Air Force Capt. Charles C. Napier received the Distinguished Flying Cross – the service’s second-highest award for valor in combat – for his actions during a December 2012 rescue operation in Afghanistan. According to official records, Napier piloted an HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter into an area directly between the soldiers his crew needed to rescue and enemy forces who were delivering small-arms fire at close range. Napier, now a student at the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center in Monterey, Calif., also received the Air Force Combat Action medal and his 16th Air Medal for his efforts that day.
