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Combat camera videographer receives Purple Heart

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Carlos Diaz
  • U.S. Central Command Air Forces
BALAD AIR BASE, Iraq --  Within an hour of waking up in the Air Force Theater Hospital on the morning of Feb. 11, Staff Sgt. Kathryn Robinson was presented with the Purple Heart.

Sergeant Robinson, a videographer assigned to the 4th Combat Camera Squadron in March Air Reserve Base, Calif. , was shot once in the left forearm and on the tip of her right thumb.

The day prior, the 13-year service member was on a cordon and search mission with U.S. and Iraqi Army soldiers near Baqubah when the team took small arms fire.

After the sniper's bullet penetrated her arm and thumb, Sergeant Robinson belted out a colorful phrase.

"They shot my damn thumb off!"

She quickly took cover and squeezed into a corner with two Iraqi soldiers.

"I knew I had to move and stop the bleeding," the 38-year-old Detroit native said.

The blast also hit her video camera's battery causing it to explode in front of her face. The battery fragments caused small abrasions on her chin. Sergeant Robinson said she was disappointed because the camera was brand new.

"Man, it was toast," she added with a sly smirk.

She remained under cover assessing the situation and applying the techniques she learned at Contingency Skills Training in Ft. Dix , N.J. and the self-defense/tactical training course at InSights Training Center in Seattle .

"The training helped," she said while using her fingers to brush her shaggy, dirty blonde hair. "However, nothing prepares you for what happens."

"I remember my InSights instructor once said, 'If you feel pain, then you know you're alive,'" Sergeant Robinson recalled with a sense of relief in her voice.

Sergeant Robinson received field aid care and was soon transported in an armored fighting vehicle before being flown via helicopter to Balad's theater hospital.

Once there, she underwent surgery and partial amputation of her right thumb.

She had been deployed to Forward Operating Base Warhorse, Iraq since Jan. 18. She volunteered for this deployment that required her to document the joint operations involving the U.S. military transition teams and the Iraqi Army.

"My guys are trying really hard to get the Iraqis up to speed," she said. "It's a constant process and they're doing a great job."

Even with a partially amputated thumb, she'd like to finish her deployment.

"If there's something I can do, I'll stay," she said as she wiggled her other nine fingers pretending to type.

Nevertheless, she expects to undergo several weeks of rehab after surgery.

Col. Lawrence Jackson II, 732nd Expeditionary Mission Support Group commander, presented her with the nation's oldest military medal before a group of friends and fellow career field counterparts.

In her 13 years of duty, Sergeant Robinson has served in the Army National Guard and Air Force Reserves in the capacity of crane operator, military police, motor transportation and services, respectively.

When Sergeant Robinson isn't wearing an Air Force uniform, she's employed in the mail services department of Paramount Pictures in Los Angeles .