A proficient U.S. Army specialist pilot, a gunfight on foreign soil and victory makes for the plot of any good military action movie. It has taken two years for this true story to be shared. And, it would not have except by happenstance.
Visiting his son, a father noticed on the wall a commendation medal he had not heard his son speak of. When he asked his son, “What is this for?” He only got a brief answer. Upon further inquiry, the father discovered his son had received one of the top U.S. Army medals.
Joshua Trickey, son of Jace and Teresa Trickey, was the recipient of the U.S. Air Medal with Valor award.
Though Trickey no longer serves in the Army, he likely remembers the incident as though it was yesterday. With adrenalin pumping in a war-torn land, Trickey and his unit were on the frontline of fire for 30 minutes, seemingly an eternity; they reflected the resolve of the United States military.
Trickey can rightfully take his place among the pilots before him who knew the risks, but still climbed in the cockpit at freedom’s call.
On Sept. 28, 2010 in the area of Dond-e-Gori (DeG), noted as a high threat surface-to-air fire (SAFIRE) zone, Trickey, a chief warrant officer two, was designated as air mission Commander for an Air Weapons Team (AWT) tasked to provide aerial security for a CH-47 team flying into Pol-e Khoumri (PeK) and Khelegay, Afghanistan.
According to the narrative accompanying the award, for 15 days there had been 10 reported SAFIREs from DeG.
“Almost every time helicopters from our Task Force flew over that area they were fired on,” Trickey said. “We were covering a ground unit moving nearby when we got a call from a Chinook team that had been fired on from Dond-e-Gori.”
A CH-47 is a twin-engine, tandem rotor heavy-lift helicopter. Its primary roles are troop movement, artillery emplacement and battlefield resupply.
“I moved our team to the area as quickly as possible and as soon as we arrived on station we began to take fire from the ground,” recalled Trickey. “There were tracers coming up from different spots all over. We knew that if we fired into an open field or missed our shot then we’d only embolden the enemy.”
Trickey dispatched two Apache helicopters over the area where the tracers originated and remained stationed to secure the CH-47s during egress.
While circling the area, Trickey’s team took 15 to 20 surface-to-air engagements from at least six different points of origin in a span of 30 minutes.
Even though there were times when Trickey’s team had “opportunities to suppress the tracers with indiscriminate suppressive fires, CW2 Trickey and the Apache helicopters showed extraordinary restraint in ensuring they obtained positive identification (PID) of insurgents prior to any engagement,” read the narrative.
“It was important to identify hostiles before firing,” Trickey said. “So we continued to circle until we could positively ID weapons on hostiles in the areas we saw tracers. We found a group of people standing in an intersection and watched them fire a heavy machine gun at our wingman. From there we rolled in hot and fired 30 millimeter on their position.”
Using precision fires, Trickey’s team eliminated any chance of collateral damage.
“This engagement and the maneuvering of the AWT allowed the CH-47s to safely egress the area at a higher altitude while the Apaches drew the enemies’ fire,” the report stated. “Although the gun camera footage was not able to positively determine BDA (Battle Damage Assessment), HUMINT (Human Resources Intelligence) report from the next day revealed that the engagement had killed one enemy, wounded another, who reportedly died of wounds, and destroyed a DShK 12.7 mm heavy machine gun.”
“After the engagement we were low on fuel so we had to break station and depart the area,” said Trickey. “Intelligence reported that we had taken out at least two of the enemy.”
As a direct result of that engagement and elimination of the tracer cell, there was no other surface-to-air fire from Dond-e-Gori for the rest of Trickey’s team deployment ending in June 2011.
On Oct. 27, 2010, CW2 Trickey with the “V” Device Task Force Mustang, 4th combat aviation brigade, was presented with the air medal.
“Exceptionally valorous achievement while assigned as the Air Mission Commander, support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Chief Warrant Officer Two Trickey’s mastery of attack aviation fundamentals and bravery under fire resulted in the destruction of an enemy anti-aircraft emplacement, safe passage of a flight of CH-47 aircraft, and provided sustained deterrence of enemy anti-aircraft activities in a previously high threat area. Chief Warrant Officer Two Trickey’s dedication to service reflects great credit upon himself, the United States Army and the Department of Defense,” the certificate reads.
Trickey is now working in the private sector as an instructor pilot in Pueblo, Colo. where he and his wife, the former Amanda Duff of Littleton, now reside. Trickey is a graduate of Cheverus High School and he attended Stonehill College. He has also served in South Korea and Iraq.
Trickey is the grandson of Robert and Kaye Trickey of Houlton.
