Deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, Staff Sergeant Kyle Fulton, a Combat Controller, integrated airpower in support of coalition ground forces at Jalalabad Air Force Base, Afghanistan on December 2, 2012. Sergeant Fulton and his comrades were alerted to a nearby fire caused by a large explosion.

En route, Fulton established communications with aircraft approaching the scene, identified friendly positions, and coordinated aircraft attacks on insurgents maneuvering north of the base’s perimeter wall.

Sergeant Fulton and his team discovered that insurgent forces had explosively breached an entry control point and were engaged in a furious firefight with special operations forces defending the gap in the base’s perimeter wall.

Upon exiting the vehicle, Sergeant Fulton began taking point-blank fire from insurgents hiding in the bed of a truck. He returned fire with a teammate and killed two enemy fighters just before insurgents attempted to storm the breach, supported by heavy machine gun and rocket-propelled grenade fire.

Intense fighting continued and enemy grenades exploded less than 10 meters from Sergeant Fulton’s position, showering the area with lethal bursts of shrapnel.

As insurgent forces detonated a suicide vest just 15 meters from Sergeant Fulton, he and a teammate took cover behind a vehicle and engaged the enemy with 40mm grenades, preventing their position from being overrun.

Moments later, an enemy grenade detonated close by, burying shrapnel in his leg. Sergeant Fulton deftly applied two tourniquets to stem his bleeding and, when two teammates shifted to cover his position, focused on directing attack aircraft onto remaining enemy positions.

Sergeant Fulton and his teammates prevented insurgent forces from storming Jalalabad Air Base and allowed isolated friendly elements to evacuate their wounded. 

For his heroic actions, Sergeant Fulton has been nominated for the Bronze Star with Valor.