78th SFS Airmen earn Bronze Star medals Published April 16, 2010 By Wayne Crenshaw 78th Air Base Wing Public Affairs ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. -- Two members of the 78th Security Forces Squadron were honored with Bronze Stars last week for their efforts to capture insurgents in Iraq. Master Sgt. Robert Rose and Master Sgt. David Barber earned the medals for work with the 506th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron at Kirkuk between November 2008 to May 2009. Col. Lee-Ann Perkins, commander of the 78th Mission Support Group, officiated at the ceremony April 9. She noted it was the first time she awarded an Airman a Bronze Star in her 23 years in the Air Force. "That just tells you the magnitude of this recognition," Perkins told those in attendance. "This is not run-of-the-mill stuff. This is amazing and impressive." According to his citation, Rose led a counter-threat unit consisting of four tactical security teams and a site exploitation team on 135 outside-the-wire missions. The teams indentified more than 1,600 insurgents, including seven who were labeled "high-value." He also "courageously led his teams through an improvised explosive device attack to apprehend an Al Qaeda cell leader," which neutralized "an improvised explosive device cell responsible for numerous attacks in the area." Barber led teams of Soldiers, Airmen and Iraqi policemen on 131 missions. The teams uncovered five weapons caches containing more than 3,000 pounds of explosives and captured 10 insurgents who had been firing mortars at the base. Overall, Barber is credited with helping end the hostile activity of 90 insurgents.