This excerpt comes from Leadership from 30,000 Feet: Attributes of Effective Leaders as told by Five Air Force Generals, an anthology by Two Blue Aces’ contributors. To read the rest of this story and many others like it you can purchase your own copy on Amazon!
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Title: Courage in the Line of Fire
Author: Jake Polumbo
Major Troy L. Gilbert distinguished himself by heroism while participating in aerial flight as an F-16CG pilot near Taji, Iraq on 27 November 2006. . . . He courageously supported U.S. Special Operations Forces by strafing insurgents in a hotly contested zone . . . and continued to press the insurgents with a second strafing pass which resulted in a fatal impact.” —from the Distinguished Flying Cross citation with valor given posthumously to Major Troy L. Gilbert, who was killed in action during Operation Iraqi Freedom.
I didn’t personally know Troy “Trojan” Gilbert, but I know about his sacrifice. So do many of the Special Ops troops whose lives he saved during a firefight in Iraq. They still recount his story with great respect.
Four-star General Robin Rand, whom I’ve been friends with since 1979, told me the unabridged story of the courage Troy displayed in the face of real and imminent danger on a fateful mission more than a decade ago. When Trojan met his untimely end, General Rand was Brigadier General Rand and commander of Troy’s unit....
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To read the rest of this story and many others like it you can purchase your own copy on Amazon!
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