Air Force Capt. Matt Adams received the Airman’s Medal – the service’s highest award for heroism not associated with combat – for saving a comrade who fell 25 feet from a cliff into swirling water in Costa Rica. Adams and his friend, Capt. John Barbour, were on vacation in Costa Ricas Nauyaca Waterfalls at the time. After seeing Barbour first become stuck on a cliff wall, and then fall into the water below, Adams quickly dove in to rescue him. He found Barbour on the bottom in 20 feet of water, bleeding severely from a blow to the head. Adams struggled to carry the inert Barbour to the surface and move him to land. Barbour awoke, but was disoriented and began fighting his friend’s efforts to help him. Adams and other Air Force comrades provided first aid, and called for local authorities to find an ambulance to transfer him to a facility where he could be treated appropriately for his injuries. Adams and his comrades carried Barbour on a stretcher through a treacherous path of rocks, switchbacks and mud, until finally reaching a trail head. From there, a truck transported Barbour to an ambulance that carried him back to a local hospital. Barbour was moved the next day back to their base of operations, Soto Cano Air Base, Honduras, and eventually sent to San Antonio Military Medical Center, Texas. "If Matt wasn’t climbing that wall underneath me, I am certain that I would have died," Barbour said. "Even more, I don’t believe that the average person would have been able to swim down that far and fetch me out of the water. If all the [guys] weren’t there to carry me out, it is hard to say what might have happened." Adams credited fellow airmen Staff Sgt. Villanueva, Tech. Sgt. Dominique Vasquez, Staff Sgt. Graham Clouden, and Barbour’s cousin Brent Sabino with helping carry their stricken friend to safety.