Staff Sergeant Daniel Warren
Pararescueman 308th Rescue Squadron, Patrick Air Force Base, FL

Staff Sergeant DANIEL WARREN deployed to Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, in 2010 as a Guardian Angel team member of the 33rd Expeditionary Rescue Squadron.

During this deployment, the pararescueman flew numerous demanding rescue missions to recover coalition personnel and local Afghans.

One of Sergeant Warren’s most demanding missions came on February 8, 2010. Several devastating avalanches had taken place along the Salang Pass, the only vehicle path in this area of the Hindu Kush.

Hundreds of Afghans were trapped in the buried vehicles, which had been thrown more than 600 meters into the valley. Most were pushed off the main road and had their windows blown out.

The terrain was treacherous along the 11,500-foot pass. Winds whipped at 30 to 40 knots per hour, and the temperatures had dipped to minus 20 degrees Celsius.

The potential for secondary avalanches and insurgent activity hampered the Guardian Angel team’s mission to rescue and recover as many stranded people as possible.

After exiting the CH-47 helicopter, Sergeant Warren quickly moved to the numerous overturned and buried vehicles scattered down the mountain. Hundreds of stranded locals swarmed Sergeant Warren, only adding to the chaos. Under these dire circumstances, he spent the next five hours battling exhaustion from the hypoxic conditions, freezing temperatures, and high winds while moving from vehicle to vehicle, extricating and triaging as many people as he could.

Then, he began to evacuate the victims on the helicopters. During one of the evacuation flights back to Bagram Airfield, Sergeant Warren performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on one unconscious patient for approximately 30 minutes until he could pass the individual to advanced medical care.

Overall, Sergeant Warren and his team directly saved 15 lives and assisted 49 more with their rescue skills. This was lauded by senior military personnel as a great strategic victory for the United States by pulling 282 stranded Afghans out of this deadly environment, and thereby fostering civilian support for coalition forces.

For his efforts, Sergeant Warren was awarded the Air Force Commendation Medal with Valor.