Colonel Bryan J. Gallagher, 95th Air Base Wing commander, presented Senior Airman Phillip King of the 95th Security Forces Squadron with a Bronze Star earned for acts of heroism in ground combat on August 8, 2006 during his deployment with the Qalat Provincial Reconstruction Team in Afghanistan performing security forces duties with the International Security Assistance Force.
Airman King was deployed to Qalat Provincial Reconstruction Team in Afghanistan performing security forces duties with the International Security Assistance Force.
As the Airman describes it, the scorching sun was tingling his neck that day. It was 115 degrees with the dust of the Afghan high desert plains adding to the hellish scenario, but it would get worse. Airman King was driving a security forces Humvee in a convoy to assist the Afghan National Police and Afghan National Army in repelling a Taliban attack on a highway checkpoint. "We knew something was coming," Airman King said. "The village was pretty quiet."
While Airman King's team was traveling on the narrow streets of Ebrahimkhel village, they were ambushed by insurgents with a rocket-propelled grenade. The grenade landed within five meters of Airman King's vehicle. "All my training kicked in at that point," Airman King said. "I tried to assess the situation around me." The grenade was just an opening salvo. It was followed by many others and gun fire from at least five machine guns concealed inside a residential compound within 300 meters of the convoy. Airman King immediately maneuvered the vehicle to cover his teammates from enemy fire. He also fired his M4 and M203 to help in suppressing enemy fire. Then another RPG struck his position leaving him with a concussion.