JOINT BASE McGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST ? The applause was deafening, and it grew even louder.
Air Force Staff Sgt. Brian Williams sat quietly in his wheelchair onstage at the Joint Base Theater as about 500 servicemen and women showed their gratitude for the military working-dog handler.
?I wish a lot of other people in my position received the same treatment,? Williams said. ?Not everyone has such a caring unit, and I think that shows a lot of good faith from our group.?
Williams, 30, was honored Friday by the joint base, where he ceremoniously received the Bronze Star, Purple Heart and Combat Action Medal. He lost his left leg above the knee, sustained a compound fracture in his arm, and lost most of his teeth from a blast by an improvised explosive device in April during a mission outside the Kandahar Airfield in southern Afghanistan.
Williams, an Arizona native, was deployed from the 87th Security Squadron at the base and was serving his sixth tour. He was three months into a six-month deployment when he suffered his life-threatening injuries. A quick medical response from Army personnel at the scene saved Williams? life.
?If I was leaning a little more to the left or right, things could have been a lot different,? he said.
Williams, who joined the Air Force in 2000, began working as a military working-dog handler in 2009. He logged more than 470 combat mission hours, and participated in numerous dangerous compound-to-compound searches and air-assault missions in the Zharay, Maiwand and Panjwai districts of Afghanistan with his furry male companion Carly.
On April 25, the pair were clearing a suspicious area in a compound near a village in Maiwand. Williams and Carly had cleared the first floor, and the dog went upstairs on command to begin a search.
After Carly didn?t come downstairs, Williams went up to an unsearched area to retrieve his dog. The airman?s movement triggered the explosive. Williams? body was thrown down the steps, and he suffered a major laceration to his leg, among other injuries. Carly was unharmed. Two Army members applied tourniquets to Williams? extremities to stop the bleeding.
His life was saved, but his leg was later amputated.
?You, to us, are an inspiration,? Gen. Raymond Johns, Air Force commander of the Air Mobility Command, told Williams. ?Every day, you share pictures. You share stories of what you face. There are good days and bad days. And we look at you and we say, ?If you can do this, we can do anything.? We are proud of you. You are an inspiration to us, and it?s a great day to be here celebrating and giving you medals.?
In June, Williams was reunited with Carly after military personnel brought the dog to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., to visit the airman as he recovered. Williams said he was offered the option to adopt Carly, but he declined, saying the dog is too valuable to the military.
?It wouldn?t be fair,? he said of the canine, whom some airmen call ?Carl.? ?It would be selfish of me to take the dog. He?s got a lot of life left in him, and it would be wasted if I took him away.?
Williams said he also doesn?t plan to retire quietly, despite his severe injuries.
?I don?t plan on being done yet,? he said. ?I?m not letting little Johnny Taliban tell me when I?m done.?
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/49218115/ns/local_news-delaware_valley_pa_nj/
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