA Awards banquet when General Norton Schwartz was
proudly describing the events that led to the Mackay award, he
concluded his speech by saying, “… we kicked ass that
day.” The crowd in attendance gave a raucous return applause
and hoorah’s.
Mackay Trophy
Now -- to borrow a popular phrase from the late Paul Harvey --
here is the “rest” of the story.
This mission lasted four and a half hours and required four air
refuelings by Dude Flight with two of them near Bala Morgab during
the mission. The weather was solid overcast at about 200’ AGL
with flat tops at 6,000’ MSL. Bala Morgab’s altitude is
1588’ so that means there was a solid layer of clouds
4,200’ in height over the target. The five “show of
force” flyovers were flown using terrain following radar in
formation at about 500 knots airspeed with hard pull-ups afterward
due to fast rising terrain on a course worked out by the
WSO‘s. Lt. Col. Cornwell stated that on an early pass, he
descended below 300’ AGL to see if visual ID of the situation
could be obtained if needed subsequently even though normal minimum
safe altitude is 500‘. He stated that visibility at that low
altitude was just breaking up … he only saw the ground on
one pass. Lt. Col. Wells stated that he never saw the ground during
the show of force passes. When the situation deteriorated and use
of GPS guided munitions became necessary, Capt. Larkin and Lt. Col.
Wells handled communications relay for Jaguar 12, radar target ID
and targeting information while Lt. Col. Cornwell and Capt. Tsougas
handled flight and air refueling tasks. Ground operators
“name” their targets and the two two-thousand pound GPS
weapons were aimed at “the garage” where weapons and
ammunition were stored and “the mosque” where planning
and coordination was being conducted. The five-hundred pound
weapons were aimed at insurgents directly. Bala Morgab is a town of
over 15,000 population so it isn’t exactly a rural village.
That no collateral damage occurred “is amazing,” said
Lt. Col. Cornwell. “It’s a great feeling to know
you’re part of a bigger team,” said Lt. Col Wells.
Lt. Col. Cornwell is a former A-10A “Warthog” and
F-117A “Nighthawk” pilot who has five tours of duty in
Iraq and Afghanistan in those aircraft. He was present overhead
Bagdad on the opening night of the second Gulf War in Iraq. He is a
graduate of Daniel Webster College in Nashua, NH and of Embry
Riddle Aeronautical University. His Father is a retired USAF Flight
Test Air Refueling “boomer” and his Grandfather flew
B-17’s in World War II. Where does America find such
families?
“Cornhole,” “Elmer,”
“Dragoon,” and “Breaker.” Good on ya!
… and THANKS.