CMSgt Phillip Bahm 

During the height of Operation ANACONDA in Afghanistan, Chief Master Sgt. Phillip Bahm led an aircraft recovery team on a dangerous daylight mission to recover an MC-130E aircraft from a runway close to the battlefield.

The aircraft was mired in mud at an abandoned dirt runway during a high-priority medical evacuation mission the night before. Initial reports indicated the aircraft was beyond recovery and probably destroyed by the enemy.

Chief Bahm was undaunted. Working closely with his team, he devised a plan for extraction, securing all of the equipment they would need to recover the valuable aircraft.

Two British MH-47 helicopters took the team to the abandoned airstrip. Chief Bahm and his team had just three hours to free the aircraft before they were to be picked up at sundown. As the recovery operation began, the first of several enemy mortar attacks also kicked off. Mortars exploded close by on the perimeter of the airfield, and grew steadily closer as the team continued its work.

With darkness quickly approaching, Chief Bahm kept his team focused on the task; eventually getting the earth around the aircraft’s wheels dug away and shored up. He directed the team to gradually use the dirt to create ramps leading out of the mud, so the aircraft could use its own power to free itself. Chief Bahm’s plan proved successful, as the aircraft was able to use close to maximum engine thrust to climb out of the mire and back onto solid ground.

As the MC-130E taxied away from the mud trench, another mortar round detonated less than two kilometers from the airfield. The threat further intensified when large groups of potentially hostile locals gathered at the edge of the airfield, attracted by the sounds of the aircraft’s engines. Eventually, after three hours of determined work by the chief and his recovery team, the MC-130E was able to take off and return to Bagram airfield where it dropped off the recovery team and refueled before returning to home station.

Despite the obvious threats to his own life and the lives of his team, Chief Bahm remained poised and determined to perform the recovery of this important national asset, a task that just hours before was deemed impossible.