Combat tested: Airmen reintegrate after Afghan deployment

Published Oct. 29, 2010
By Kathy E. Paine
Tinker Public Affairs

TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. -- Recently, like many others before them, 37 Airmen from the 72nd Air Base Wing Security Forces Squadron are home from a six - month deployment, and will begin the reintegration process, an important step ... especially after this deployment.

Some of the Airmen were involved in repelling a Taliban attack on Bagram Airfield on May 19. According to security forces, it was the largest ground attack against an Air Force defended airfield since the Vietnam War.

The Taliban launched the pre-dawn attack and attempted to penetrate a gate at Bagram Airfield, north of Kabul. Heavily armed Taliban fighters, some wearing suicide vests, attempted to storm the gate but were repelled by Coalition Forces posted on the perimeter.

One of the Airmen from Tinker, 72nd Security Forces' Airman 1st Class Giovanni Flores, earned the Purple Heart after being wounded while defending the base.

"I was on mobile patrol (as a) 50-Cal Gunner with my leader, (Staff Sgt. Deante Brooks from Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla.)," said Airman Flores. "After some initial indirect fire, we heard four consecutive blasts, one right after another. So, Sergeant Brooks said 'OK, let's get out of here,' so we took off to do our perimeter sweep."

While checking the perimeter, Airman Flores, Sergeant Brooks and some Marines from the compound, encountered Taliban fighters. Airman Flores transitioned to his M4 to support defending forces in the area.

"I heard AK-47s and all kinds of stuff going on, but I couldn't see over the wall. I was trying to see the entire time, while I was pulling the trigger to engage forces that had crawled over one set of barriers and obstacles, but couldn't see those enemy forces located further out," Airman Flores said.

Now armed with an M4, Flores and the Marines returned fire, wounding the Taliban as grenades were lobbed into the compound.

"All I saw was a flash and I heard a loud boom. It knocked me down in the turret and I heard a loud ringing sound and I felt this pain in the back of my neck. ... Oh hell, I've been hit and there was blood everywhere," Airman Flores said.

Airman Flores told Sergeant Brooks, who was transmitting their situation to control, that he had been hit.

"He called it in, but he took the initiative to transport me to the hospital. He just took off through the fire and got me to medical. I'm indebted to him," Airman Flores said.

"This is a rare but distinguished occasion for all of us. To have an Airman with us who has earned a Purple Heart." said Col. Jack Briggs, 455th Air Expeditionary Wing commander in a story published by the 455th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs when Airman Flores received his purple heart.

Now Airmen Flores and his fellow Security Forces Airmen are safely home; they will go through several steps of reintegration where they are given specifically designed briefings to aid them in their transition back home and to the stresses that come in everyday life.

"It is experiences like this that make reintegration necessary. Prior to their coming home, there is a list of things going through their minds, and one of them is adjusting to being home again, said Bronze Star recipient, Master Sgt. James Mogren, 72nd Security Forces Superintendent of Logistics, who himself survived an IED attack in Afghanistan in 2009.

"We integrated them all together, because they go through the similar stresses. So, we figured if this reintegration was going to be specifically designed for security forces then we wanted to make sure they all go through the same briefings," said Sergeant Mogren.
The briefings that are included in the reintegration process are mental health, clinics, family support, chaplain and Veteran's Association.

Sergeant Mogren told the Airmen and their family members to take their time - take their reintegration slowly, one day at a time.

"I am extremely proud of our Airmen's performance while deployed in support of Operations Enduring Freedom. Specifically, some of our Airmen from Bagram Air Base were tested in the heat of combat and proved themselves leaders, warriors, and the epitome of being Defenders," Lt. Col. Troy A. Roberts, commander, 72nd Security Forces Squadron.