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Battle heroics earn airman a Bronze Star

A security forces airman was awarded the Bronze Star with Valor and the Army Commendation Medal for defeating an ambush by more than 100 Taliban fighters with zero coalition casualties.

Staff Sgt. Jason A. Kimberling, 366th Security Forces Squadron, received his medals July 19 for actions Aug. 8, 2006, in Qalat province, Afghanistan.

Kimberling was part of a three-person security forces convoy team traveling with 15 members of the Afghan National Police and 20 members of the Afghan National Army. Their convoy came under ambush on a highway checkpoint near a residential area.

Rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns were being fired from multiple angles. Kimberling jumped out of his Humvee only to be thrown to the ground by an RPG blast. He took cover behind a wall, but two Taliban fighters charged his position. He shot both men and was able to rally the coalition forces to maneuver and kill other nearby fighters.

Kimberling, knowing Dutch NATO fighter planes were nearby, called for air support. The planes blasted enemy positions and allowed the coalition fighters to maintain their fallback position during the two-hour gunfight. The sergeant’s actions prevented the coalition forces from being divided and overrun. In the end, about 20 Taliban fighters were dead, but all Afghan and U.S. troops escaped unscathed.

“They’re calling me a hero,” Kimberling said during his ceremony. “I don’t think I did anything special. I went out there to do my job.”