"The JTAC requested a 'danger close' strike on four positions pinning down his patrol, but couldn't work the approval for the air strike because the terrain blocked line-of-sight for his radio,"' the combat veteran said.
Captain Larkin took charge of the scenario and began relaying to the Combined Air and Space Operations Center the horrific situation of the surrounded coalition forces. Weather rendered standard target identification methods useless, so the Dude Flight used air-to-ground radar to verify the good guys were just 190 meters from the Taliban; a misplaced weapon could kill friendly forces and damage infrastructure.
She used satellite radio to reach the CAOC; painting the exact picture of what was happening on the ground. Agonizing minutes passed as necessary clearances and calculations were made to ensure the best results.
The CAOC cleared Dude Flight hot, and the F-15s dropped a total of six Joint Direct Attack Munitions, equaling more than three tons of ordnance. All the bombs hit with deadly precision. The Taliban forces were unable to recover and were forced to abandon the town.
Captain Larkin said the main thing on her mind that day was making sure the guys on the ground lived to fight another day.
"Did the guys make it home safe? How are they doing," the WSO who is approaching almost 1,000 missions flown during her career, kept asking herself. "My emotions were a combination of thrill that we did everything right and stress that the soldiers on the ground were still outside the wire."
The 31-year-old Dayton, Ohio, native credited the combined power of the joint force in making the mission a success.
"Winning the award recognizes a small sliver of this war where all the assets, surface, air and space, smoothly worked together and conquered," she said.
In the end, the captain deferred praise for the day's accomplishments to everyone around her who helped make the success possible.
"I am humbled by the hard work of all the home station and deployed military members around me who perform with discipline and sacrifice to help me do my job," she said. "I feel it is important for the Airmen who play a part in the F-15E Strike Eagle community to know that this award is only possible because they helped us get there."
The award is administered by the United States National Aeronautic Association and is awarded yearly by the United States Air Force for the "most meritorious flight of the year" by an Air Force person, persons, or organization. The trophy is housed in the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum.
Captions:
(1) Capt. Leigh “Breaker” Larkin, a weapons system officer from the 389th Fighter Squadron at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan.
(2) Mackay Trophy at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum, Washington DC
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