Lieutenant Colonel Burt A. Bartley distinguished himself by heroism and courageous action as F-16CG flight lead, 18 Fighter Squadron, in support of Operation ENDURING FREEDOM.
Upon learning of a downed MH-47 helicopter, Lieutenant Colonel Bartley departed assigned airspace to immediately support the recovery of thirty-nine personnel on board. Enroute to the site, Lieutenant Colonel Bartley established deconfliction with two Unnammed Aerial Vehicles (UAV) and two F-15Es near the crash site to provide maximum support to the rescue effort. With the F-15Es out of ammunition, Lieutenant Colonel Bartley immediately employed 20mm cannon fire to neutralize the enemy troops that were directly firing upon the survivors. He made two strafing runs with little regard for his own safety into rapidly rising mountaineous terrain, and directly in the face of the same small arms fire that downed the helicopter. He then provided a rapid talk-on to his wingman, who was experiencing radio problems, to suppress the advancing enemy troops. His skill and determination forced the enemy troops to stop the attack on the downed helicopter crew and friendly forces and concentrate on digging in for cover approximately 50 meters from the crashed MH-47. After expending all 500 rounds of 20mm ammunition he stayed with the Ground Forward Air Controller (GFAC) on the radio while his wingman passed all critical information to command and control assets and located the tanker.