McChord Airman earns Air Force leadership award Published Jan. 5, 2006 By David Kellogg 62nd Airlift Wing Public Affairs MCCHORD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. (AMCNS) -- A Joint Tactical Air Controller with the 5th Air Support Operations Squadron at Fort Lewis was recently selected for the 2005 Lance P. Sijan Air Force Leadership Award. Senior Airman Grailin Blamer earned this recognition for his quick and cool-headed thinking while providing air cover for Soldiers in Iraq. He will receive the award in Washington, D.C., early next year. The Sijan Award annually recognizes officer and enlisted Airmen who demonstrate outstanding leadership. The award was named after Capt. Lance Sijan, whose plane crashed along the Vietnam-Laotian border in 1967. He evaded capture for 46 days, despite having a mangled leg and arm, but later died in a Vietnam prisoner-of-war camp. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. According to Airman Blamer’s commanders and his award citation, he, too, fought heroically -- while serving in and around Mosul, Iraq, from October 2004 to April 2005. As a JTAC, he was responsible for calling in air strikes while on Stryker combat and patrol missions with the 1-24 Infantry Battalion. He coordinated fighter and bomber strikes to support Soldiers being attacked on the ground. “I go where the Army goes. What I see, I tell the pilot,” explained Airman Blamer. The lives of many Soldiers fell on his shoulders. “It’s an honor to get the award,” he said. “A lot of guys deserve it just as much as I do. It’s an honor to be singled out like that.” His commanders weren’t surprised that he received the recognition. “[Airman Blamer] is a team player,” said Capt. Matt Neuman, 5th ASOS flight commander, who served with Airman Blamer in Iraq. “He is a single Air Force guy in the whole battalion of Army guys. The battalion commander would not roll without him. “He worked himself a lot. It didn’t matter how tired he was,” added the captain. “He was one of those guys that [Soldiers] wanted to go fight with.” While there are numerous examples of bravery and leadership, Airman Blamer’s comrades remember one battle in particular. From a forward operating base, Maj. Dennis Pearson, 1st Air Support Operations Group director of operations, listened over the radio to Airman Blamer and a patrol of Soldiers. The patrol had found live mortars and was waiting for explosive experts to arrive. Suddenly, a suicide car bomber barreled into one of the Stryker vehicles, setting it ablaze. Soldiers ran to put out the flames and recover the crew. Mortar rounds and gunfire erupted from every direction. Insurgents had ambushed them. Airman Blamer’s radio went dead, and Major Pearson’s heart sank. If Airman Blamer had been killed, then no one on the battlefield could have called in air strikes, said Major Pearson. For three long minutes the radio was silent. Then Airman Blamer came back on the radio. He and the Soldiers had been fighting for their lives. It took him a few minutes to “get himself situated,” he said. Major Pearson felt relieved, then ecstatic, to overhear Airman Blamer call in two fighter gun runs, a laser Maverick missile and a laser-guided 500-pound bomb. The patrol defeated the attackers and suffered only minor injuries. “He wasn’t afraid to get into the action itself,” said Lt. Col. Larry Germann, 5th ASOS commander. Now, his commanders point out Airman Blamer as an “informed leader of his squadron.” As the 5th ASOS now begins training for its next deployment, the squadron relies on the leadership of Airman Blamer to guide and teach new JTACs. Although he’s usually quiet, when Airman Blamer does give advice, people listen, said Captain Neuman. “People respect what he’s done,” said the captain.