Airman shares laudable deployment experiences, earns Bronze Star

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Jessica Lockoski
  • 22nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
MCONNELL AIR FORCE BASE, Kan. --  One year ago, Master Sgt. Steven Guthomson was mentoring airmen of an evolving Afghan National Army Air Corps in mountainous Afghanistan.

Almost one year later, he returned to McConnell bearing a newfound sentiment for the ANAAC and a hope it will one day stand on its own. He said, right now, Americans need to be in Afghanistan, and he needed to be there to contribute to the army's development.

"I never before had an opportunity to work with people who wanted ... needed what I had to teach them as much in my entire lifetime," he said.

Sergeant Guthomson's primary roll downrange was teaching and advising Afghan airmen. He did this job so well he was awarded a Bronze Star during a ceremony here, Nov. 2. His group commander, Col. John T. Rausch, 982nd Training Group commander, Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas, visited McConnell to personally award the medal.

During the ceremony, Sergeant Guthomson left no dry-eyes in an audience, as he shared some prominent moments of his deployment.

The sergeant trains Airmen on the home front at Detachment 8, 373rd Training Squadron, which provides schooling for McConnell's KC-135 Stratotanker maintainers, but his mission while deployed to the 438th Air Expeditionary Wing challenged him to train a different type of airmen.

As a Combined Air Power Transition Force air advisor, Sergeant Guthomson started out in Afghanistan helping stand up the Kabul Air Corps Training Center, which conducts aviation training for ANAAC airmen.

After a month on the job, word spread of his multilingual talents. He speaks Spanish, Italian and Dari. Leadership asked him to move west to Forward Support Base Camp Arena, Heart, where he could put his language skills to use. Spanish forces ran the base, which was operated by Italian forces.

Sergeant Guthomson said his ability to communicate helped everyone as he oversaw a developing ANAAC detachment.

"(Herat) was supposed to be a two- to three-week stay," the sergeant said.

However, he remained there the rest of his extended deployment and coordinated mutual support and joint-force flying operations.

Sergeant Guthomson started learning Pashtu, which he said earned him endearment among the Afghan leadership.

"Being able to speak some Pashtu, I was instantly welcomed into the good graces and confidences of the Afghan military," he said.

He bridged language barriers and hosted high-level discussions between Afghan and North Atlantic Treaty Organization parties. He filled a leadership position normally held by a lieutenant colonel, according to his award citation.

"I coordinated the first ANAAC movement of International Security Assistance Force cargo and, later, the first ANAAC ISAF weapons movement," Sergeant Guthomson said. "This was huge because it showed (Afghan) capabilities rose to a level that ISAF could now rely on them, and they could mutually support each other. I allowed the Afghans to have more confidence, and their international allies to have more confidence in their capabilities."

The bonds of trust the sergeant created also allowed him to coordinate an emergency operation, which he said was one of the most significant memories of his deployment and one he will never forget.

Talban insurgents ambushed a supply convoy of more than 200 Afghan soldiers and police in November of 2008. The convoy carried essential winter supplies and rations for about 500 Afghan troops based in Bala Morghab, who were near starving and running out of provisions, he said.

"Seven hundred guys were going to die if we didn't provide help", he said.

Sergeant Guthomson influenced the Italian military to help the Afghans provide a gunship escort and deliver support. The Italians agreed to go only if he went along to translate and give radio calls. With the assistance of NATO forces and Afghan commandos from a nearby unit, the airmen arrived by helicopter and drove back the insurgents, he said.

The Afghans allowed the sergeant to help move bodies of several soldiers killed in the fight onto aircraft, normally considered a forbidden act for non-Muslims and foreign forces.

Afterward, the sergeant said the experience connected and strengthened the relationship he had with the airmen.

"I became somewhat of a lucky charm after that," he said. "I was able to put myself in their position and relate to them. Like everyone else, Afghans want safety and security, which is why it is so important for American forces to be there."

"Master Sgt. Steve Guthomson was a combat leader who did wonders mentoring and advising the ANAAC on the front lines of their operations in Herat," said Brig. Gen. Walter D. Givhan, who served as the 438th AEW commander during the sergeant's deployment. "He epitomized the leadership and initiative we value in our noncommissioned officer corps and won the respect of Afghans, coalition, and joint partners with his expertise and commitment to the mission. We depended mightily on Sergeant Guthomson, and he delivered at every turn."

The sergeant said he brought a sense of accomplishment back to America.

He also brought back injuries from a multiple rocket attack and a vehicle-born suicide bombing in Herat, but those don't discourage him to keep serving. The sergeant said he loves knowing he paved the way for the ANAAC to sustain itself and would do it again.

"This was by far the most rewarding deployment I've been on," the sergeant said, balancing on a set of crutches.

He also said he'd deploy again in a heartbeat if he got another opportunity to mentor and work alongside Afghan airmen.

Sergeant Guthomson is the only enlisted person from the 438th AEW to receive a Bronze Star since the unit became a wing in 2008.