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Kirkuk EOD Airmen awarded Purple Heart

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Jessica Lockoski
  • 506th Air Expeditionary Group Public Affairs
KIRKUK REGIONAL AIR BASE, Iraq --  Turning one's back on a problem is usually an avoidance technique. But for two Explosive Ordnance Disposal technicians whose backs were to a recovered rocket as they were temporarily stepping away, the act likely saved their lives, preventing posthumous awards of Purple Hearts.

Standing in their own EOD compound, near the blast site where a more-than one-foot deep crater and blast-splattered walls testify to the incident, Staff Sgt. Brandon Pfannenstiel and Senior Airman Robert Wester received their medals from Brig. Gen. Brian Bishop, 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing commander, during a ceremony here Feb. 4.

The Airmen suffered injuries while in the process of analyzing a recovered explosive Jan. 3.

Sergeant Pfannenstiel, deployed from Whiteman AFB, Mo., recalled the "miracle" that would have put them inches away from the detonation.

"It was white and loud, my ears were ringing, and all I kept thinking was my fellow Airman, Wester, was behind me." said the Midland, Texas, native. "I turned around to make sure he was ok."

"We're very fortunate," said Airman Wester, a Knoxville, Tenn., native, deployed from Hickam AFB, Hawaii.

Airman Wester was partially shielded from the blast by a pressure washer and grill in area. He said when it exploded, he felt pressure in his back. That "pressure" ended up being metal fragments hitting his leg and back, two inches from his spine.

"I was dazed and wasn't expecting it," Airman Wester said. "The blast ... clouded my judgment, so I didn't know if it was indirect fire or an IED. I ran 10 feet before I fell to the ground."

The IED that the team encountered wasn't one that could be referenced by textbook, said the 506th Explosive Ordnance Disposal flight commander. "It was the first one of its kind that we've seen," Capt. Shane Frith said.

The morning of the accident, the team responded to an improvised explosive device down town Kirkuk, the captain explained. "They recovered an explosive rocket that was pointed to launch toward the base.

"We have changed certain things, said Sergeant Pfannenstiel. "You can't always just look back and question what you do. You do everything the safest way you can, which we did, but we learned a new tactic."

The two Airmen now have their own lessons learned from real and dangerous enemies.

"I walk past it many times, Airman Wester said of the blast site. "Every time ... I am thankful more than anything, I am more vigilant."

"I'm dumbfounded that both of our lives could have been taken, Sergeant Pfannenstiel said. "Some people don't understand the dangers of our job. We operate the safest way possible, but possibility is always out there."

"Through this event, we have learned more about the enemy tactics and we have adjusted our procedures accordingly to prevent further injuries or death to our EOD techs and our Iraqi partners," Capt. Frith said. "It was a very close call for both of my troops and had they been delayed even five seconds in their procedures, we would be writing a different story about their lives.

"While it is extremely unfortunate that they were injured, the positive side is that we now know more about the way to counter the insurgents' methods of targeting and killing U.S. and coalition forces," he said.