Air Force Staff Sgt. Earl I. Covel
In an undisclosed region of Iraq, Air Force Staff Sgt. Earl I. Covel of Oregon was assigned to work with a small group of Army Special Forces soldiers and indigenous Kurdish fighters, when the safe house that Covel and his men were staying in came under a vicious attack.
Covel, the tactical air controller, made his way to the rooftop of a nearby building where he set up communications with air support while pointing out targets to his team. The soldier who was providing Covel cover fire as he coordinated the attack was shot and evacuated, with Covel left in a “little corner of hell” as he later described it. Covel continued to coordinate air and ground strikes for the next 36 hours, all the time returning enemy fire. Through it all, not one of Covel’s men was killed, though more than 100 insurgents were taken down. Later, it was found that approximately 200 insurgents were part of the large-scale assault.
At the recommendation of the Army soldiers with whom he served, Covel was recently awarded the Silver Star. “This honor speaks for itself,” Brigadier General Benjamin Bartlett said at the award ceremony. “Its importance cannot be overstated. I’ve been in the service for 31 years, and I’ve never seen a Silver Star presentation. What he did over there was beyond heroic. Heroes are those people who are put into a position where their true inner character comes out when it is needed most.”
