Full click here (available 9 Oct) to see the full episode with Sam.
Lieutenant Colonel Samuel G. McIntyre distinguished himself by heroism in aerial flight while engaged in military
operations involving conflict against an opposing foreign force as U-28A Aircraft Commander at Hamid Karzai
International Airport, Kabul, Afghanistan from 15 August 2021 to 16 August 2021. During this period, in support of
Operation FREEDOM'S SENTINEL, Colonel McIntyre's flying skill and courage saved the lives of his crew, Afghan
civilians, and United States Embassy and military personnel, throughout a twenty-four-hour duty day. Departing
Kabul amidst the initial Taliban invasion and tasked to defend an emergency United States Embassy evacuation,
Colonel McIntyre was immediately attacked by small arms and rocket fire less than one-thousand feet above the
ground. His precise defensive maneuvers saved the aircraft and lives of his crew as a rocket passed two-hundred feet
overhead. While this mission unfolded, violent urban warfare caused thousands of civilians and the enemy to stampede
over Kabul's airport security and obstruct the runway, thus challenging aircraft recovery, and potentially causing direct
impact to people at landing speed, which would be fatal for aircrew and civilians. Below emergency fuel, lacking
divert options and facing a runway covered by running humans, Colonel McIntyre used night vision goggles and
infrared sensors to execute a perilous and unprecedented feat of airmanship by landing between a moving gap in the
crowd. Despite exhaustion, upon learning the embassy rescue was incomplete, Colonel McIntyre accepted a second
high-risk mission protecting the evacuations' final hours; an intense assignment requiring full U-28A tactical
capabilities. Completing the mission and approaching emergency fuel condition a second time, Colonel McIntyre
again landed on Kabul's unsecure runway, taxiing near burning vehicles and dead bodies to safely recover his crew.
The outstanding heroism and selfless devotion to duty displayed by Colonel McIntyre reflected great credit upon
himself and the United States Air Force.
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