Staff Sgt. Earl Covel
Silver Star
5/10/2007 – McCHORD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. — An Airman will receive the Silver Star for individual bravery and heroism for service in Iraq during a ceremony Friday at 11 a.m. at McChord’s Clubs and Community Center.
Staff Sgt. Earl Covel is a joint terminal attack controller assigned to the 5th Air Support Operations Squadron at Fort Lewis and was deployed to Iraq in support of the 5th Special Forces Group.
During a re-supply mission, his team came under attack from an estimated 200 Mujahedeen fighters trying to push coalition forces out of the city. Despite intense enemy fire, Sergeant Covel coordinated F-15 Eagle, AC-130 Gunship and F-18 Hornet close air support while ensuring adequate ground support from nearby Army Bradley fighting vehicles.
“SSgt Covel is receiving one of the highest awards given for valor … I am extremely proud of him,” said Lt. Col. Jeff Wilson, 5th ASOS commander. “His actions demonstrate courage and bravery in the face of enemy action.”
Employing highly-detailed communication channels from forward positions, JTACs direct combat aircraft to execute close-air support for U.S. ground forces. The 5th ASOS provides these specialized Airmen to directly support the Fort Lewis 2/75 Ranger Battalion and the 1st Special Forces Group.
The Silver Star Medal is the fourth highest military decoration that can be awarded to a member in any branch of the military.
For Coval, that day was June 18, 2004 – at a safe house in an undisclosed Iraqi city. As a tactical air controller, he was assigned to a team of eight Army special forces soldiers working with the peshmerga – indigenous Kurdish fighters.
When the safe house came under sustained attack, Covel made his way towards the enemy fire, climbing to the top of an adjoining tower so that he could spot the enemy.
“I set up my radios and requested air support,†he said. “I figured that if I was in front, then all of my guys would be behind me – so there wouldn’t be the risk of them being hit by our planes.â€
Another soldier, his identity still a military secret, climbed the tower with Covel carrying a machinegun.
“He would lay down fire so that I could pop my head up and get a look,†said Covel. “Then they got a machinegun on us and we started taking pretty accurate fire.â€
A sniper who climbed onto the roof to support Covel and the machinegunner was wounded – his ear literally shot off the side of his head. The other soldier carried the injured man to safety, leaving the machinegun to Coval.
In the skies above, a fearsome armada of U.S. strike aircraft began to orbit, waiting for Covel’s instructions to release their deadly payload. The first to arrive were a pair of Navy F-18 jets.
“I called in the strike danger close,†he said – close enough that he himself could be injured or killed by the blast. “When they were directly overhead, I couldn’t hear anything it was so loud, and my ears were ringing from when they kicked in their afterburners to get out of there.â€
The battle raged for a day and a half, with Covel coordinating air attacks, using his own rifle to defend himself and his team, and serving as an air traffic controller – keeping the pilots overhead from colliding while waiting for the order to strike.
“Through all that, nobody on his team was killed,†said General Bartlett. “I don’t say this lightly because we are speaking of humanity here, but they took out between 120 and 150 enemies who were trying to kill them.â€
Months later, when Covel was leaving Iraq, he found out he had been submitted for the Silver Star for his actions during that fight. “I thought it was little overboard, to be honest,†Covel recalled. “Any of the guys in my job, if they had been given the opportunity to be in that situation, they would have responded in the same, exact way.†While Covel was humbled and overwhelmed by the award, his father was “bursting†with pride. Earl Covel Sr., who came from Arkansas to celebrate with his son, found it difficult to relate just how proud he was of his son’s achievement.
“He’s an extraordinary kid,†he said.
