LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE, TEXAS –
Staff Sgt. Joseph Pearcy and Tech. Sgt. Jared Antoni, both from the 342nd Training Squadron, were presented the Bronze Star Medal with Valor on Feb. 1.
It is the fourth-highest combat award of the U.S. armed forces.
The two Air Force combat controllers faced heavy fire on separate missions while deployed to Afghanistan.
On June 1, 2006, Sergeant Antoni and his team were outflanked and engaged by Taliban insurgents.
"We had a guy walk right into our observation post within four hours of our site being operational," said Sergeant Antoni. "We took that guy out silently, but two spotters came looking for him. The two spotters returned fire after being detected, and that is what started the whole situation."
During a 48-hour span, Sergeant Antoni and his team were engaged in heavy fire. Still, he gained communication with a flight of A-10s that aided his six- man team's escape by firing 30 mm rounds and dropping 500-pound bombs, which gave the team time to reach safety with a larger coalition team.
"When I was up there, I just concentrated on gaining communication with another team. I was in the zone and everything was kicking in," Sergeant Antoni said.
Almost a year later to the day, Sergeant Pearcy was put in a separate dire situation.
On June 11, Sergeant Pearcy's team was called in to assist an Afghan national security force that was surrounded during an ambush. Sergant Pearcy's team was outnumbered.
To observe the target's area and deliver airpower, he moved from his secured position to one that exposed him to heavy fire.
At one point during the 9-hour time period, he had a rocket-propelled grenade fired directly at him.
"It was an interesting experience," said Sergeant Pearcy. "I tried to make sure the training took over, so that I could do my job to the best of my abilities and make sure everybody made it back alive."
Before coming to Lackland, the two Airmen were stationed together at McChord AFB, Wash. They have known each other since 2002 and went through most of their training together.
"Our main job is terminal guidance. If we are doing our job, we are definitely changing the battlefield," Sergeant Antoni said. "If a combat controller is working, it probably means that someone else is in a bad situation."
Currently, the two Airmen are taking the lessons they learned on the battlefield to the classroom. Sergeant Pearcy is currently a Common Battlefield Airman Training-Bridge Course instructor, and Sergeant Antoni is the superintendent for the Combat Control Selection Course.
"The fact that we can say we have been in those situations really helps when we are talking to trainees, because we actually know what it is like over there," Sergeant Pearcy said.
Still, both sergeants would like to see more people become conscious of their career field. "Unfortunately, there isn't a lot of awareness," Sergeant Antoni said. "We don't sell combat control enough."
Sergeant Pearcy feels that one of the reasons for the lack of awareness is that they are one of the lesser known Special Forces units in the U.S. armed forces.
"Everyone knows about the Army Special Forces and the Navy SEALs, but we don't get a lot of press, so a lot of people don't know what we do," Sergeant Pearcy said.
The small number of Airmen joining concerns both men.
According to Sergeant Antoni, the training is so tough that approximately 80 percent of the Airmen who attend Combat Controller training don't pass the course. Combat controllers are also deployed roughly 280 days out of the year.
"We are changing the fight," Sergeant Antoni said. "There would be a lot more lives lost in all branches of the armed forces if we weren't out there doing the jobs that we do."