'When there are guys screaming ... you stay'

The clouds were low, the risk high.

But Lt. Col. John J. Schaefer III, 37, stayed until his bombs ran out and the Iraqi tanks burned in the desert.

It was the most intense combat mission of his life, and the reason Schaefer, from Eagle River, Alaska, wears the Distinguished Flying Cross with “V.”

As dawn approached on April 3, 2003, Schaefer, then a major, was leading a two-ship team of F-15E Strike Eagles.

It was their second sortie of the night. En route to an area north of Baghdad, they were diverted: A ground unit advancing toward Baghdad was in trouble on the southeast side of the city, where a major battle was about to unfold. Numerous Iraqi Republican Guard T-72 tanks were posturing to attack the exposed right flank of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force’s forward elements, according to Schaefer’s award citation.

Schaefer — part of the 336th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron deployed from Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C., to Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar — and the other Strike Eagle, arrived to fight about 4:30 a.m., an hour shy of sunrise.

They spotted the Iraqi tanks on a small ridge line engaging the Marines. But the Iraqis could see them, too. A low cloud cover forced Schaefer and his wingman to an altitude where stealth wasn’t a factor — even less so as the morning sky paled.

“Typically we operate at medium to higher altitudes,” Schaefer said in a recent phone interview from Osan Air Base, South Korea, where he works for the 607th Combat Plans Squadron. “To get the job done that morning, we had to operate very low, which meant they could see us very easily.”

The Strike Eagles were about as visible as “an ant going across a white bedsheet,” Schaefer said.

The Iraqi tanks couldn’t shoot at the jets. But the ground air defense systems, with which tank units typically travel, could. And did.

Each F-15E pass below the clouds triggered a heavy barrage of anti-aircraft artillery and small rockets from below.

As Schaefer and his backseat weapons systems operator dipped to drop 500- and 2,000-pound laser-guided bombs, they saw exploding chunks of lead and light arcs from tracer gun fire — aimed at them.

“If it starts somewhere and follows you, you know they’re after you,” Schaefer said of the tracers.

Schaefer made 10 to 12 passes below the clouds in two hours.

“Every time we make a pass, they get a little bit smarter on us and it gets a little more dangerous,” he said.

The Iraqis saved their most lethal weapon for last.

“The last pass we made, they launched a big surface-to-air missile at us,” Schaefer said. “Operating as low as we were, it’s very dangerous.”

The missile was aimed at Schaefer’s plane. He saw it launch off the ground, kicking up a big cloud of dust and sand.

“You see it with a huge flame behind it, maneuvering towards you,” he said.

In a last-ditch maneuver of his own, Schaefer jettisoned his external gas tanks to avoid the missile and shot it down.

In all, 10 bombs were dropped — seven by Schaefer, three by his wingman in the other F-15E — and 10 tanks were destroyed.

“With laser-guided bombs, we rarely miss,” Schaefer said.

Schaefer stayed until he was out of bombs. His final glimpse of the battlefield was of a small victory: burning tanks and Iraqi equipment operators running away.

“When we left, there was nothing credible of that Iraqi tank equipment,” he said.

In his award citation, Schaefer is credited with preventing a major tank battle despite “significant risk to his own life,” and aiding the “historical progress of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force towards Baghdad.”

Schaefer could have opted to pull out from the fight much earlier, declaring weather conditions too risky for the mission.

“We could have left,” he said. But there was only one decision to be made that day, he said.

“I don’t think I have a choice when there are guys screaming for help on the radio,” he said. “You stay.”