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Reservist receives medal for 'extinguishing' action

  • Published
  • By Maj. David Kurle
  • 442nd Fighter Wing Public Affairs
WHITEMAN AIR FORCE BASE, Mo. --  While running with scissors is considered dangerous, running with a live 120 mm mortar shell in hand, while it emits smoke, is considerably more hazardous.

Despite the risks, Master Sgt. Bob Jackson from the 442nd Maintenance Squadron's Munitions Flight "defused" a potentially lethal situation in Iraq by dousing a white-phosphorous mortar round in a pond during the summer of 2003.

For his efforts, the reservist was awarded the Airman's Medal Oct. 23 by Lt. Gen. John A. Bradley, commander of Air Force Reserve Command.

"I didn't have time to think," Sergeant Jackson said, recalling the experience three years later. "It's just action and reaction; that's the only way you can survive out there."

In August 2003 members of the 442nd Fighter Wing were at Kirkuk Air Base, Iraq, supporting the invasion of Iraq. At the northeastern Iraqi base, they found huge stockpiles of ordnance. The munitions included SA-2 surface-to-air missiles, high-explosive mortar rounds and rocket-propelled grenades.

Members of the munitions flight, who normally prepare, build and store bombs, rockets and bullets for use on the wing's A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft, were pressed into service to dispose of more than 300,000 pounds of munitions left by the Iraqi military.

"The ordnance that had been stockpiled had been degraded," Sergeant Jackson said. "It was very unstable."

According to the citation for his Airman's Medal, Sergeant Jackson was supervising a team disposing of the munitions when he "noticed smoke" coming from a 120 mm projectile.

"Realizing the material was white phosphorus and knowing what would happen if it were to detonate, he quickly decided to render the highly flammable, extremely dangerous weapon inert by submerging it into water," the citation reads.

The brawny Sergeant Jackson picked up the mortar round, ran about 100 yards and dropped it in a man-made pond used as a reservoir of water for fighting fires.

"If it had ignited, it would have set off the whole stockpile and would have propagated through the bomb dump," Sergeant Jackson said.

As an "ammo" troop, Sergeant Jackson works with white phosphorus frequently, as the A-10 fires "willy pete" rockets to mark targets in combat and uses it in some types of flares.

Since the material is so dangerous, Airmen in the munitions flight always take extra precautions when working with it.

"We either have to have a mode of egress or a way to get rid of the flare or rocket," Sergeant Jackson said. "When you cut the oxygen off of white phosphorus, it will stop burning."

"His superb actions prevented the serious injury, if not loss of life, of all of his team members and 14 other military personnel in the immediate area," stated the award citation. "The significance of this selfless act cannot be overstated."

According to the Air Force, the Airman's Medal recognizes an individual who has "distinguished himself or herself by a heroic act, usually at the voluntary risk of his or her life but not involving actual combat."

Sergeant Jackson's daring may have earned him one of the Air Force's highest honors, but he keeps everything in perspective.

"There's a lot of guys out there that put their life on the line all the time," he said. "I was just doing what needed to be done." (AFRC News Service)