(Citation Needed) – SYNOPSIS: Lieutenant Colonel Alan Botine, United States Air Force, was awarded the Silver Star for gallantry in action while flying in support of coalition forces in Iraq in 2003. Colonel Botine was informed of a UH-60 helicopter shot down inside territory controlled by hostile Iraqi forces. Proceeding immediately to the area, he established initial on scene commander duties for the combat search and rescue effort, eventually controlling over 30 coalition aircraft in the rescue. Within an hour of locating the crew, Colonel Botine found himself not only defending against five SA-2 engagements by a Fan Song target tracking radar, but performing a high risk, extremely low altitude daylight pass to identify a column of vehicles nearing the crash site in order to prevent fratricide. As the night progressed, rapidly deteriorating weather eventually forced flight below five thousand feet in the middle of heavy anti-aircraft fire to maintain coverage of the four survivors. Running out of time, Colonel Botine took extraordinary measures in finding and leading the coalition Apache helicopters to the crash site by flying at very low altitudes, on the edge of a stall, with all external lights illuminated on three separate occasions. During a sortie that stretched ten and a half hours and six aerial refueling, Colonel Botine ensured the fellow Americans were provided protection while he repeatedly exposed himself to hostile fire.