List of Irish-American Medal of Honor recipients
Vietnam War
Table:
Image

Name

Service

Rank

Unit

Place of action

Date of action

Notes

Patrick H. Brady

Army

Major

Chu Lai—South Vietnamnear Chu Lai, Republic of Vietnam

January 6, 1968

Flew multiple missions against heavy fire to evacuate 51 wounded men[24]

Roger H. C. Donlon

Army

Captain

Nam Dong—South Vietnamnear Nam Dong, Republic of Vietnam

July 6, 1964

Rescued and administered first aid to several wounded soldiers and led a group to defeat an enemy force causing them to retreat leaving behind 54 of their dead, many weapons, and grenades.

—

Kern W. Dunagan

Army

Captain

Quang Tin Province, Republic of Vietnam

May 13, 1969

Although wounded he directed fire onto enemy positions and rescued several wounded soldiers

Robert F. Foley

Army

Captain

Quan Dau Tieng—South Vietnamnear Quan Dau Tieng, Republic of Vietnam

November 5, 1966

Despite his painful wounds he refused medical aid and persevered in the forefront of the attack on the enemy redoubt. He led the assault on several enemy gun emplacements and, single-handedly, destroyed three such positions.

Thomas G. Kelley

Navy

Lieutenant

Ong Muong Canal, Kien Hoa Province, Republic of Vietnam

June 15, 1969

Successfully relayed commands through one of his men until an enemy attack was silenced and the boats he was leading were able to move to safety

James McCloughan

Army

Private First Class

United States Army

Battle of Nui Yon Hill, Vietnam

1969

He suffered wounds from shrapnel and small arms fire on three separate occasions, but refused medical evacuation to stay with his unit, and continued to brave enemy fire to rescue, treat, and defend wounded Americans, coming to the aid of his men and fighting the enemy, at one point knocking out an enemy RPG position with a grenade. In all, the Pentagon credits McCloughan with saving the lives of 10 members of his company.[25]

Thomas J. McMahon*

Army

Specialist Four

Quang Tin Province, Republic of Vietnam

March 19, 1969

While attempting to rescue three wounded soldiers despite heavy enemy fire, he was able to carry two of the men to safety but was killed while trying to rescue the third.

David H. McNerney

Army

First Sergeant

Polei Doc, Republic of Vietnam

March 22, 1967

Despite being wounded after his unit was attacked, he assumed command of the unit when the company commander was killed, organized the defense, and helped arrange a helicopter evacuation of the wounded. He refused his own medical evacuation and instead stayed with the company until a new commander arrived.

Thomas P. Noonan, Jr.*

Marine Corps

Lance Corporal

Vandegrift Combat Base—A Shau Valley—South Vietnamnear Vandergrift Combat Base, A Shau Valley, Republic of Vietnam

February 5, 1969

Killed while attempting to rescue a wounded man

Robert E. O'Malley

Marine Corps

Corporal

Company I, 3rd Battalion 3rd Marines

An Cu'ong—South Vietnamnear An Cu'ong 2, South Vietnam

August 18, 1965

Risked his life and led his men to repeatedly attack the enemy, assist another Marine unit that had inflicted heavy casualties and led his unit to a helicopter for evacuation.

Daniel J. Shea*

Army

Private First Class

Quảng Trị Province, Republic of Vietnam

May 14, 1969

Killed by enemy gunfire after assisting in the defeat of an attacking enemy force

Lance P. Sijan*

Air Force

Captain

North Vietnam

November 9, 1967

For actions while as a prisoner of war

Michael E. Thornton

Navy

Engineman Second Class

Quảng Trị Province, Republic of Vietnam

October 31, 1972

Saved the life of his superior officer and allowed the other members of his patrol to escape

Considering the tabular data together with the supporting text below.

Solve the question: How did the person whose place of action was officially named officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam receive their medal of honor ? Return your answer as JSON: {"answer": "YOUR ANSWER"}. Do not introduce information beyond the provided sources.

Patrick Henry Brady ( born October 1 , 1936 ) , is a retired United States Army major general . While serving as a helicopter pilot in the Vietnam War , he received the Medal of Honor , the nation 's highest military decoration for valor .
The United States Army ( USA ) is the land warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces . It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services , and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution . As the oldest and most senior branch of the U.S. military in order of precedence , the modern U.S. Army has its roots in the Continental Army , which was formed ( 14 June 1775 ) to fight the American Revolutionary War ( 1775-1783 ) - before the United States of America was established as a country . After the Revolutionary War , the Congress of the Confederation created the United States Army on 3 June 1784 to replace the disbanded Continental Army . The United States Army considers itself descended from the Continental Army , and considers its institutional inception to be the origin of that armed force in 1775 . As a uniformed military service , the U.S. Army is part of the Department of the Army , which is one of the three military departments of the Department of Defense . The U.S. Army is headed by a civilian senior appointed civil servant , the secretary of the Army ( SECARMY ) and by a chief military officer , the chief of staff of the Army ( CSA ) who is also a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff . It is the largest military branch , and in the fiscal year 2017 , the projected end strength for the Regular Army ( USA ) was 476,000 soldiers ; the Army National Guard ( ARNG ) had 343,000 soldiers and the U.S. Army Reserve ( USAR ) had 199,000 soldiers ; the combined-component strength of the U.S. Army was 1,018,000 soldiers . As a branch of the armed forces , the mission of the U.S. Army is to fight and win our Nation 's wars , by providing prompt , sustained land dominance , across the full range of military operations and the spectrum of conflict , in support of combatant commanders . The branch participates in conflicts worldwide and is the major ground-based offensive and defensive force of the United States .
In the United States Army , Marine Corps , and Air Force , major is a field grade military officer rank above the rank of captain and below the rank of lieutenant colonel . It is equivalent to the naval rank of lieutenant commander in the other uniformed services . Although lieutenant commanders are considered junior officers by their respective services ( Navy and Coast Guard ) , the rank of major is that of a senior officer in the United States Army , the United States Marine Corps , and the United States Air Force . The pay grade for the rank of major is O-4 . The insignia for the rank consists of a golden oak leaf , with slight stylized differences between the Army/Air Force version and the Marine Corps version . Promotion to major is governed by the Department of Defense policies derived from the Defense Officer Personnel Management Act of 1980 .
Chu Lai is a seaport , urban and industrial area in Núi Thành District , Quảng Nam Province , Vietnam . The city is served by Chu Lai International Airport . It is also the site of the Chu Lai Open Economic Zone ( Vietnamese : Với Khu Kinh Tế Mở Chu Lai ) .
South Vietnam , officially the Republic of Vietnam ( RVN ; Vietnamese : Việt Nam Cộng Hòa ; French : République du Viêt Nam ) , was a country that existed from 1955 to 1975 , the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of the Cold War . It received international recognition in 1949 as the State of Vietnam ( a self-governing entity in the French Empire ) , which was a constitutional monarchy ( 1949-1955 ) . The country was renamed the Republic of Vietnam in 1955 . Its capital was Saigon ( now Ho Chi Minh City ) . South Vietnam was bordered by North Vietnam to the north , Laos to the northwest , Cambodia to the southwest , Thailand across the Gulf of Thailand to the southwest , and the Philippines , Malaysia , Brunei , and Indonesia across the South China Sea to the east and southeast . The Republic of Vietnam was proclaimed on 26 October 1955 , with Ngô Đình Diệm as its first president , after having briefly served as premier under Emperor Bảo Đại who was exiled . Its sovereignty was recognized by the United States and 87 other nations . It had membership in several special committees of the United Nations , but its application for full membership was rejected in 1957 because of a Soviet veto ( neither South nor North Vietnam were members of the UN during the Vietnam War , but the united Vietnam became a member state in 1977 ) . South Vietnam 's origins can be traced to the French colony of Cochinchina , which consisted of the southern third of Vietnam which was Cochinchina [ Nam Kỳ ] , a subdivision of French Indochina , and the southern half of Central Vietnam or Annam [ Trung Kỳ ] which was a French protectorate . After the Second World War , the anti-Japanese Việt Minh guerrilla forces , led by Ho Chi Minh , proclaimed the establishment of a Democratic Republic of Vietnam in Hanoi in September 1945 , issuing a Declaration of Independence modeled on the US one from 1776 . In 1949 , anti-communist Vietnamese politicians formed a rival government in Saigon led by former emperor Bảo Đại . Bảo Đại was deposed by Prime Minister Ngô Đình Diệm in 1955 , who proclaimed himself president after a referendum .
Roger Hugh Charles Donlon ( born January 30 , 1934 ) is a former United States Army officer . He is the first person to receive the Medal of Honor in the Vietnam War , as well as the first member of the United States Army Special Forces to be so honored .
In the United States uniformed services , captain is a commissioned-officer rank . In keeping with the traditions of the militaries of most nations , the rank varies between the services , being a senior rank in the naval services and a junior rank in the ground and air forces .
Nam Đông is a rural district of Thua Thien - Hue province in the North Central Coast region of Vietnam . As of 2003 the district had a population of 22,333 . The district covers an area of 651 km² . The district capital lies at Khe Tre . Nam Dong is the southern gateway and key component in the economy of Thua Thien Hue Province . It is located in highlands and bounded by Quang Nam province in the south , Huong Thuy in the north , Phu Loc in the east and A Luoi prefecture in the west . It has the least population of any district in Thua Thien Hue Province . There are 10,113 people of the ethnic minority ( mainly Ka-tu people ) and 13,295 ethnic Vietnamese and the female population is 11,493 ( 45.05% ) . Its population density of 35.9 people/km² is the least in the province . The population of working age is 11,589 . Of these , 74.2% work in agricultural , forestry , and aquatic ; 7.64% work in industry and construction ; 9.13% work in service and trade ; and 10.19% work as civil servants . Nam Dong is the smallest prefecture of Thua Thien Hue Province .
Kern Wayne Dunagan ( February 20 , 1934 - December 27 , 1991 ) was a United States Army officer and a recipient of the United States military 's highest decoration - the Medal of Honor - for his actions in the Vietnam War .
Quảng Tín ( listen ) was a province of South Vietnam . It was created from the part of Quảng Nam Province on the south side of the Quế Sơn District on July 31 , 1962 . The capital was Tam Kỳ . During the Vietnam War it was the site of heavy fighting , including Operation Union I & II . The province was merged back into Quảng Nam following the unification of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam on July 2 , 1976 .
Robert Franklin Foley ( born May 30 , 1941 ) is a retired United States Army lieutenant general who served in the Vietnam War . Born in Newton , Massachusetts , he received the Medal of Honor for leading his unit , Company A , 2d Battalion , 27th Infantry , 25th Infantry Division , in an assault on a strong enemy position on November 5 , 1966 . He was awarded the Medal of Honor along with Sergeant John F. Baker , Jr. , who earned his own medal in the same battle .
Thomas Gunning Kelley ( born May 13 , 1939 ) is a retired captain in the United States Navy who received the Medal of Honor for his actions during the Vietnam War . From 2003 to 2011 he served as Secretary of the Massachusetts Department of Veterans ' Services . He currently serves as the President of the Medal of Honor Society .
The United States Navy ( USN ) is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States . It is the largest and most capable navy in the world and it has been estimated that in terms of tonnage of its active battle fleet alone , it is larger than the next 13 navies combined , which includes 11 U.S. allies or partner nations . It has the highest combined battle fleet tonnage and the world 's largest aircraft carrier fleet , with eleven in service , two new carriers under construction , and five other carriers planned . With 336,978 personnel on active duty and 101,583 in the Ready Reserve , the U.S. Navy is the third largest of the U.S. military service branches in terms of personnel . It has 290 deployable combat vessels and more than 3,700 operational aircraft as of June 2019 [ update ] , making it the third-largest air force in the world , after the United States Air Force and the United States Army . The U.S. Navy traces its origins to the Continental Navy , which was established during the American Revolutionary War and was effectively disbanded as a separate entity shortly thereafter . After suffering significant loss of goods and personnel at the hands of the Barbary pirates from Algiers , the U.S. Congress passed the Naval Act of 1794 for the construction of six heavy frigates , the first ships of the U.S. Navy . The U.S. Navy played a major role in the American Civil War by blockading the Confederacy and seizing control of its rivers . It played the central role in the World War II defeat of Imperial Japan . The U.S. Navy emerged from World War II as the most powerful navy in the world . The 21st century U.S. Navy maintains a sizable global presence , deploying in strength in such areas as the Western Pacific , the Mediterranean , and the Indian Ocean . It is a blue-water navy with the ability to project force onto the littoral regions of the world , engage in forward deployments during peacetime and rapidly respond to regional crises , making it a frequent actor in U.S. foreign and military policy .
A lieutenant ( UK : /lɛfˈtɛnənt/ lef-TEN-ənt or US : /luːˈtɛnənt/ loo-TEN-ənt abbreviated Lt , LT , Lieut and similar ) is the second junior-most or in some cases the junior-most commissioned officer in the armed forces , fire services , police , and other organizations of many nations . The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries ( see comparative military ranks ) , but is often subdivided into senior ( first lieutenant ) and junior ( second lieutenant and even third lieutenant ) ranks . In navies it is often equivalent to the army rank of captain ; it may also indicate a particular post rather than a rank . The rank is also used in fire services , emergency medical services , security services and police forces . Lieutenant may also appear as part of a title used in various other organisations with a codified command structure . It often designates someone who is second-in-command , and as such , may precede the name of the rank directly above it . For example , a lieutenant master is likely to be second-in-command to the master in an organisation using both ranks . Political uses include lieutenant governor in various governments , and Quebec lieutenant in Canadian politics . In the United Kingdom , a lord lieutenant is the sovereign 's representative in a county or lieutenancy area , while a deputy lieutenant is one of the lord lieutenant 's deputies .
James C. McCloughan ( born April 30 , 1946 ) is a former United States Army soldier and a Vietnam War veteran . For his actions during the war , McCloughan was authorized the Medal of Honor by United States President Barack Obama and Secretary of the Army Eric Fanning in December 2016 . McCloughan was presented the Medal of Honor on 31 July 2017 by United States President Donald Trump , the first such award of Trump 's administration . After being drafted into the United States Army in 1968 , McCloughan became a combat medic , and in May 1969 distinguished himself in fighting near Tam Kỳ at Nui Yon Hill , in which he treated the wounded while fighting North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces . McCloughan was wounded multiple times during the battle , but refused evacuation . After his discharge from the army , he returned to his hometown of South Haven , Michigan , where he became a high school teacher and athletics coach .
Thomas Joseph McMahon ( June 24 , 1948 - March 19 , 1969 ) was a United States Army soldier and a recipient of the United States military 's highest decoration - the Medal of Honor - for his actions in the Vietnam War .
Specialist ( abbreviated SPC ) is a military rank in some countries ' armed forces . In the United States military , it is one of the four junior enlisted ranks in the U.S. Army , above private first class and equivalent in pay grade to corporal . Unlike corporals , specialists are not considered junior non-commissioned officers ( NCOs ) . Specialist E-4 is the most common rank that is held by US Army soldiers .
David Herbert McNerney ( June 2 , 1931 - October 10 , 2010 ) was a United States Army soldier and a recipient of the United States military 's highest decoration - the Medal of Honor - for his actions in the Vietnam War . A native of Massachusetts who moved to Houston , Texas , as a child , McNerney served in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War before enlisting in the Army . He was recognized with the Medal of Honor when , as a first sergeant in Vietnam on March 22 , 1967 , his company came under attack by a numerically superior North Vietnamese force . They nearly split the company and killed or wounded all of the officers . Although wounded , McNerney took command of the company and organized the unit 's defense , exposing himself to hostile fire to mark and clear a helicopter landing site . He refused to be evacuated for an entire day until a new commander came . After serving four tours of duty in Vietnam and 16 years of service , McNerney retired in 1969 and began a career as a customs inspector in Houston .
First sergeant is typically a senior non-commissioned officer rank , used in many countries . In NATO armed forces the rank is on OR8 level .
Thomas Patrick Noonan Jr. ( November 18 , 1943 - February 5 , 1969 ) was a United States Marine who was posthumously awarded the United States ' highest military decoration - the Medal of Honor - for heroism during February 1969 in Vietnam .
The United States Marine Corps ( USMC ) , also referred to as the United States Marines , is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations with the United States Navy as well as the Army and Air Force . The U.S. Marine Corps is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States . The Marine Corps has been a component of the U.S. Department of the Navy since 30 June 1834 , working closely with naval forces . The USMC operates installations on land and aboard sea-going amphibious warfare ships around the world . Additionally , several of the Marines ' tactical aviation squadrons , primarily Marine Fighter Attack squadrons , are also embedded in Navy carrier air wings and operate from the aircraft carriers . The history of the Marine Corps began when two battalions of Continental Marines were formed on 10 November 1775 in Philadelphia as a service branch of infantry troops capable of fighting both at sea and on shore . In the Pacific theater of World War II the Corps took the lead in a massive campaign of amphibious warfare , advancing from island to island . As of 2017 , the USMC has around 186,000 active duty members and some 38,500 personnel in reserve .
Lance corporal is a military rank , used by many armed forces worldwide , and also by some police forces and other uniformed organisations . It is below the rank of corporal , and is typically the lowest non-commissioned officer , usually equivalent to the NATO Rank Grade OR3 .
The A Shau Valley ( Vietnamese : thung lũng A Sầu ) is a valley in Vietnam 's Thừa Thiên-Huế Province , west of the coastal city of Huế , along the border of Laos . The valley runs north and south for 40 kilometers and is a 1.5- kilometer-wide flat bottomland covered with tall elephant grass , flanked by two densely forested mountain ridges whose summits vary in elevation from 900 to 1,800 meters . A Shau Valley was one of the key entry points into South Vietnam for men and material brought along the Ho Chi Minh trail by the North Vietnamese Army and was the scene of heavy fighting during the Vietnam War . The A Shau Valley is bisected lengthwise by Route 548 . The Ho Chi Minh Highway now runs along the valley floor .
Robert Emmett O'Malley ( born June 3 , 1943 ) is a former United States Marine who was the first Marine Corps recipient of the Medal of Honor in the Vietnam War . He received the medal for his actions as a corporal on August 18 , 1965 , during Operation Starlite .
Corporal is a military rank in use in some form by many militaries and by some police forces or other uniformed organizations . Within NATO , each member nation 's corresponding military rank of corporal is combined under the NATO-standard rank scale code OR-3 or OR-4 . However , there are often differences in how each nation ( or service in each nation ) employs corporals . Some militaries do n't have corporals , but may instead have a Junior Sergeant . In some militaries , the rank of corporal nominally corresponds to commanding a section or squad of soldiers . However , in the United States Army , the rank of corporal is considered a lateral promotion from E-4 Specialist and usually only occurs when the soldier has been selected by a promotion board to become an E-5 Sergeant and is serving in an E-5 billet such as a fireteam leader in a rifle squad . The lateral promotion is used to make the soldier a non-commissioned officer without changing the soldier 's pay . As the Table of Organization & Equipment ( TO & E ) rank of a fire team leader is sergeant and that of squad leader is staff sergeant . In the United States Marine Corps , corporal is the Table of Organization ( TO ) rank for a rifle fire team leader , machine gun team leader , light mortar squad leader , and assault weapon squad leader , as well as gunner on most larger crew served weapons ( i.e . medium mortars , heavy machine guns , and anti-tank missiles ) , armored vehicles ( e.g . tanks , light armored vehicles , and armored assault vehicles ) , and the two assistant gunners on a howitzer ( the gunner is a sergeant ) . In most countries that derive their military structure from the British military system , corporal is a more senior rank than that of private .
Daniel John Shea ( January 29 , 1947 - May 14 , 1969 ) was a soldier in the US Army who posthumously received the Medal of Honor for his heroic actions and sacrifice of life during the Vietnam War for actions occurring in the Quang Tri Province on May 14 , 1969 . Shea joined the Army from New Haven , Connecticut in 1967 .
Private First Class ( PFC ) is a military rank held by junior enlisted personnel in some countries ' armed forces .
Quảng Trị ( Vietnamese : [ kwa᷉ːŋ ʈîˀ ] ( listen ) ) is a province in the North Central Coast region of Vietnam , north of the former imperial capital of Huế .
Lance Peter Sijan ( April 13 , 1942 - January 22 , 1968 ) was a United States Air Force officer and fighter pilot . On March 4 , 1976 , he posthumously received the Medal of Honor , the United States ' highest military award , for his selflessness and courage in the face of lethal danger .
The United States Air Force ( USAF ) is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces . It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services . Initially formed as a part of the United States Army on 1 August 1907 , the USAF was established as a separate branch of the U.S. Armed Forces on 18 September 1947 with the passing of the National Security Act of 1947 . It is the second youngest branch of the U.S. Armed Forces , [ a ] and the fourth in order of precedence . The U.S. Air Force articulates its core missions as air superiority , global integrated intelligence , surveillance , and reconnaissance , rapid global mobility , global strike , and command and control . The U.S. Air Force is a military service branch organized within the Department of the Air Force , one of the three military departments of the Department of Defense . The Air Force , through the Department of the Air Force , is headed by the civilian Secretary of the Air Force , who reports to the Secretary of Defense , and is appointed by the President with Senate confirmation . The highest-ranking military officer in the Air Force is the Chief of Staff of the Air Force , who exercises supervision over Air Force units and serves as one of the Joint Chiefs of Staff . Certain Air Force components are assigned , as directed by the Secretary of Defense and Secretary of the Air Force , to unified combatant commands . Combatant commanders are delegated operational authority of the forces assigned to them , while the Secretary of the Air Force and the Chief of Staff of the Air Force retain administrative authority over their members . Along with conducting independent air operations , the U.S. Air Force provides air support for land and naval forces and aids in the recovery of troops in the field . As of 2017 [ update ] , the service operates more than 5,369 military aircraft , 406 ICBMs and 170 military satellites .
North Vietnam , officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam ( DRV ) ( Vietnamese : Việt Nam Dân Chủ Cộng Hòa ) , was a country in Southeast Asia from 1945 to 1976 . During the August Revolution following World War II , Vietnamese communist revolutionary Hồ Chí Minh , leader of the Việt Minh , declared independence from French Indochina on 2 September 1945 , announcing the creation of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam . The Việt Minh ( League for the Independence of Vietnam ) was a coalition of multiple Vietnamese nationalist groups , mostly led by communists who increasingly marginalized non-communists in the organisation after the reestablishment of the previously banned Communist Party of Vietnam in February 1951 . France moved in to reassert its colonial dominance over Vietnam which led to the First Indochina War in December 1946 , a bloody guerrilla war between France and the Việt Minh . The Việt Minh captured and controlled most of the rural areas in Vietnam which led to French defeat in 1954 . The negotiations in the Geneva Conference that year ended the war and recognized Vietnamese independence . The Geneva Accords provisionally divided the country into a northern and a southern zone along the 17th parallel , stipulating general elections in July 1956 to bring about the unification of Viet-Nam . The northern zone was controlled by the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and became commonly called North Vietnam , while the southern zone , under control of the French-established State of Vietnam was commonly called South Vietnam . Supervision of the implementation of the Geneva Accords was the responsibility of an international commission consisting of India , Canada , and Poland . The United States did not sign the Geneva Accords and stated that it shall continue to seek to achieve unity through free elections supervised by the United Nations to insure that they are conducted fairly . In July 1955 , the prime minister of the State of Vietnam , Ngô Đình Diệm , announced that South Vietnam would not participate in elections to unify the country . He said that the State of Vietnam had not signed the Geneva Accords and was therefor not bound by it .
Michael Edwin Thornton ( born March 23 , 1949 ) is a retired United States Navy SEAL and recipient of the U.S. military 's highest decoration , the Medal of Honor , for his actions in the Vietnam War . He was awarded the medal for saving the life of his senior officer , Lieutenant Thomas R. Norris , who also earned the Medal of Honor in an unrelated incident .
Engineman ( abbreviated as EN ) is a United States Navy occupational rating . Engineman was the former name for the current U.S. Coast Guard rating of Machinery Technician .
Petty officer second class is the fifth enlisted rank in the U.S. Navy , U.S. Coast Guard , and the United States Naval Sea Cadet Corps , just above petty officer third class and below petty officer first class , and is a non-commissioned officer . It is equivalent to the rank of sergeant in the Army and Marine Corps , and staff sergeant in the Air Force .