As a Team Leader assigned to a Joint
Task Force, in the early morning hours
of 4 March 2002, then-Senior Chief
Slabinski led a reconnaissance team to
its assigned observation area on a snow
covered, 10,000-foot mountaintop in
support of a major coalition offensive
against Al-Qaida forces in the valley below.
Rocket-propelled grenades and small
arms fired from enemy fighters hidden
and entrenched in the tree lines and rocks
riddled the team’s insertion helicopter. One
teammate was ejected from the aircraft,
and the crippled helicopter crash landed
on the valley floor below. Then-Senior
Chief Slabinski boldly rallied his remaining
team and organized supporting assets
for a daring assault back to the mountain
peak in an attempt to rescue their stranded
teammate. Later, after a second enemyopposed
insertion, then-Senior Chief
Slabinski led his six-man joint team up
a snow-covered hill, in a frontal assault
against two bunkers under withering
enemy fire from three directions. He
repeatedly exposed himself to enemy fire
as he engaged in a pitched, close-quarters
firefight against the tenacious and more
heavily armed enemy forces. Proximity
made air support impossible, and after
several teammates became casualties, the
situation became untenable.
Senior Chief Slabinski maneuvered his
team to a more defensible position,
directed air strikes in very close
proximity to his team’s position, and
requested reinforcements. As daylight
approached, the accurate enemy mortar
fire forced the team further down the
sheer mountainside. Carrying a seriously
wounded teammate down a sheer cliff
face, he led an arduous trek across one
kilometer of precipitous terrain, through
waist-deep snow while continuing to call
fire on the enemy who was engaging the
team from the surrounding ridges. During
the subsequent 14 hours, he stabilized
casualties on his team and continued
the fight against the enemy until the
mountaintop was secured by the quick
reaction force and his team was extracted.
UNITED STATES
AIR FORCE
TECHNICAL SERGEANT
JOHN A CHAPMAN
Sergeant Chapman’s spouse, Valerie
Nessel, and family will join the President
at the White House to commemorate his
example of selfless service and sacrifice.
Sergeant John A Chapman will receive
the Medal of Honor posthumously for
his actions on 4 March 2002, on Takur
Ghar mountain in Afghanistan. During a
helicopter insertion, Sergeant Chapman’s
aircraft came under heavy enemy fire and
was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. One
teammate was ejected from the aircraft,
and the crippled helicopter crash landed
in the valley below. Sergeant Chapman
and the remaining joint special operations
Valerie Nessel, the spouse of Technical
Sergeant John Chapman, stands as the citation
is read before receiving the Medal of Honor
from President Donald J. Trump during a
ceremony at the White House in Washington,
DC, 2018. Chapman was posthumously
awarded the Medal of Honor for actions on
Takur Ghar mountain in Afghanistan on 4 March
2002. US Air Force photo by Wayne A. Clark.
team members voluntarily returned to the
snow-capped mountain, into the heart of
a known enemy stronghold, in an attempt
to rescue their stranded teammate.
Sergeant Chapman charged into enemy
fire through harrowing conditions, seized
an enemy bunker, and killed its enemy
occupants. He then moved from cover to
engage a machine gun firing on his team
from a second bunker. While engaging
this position, he was severely wounded by
enemy gunfire. Despite severe wounds, he
continued to fight relentlessly, sustaining
a violent engagement with multiple enemy
personnel before paying the ultimate
sacrifice. Sergeant Chapman’s heroic
actions, at the cost of his life, are credited
with saving the lives of his teammates.
Article provide in part by army.mil/medalofhonor, whitehouse.gov and navy.mil.
The TRUMP RALLY Publication 139
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