TSgt. Joseph Deslauriers received the Silver Star for gallantry during combat in Afghanistan last year during a Nov. 14 ceremony at the Pentagon. Despite being injured by an IED detonator Desalauriers, an Explosive Ordnance Disposal technician aided in disarming the device, clearing the way for the evacuation of two injured Marines on Sept. 23, 2011. The act was “less as a case of spontaneous valor and more as a predictable outcome of circumstance and character intercepting on the battlefield,” Col. Jim Slife, commander of the 1st Special Operations Wing, said at the ceremony. “Valor is of the moment—character is built over a lifetime,” he added. Earlier during the same patrol, Deslauriers disarmed an IED, aided in treating wounded comrades, and cleared a helicopter landing zone to evacuate the injured. He was assigned to the 1st Special Operations Civil Engineer Squadron at Hurlburt Field, Fla. (Hurlburt report by A1C Hayden Hyatt)
Watch, Read: CSO on the Need for Space Superiority, Control
March 12, 2025
Gen. B. Chance Saltzman, Chief of Space Operations for the U.S. Space Force, delivered the opening keynote of the 2025 AFA Warfare Symposium. Emphasizing the need for the U.S. to maintain space superiority, Saltzman made the case that the Space Force needs to develop capabilities to control the domain. Watch…