Officer earns Bronze Star Medal

  • Published
  • By Ken Wright
  • 60th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  Lt. Col. David Hammerschmidt, 60th Maintenance Group deputy commander, was awarded the Bronze Star Medal during an April 9 ceremony at Travis Air Force Base, California.

Col. Mark Weber, 60th MXG commander, who presided over the ceremony, told base leaders and approximately 50 Airmen that Hammerschmidt is well known as a skilled and hard-working officer. The decoration was hard-earned while serving as the 442nd Air Expeditionary Advisory Squadron in Kandahar, Afghanistan, Weber said.

"Dave took his extraordinary leadership skills to the box and for 370 days, he worked under dangerous and extraordinarily difficult circumstances, Weber said.  "That's a very long time to work in an environment where you can't always distinguish between friend and foe," said Weber.

The citation credited Hammerschmidt with advising Afghan forces on how to properly maintain and care for their aircraft, moving Afghanistan one step closer to self-sustaining independence. The fruits of his labor and leadership were evidenced by the bolstered abilities of the Afghan air force, fortifying the country's national security. Moreover, Afghanistan's fledgling democracy was directly strengthened by his efforts when two aircraft successfully delivered more than 60,000 presidential election ballots across Regional Command South.

Following the medal presentation, with an enormous American flag behind him, Hammerschmidt deflected credit from himself and focused on who he said made "the greatest sacrifices" during his deployment, his wife and son.

Hammerschmidt said it took a lot of resiliency to get through the yearlong assignment that challenged him to strengthen an Afghan military that lacked the commitment and accountability of Airmen in the U.S. Air Force.

"Luckily, I was surrounded by 12 Airmen," Hammerschmidt said. "Yet the greatest resiliency was that of my wife and son. She had the hard part while being alone at home raising our wonderful son, Austin. They clearly made the greatest sacrifices and I will always remember that when I look at this medal."

According to the Air Force Personnel Center, the Bronze Star Medal was established by executive order in 1944 and is the 10th highest medal awarded to Airmen who have distinguished himself or herself by "heroic or meritorious achievement or service, not involving participation in aerial flight, in connection with military operations against an armed enemy."