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Tag: Distinguished Flying Cross

U.S. Air Force Maj. (Dr.) Dominick Vitale, Brooke Army Medical Center critical care/trauma surgeon, stands inside a C-17 Globemaster III with wife Megan O’Toole and son Antonio Vitale after receiving the Distinguished Flying Cross at Travis Air Force Base, Calif., Dec. 9, 2022. Vitale and members of a Critical Care Air Transport Team were on the first aircraft to land and evacuate the severely injured following the Aug. 26, 2021 suicide bombing near Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul, Afghanistan. (DoD courtesy photo)

Jan. 19, 2023

A ‘not-so-routine’ operation

JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas, (Jan. 19, 2023) — Aug. 26, 2021 was a terrible day of bloodshed and destruction near Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul, Afghanistan, when a suicide bomber killed an estimated 170 Afghans and 13 U.S. service members. That same day, shortly after the bombing, U.S. Air Force Maj. (Dr.) Dominick Vitale, Brooke Army Medical Center critical care/trauma surgeon, and the remaining members of the Critical Care Air Transport Team (CCATT) were on the first aircraft to land and evacuate the severely injured to Ramstein Air Base, Germany. Vitale and the entire crew, dubbed ‘MOOSE 98,’ received the Distinguished Flying Cross with “C” device for their actions during a ‘not-so-routine’ operation.

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