914 AES Airmen receive the Distinguished Flying Cross award

On December 8, 2024, three Airmen assigned to the 914th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron at the Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station received the Distinguished Flying Cross Award with “C” device for their actions during Operation FREEDOM SENTINEL in August of 2021.

Capt. Megan Taggart, Flight Nurse, Lt. Joseph Hansen, Flight Nurse, and Master Sgt. Jerry Thorn, Aeromedical Evacuation Technician were the three recipients of this prestigious award.

The Distinguished Flying Cross Award is a military decoration that is presented to those who distinguish themselves through acts of heroism or extraordinary achievement, while participating in aerial flight.

According to the Air Force Personnel Center, the DFC is the highest award for extraordinary aerial achievement, as well as the fourth highest award for heroism. The “C” device was established to distinguish an award earned for exceptionally meritorious service or achievement performed under combat conditions.

“This is a really big deal,” said Col. Joseph “20 Grit” Contino, Commander of the 914th ARW. “Valor like this goes back to when this all started, long before air flight.”

The first DFC award citations were presented by President Calvin Coolidge in May of 1927, to the Army Air Corps crew of the 1926-27 Pan American Goodwill Flight, for their five ship, 22,000-mile flight. Coolidge presented the first DFC award medal in June 1927 to Capt. Charles Lindbergh, for his solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean.

Hansen, formerly a Master Sgt. at the time of the operation, became a commissioned officer and changed job titles from an Aeromedical Evacuation Technician to a Flight Nurse. Thorn has also upgraded from Tech. Sgt. to Master Sgt. since the operation.

Hansen, Taggart, and Thorn were assigned to the 405th Expeditionary Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron, 407th Expeditionary Group, 386th Air Expeditionary Wing at Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait.

The three acted in response to a suicide bomber that triggered a mass casualty evacuation operation at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan. Taggart, Hansen, and Thorn performed pivotal roles in the safe and successful evacuation of 11 multi-national and joint-service casualties. The evacuation included three ventilated critical care patients, eight non-critical patients, and five attendants.

“Especially to medical people, most of the time it’s like ‘Well, this is just what we do,” said Contino. “Well, no. It’s not, ‘just what you do’.”

Taggert served as a critical lead for her Aeromedical Evacuation Team. Her professional nursing skills and leadership were essential to the safe transportation of those involved in the evacuation.

“It was chaotic, there were all sorts of people there that were not patients, and you don’t really know what’s going on,” said Taggart. “People just want to get on a plane and get out of the country.”

Hansen and Thorn were among the first ones mobilized in response to the event. After learning about a second explosion while en-route to Kabul, Hansen and Thorn assisted in mission planning for mass casualty care with limited resources.

“It’s hard to train for the unexpected and when you don't know what’s coming,” said Hansen. “We try to do that here and I feel like that helped all of us for when that situation and time came. We, as a crew, were well prepared so that let us do our job effectively.”

Taggart, Hansen, and Thorn’s clinical management, attention to detail, and calm demeanor aided the patient evacuation operation to a higher echelon of care and further surgical intervention, with a 100% patient survival rate.

Additionally, all three assisted the Critical Care Air Transport Team and two flight surgeons while performing life-saving operational support for critically wounded patients.

“Congratulations, thank you for your service, and thank you for doing what needed to be done, with the skills that you have,” said Contino.

“I guess I don't feel the brevity of it,” said Taggart. “Despite what Col. Contino said I really feel like we were just doing our job. That’s our mission, that’s what we train for.”

Their team’s efforts culminated into the single largest aeromedical evacuation airlift in Kabul Coalition Hospital history.

“It's not very common that you would deploy with your squadron members and also be on a crew with them. We’re trained to inter-mesh with other squadrons from all over the country,” said Taggart. “Being with each other, we know each other's strengths and weaknesses, so we know who is going to do what task the best. That was a definitely a benefit.”

“When we knew what happened at HKAI, and we were ecstatic that we were tasked,” said Taggart. “Everyone wanted to be the crew picked to go on this mission.”

Thorn said even though they wanted to be the ones to go help, there were a lot of unanswered questions when it came to the mission, but, despite the questions, they train to be flexible.

“When we went and got our briefings, any question we asked was answered with, ‘I don't know,’” said Thorn. “‘How many patients are we getting? I don't know. Is the airport secure? I don’t know. Do you know what the threat level is out there? I don’t know, consider it high.’”

Thorn said even with the uncertainty, there was no hesitation from anybody in the crew. Everybody knew what they were supposed to be doing and there was no pushback, which contributed to the success of the mission.

“It is super humbling that we were the ones picked to receive this award,” said Thorn. “You go out, you do the mission, and you don’t expect anything like this.”

Pride, gratitude, and humbling were the words they used to describe the feeling of being pinned with this award.

Hansen said it was a long day filled with a lot of emotions.

"When we reached our destination and that ramp opened up, just seeing the sigh of relief on some of their faces, that they knew they were out of immediate harm's way, that was rewarding in itself."

The professional competence and aerial skill displayed and devotion to duty by these three recipients reflects great credit upon them and the United States Air Force.