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Tinker captain awarded Purple Heart

  • Published
  • By John Parker
  • Staff Writer
TINKER AIR FORCE BASE --  Capt. Alan M. Reynolds was awarded the Purple Heart on March 12 for combat injuries sustained during a vehicle-borne IED and insurgent-forces attack at Forward Operating Base Salerno in Afghanistan.

More than 150 guests, dignitaries and family members attended the formal ceremony at Hollywood and Vine in Bldg. 3001. The presiding officials were Ross Marshall, executive director of the Air Force Sustainment Center, and Col. Linda Hurry, Oklahoma City Air Logistics Complex deputy commander for Maintenance.

Captain Reynolds, assigned to the Logistics Career Broadening Program, is a logistics readiness officer with the OC-ALC's 76th Propulsion Maintenance Group.

Captain Reynolds was stationed at Forward Operating Base Salerno in Khost Province, near the Pakistan border, when the enemy launched the assault June 1, 2012.

The initial bomb blast and subsequent firefight left two Americans dead and seriously wounded about three dozen troops, according to news accounts. U.S. and Afghan military officials said they killed 14 insurgents, many of whom were wearing suicide vests. The blast flattened the dining hall and post exchange.

Captain Reynolds, 33, was walking near the camp's dining hall when an estimated 2,000-pound truck bomb exploded about 100 yards behind him, witness reports stated. The blast slammed him to the ground.

Recovering from a daze, he and another Soldier immediately helped six civilians, including two injured, reach safety in a bunker. Captain Reynolds charged his 9mm pistol and ordered the Soldier, armed with an M4 rifle, to help protect the civilians as a firefight ensued 200 yards away.

Insurgents infiltrated the base perimeter and thousands of rounds of small-arms fire were exchanged in plain view of their position, some of which could be heard ricocheting off nearby objects and whizzing by. The enemy also launched a rocket-propelled grenade in the direction of the bunker, which struck the grill of a nearby armored Dodge Dakota and failed to detonate.

As the approximately one-hour firefight subsided, Captain Reynolds and the Soldier evacuated the civilians to a medical facility. Conscious and not bleeding, Captain Reynolds declined to seek treatment at the overwhelmed medical facilities at the base on the day of the assault. The next day, he was diagnosed with a concussion without loss of consciousness and traumatic brain injury.

Subsequent medical follow-up determined the blast caused physical white-matter damage to Captain Reynolds' brain. The injuries led to persistent headaches, short-term memory loss and concentration challenges. Captain Reynolds has also been awarded a Bronze Star.

Captain Reynolds said he is humbled by the honor, and directed attention toward others wounded or killed in action, especially those casualties from other Afghanistan battles that he and his team helped transport from the battlefield.

"I can't count the number of guys that we pulled out and transported home with much worse injuries than I sustained," he said. "It's hard to consider myself among them."

Captain Reynolds' hometown is Fairfield, Ill. He enlisted in the Air Force in 1998. He and his wife, April, have a daughter, Phoenix, who attends Tinker Elementary School. Also attending the ceremony were Captain Reynolds' in-laws, retired Air Force Master Sgt. Kenneth and Kelly Hanson of Meservey, Iowa.