For Sergeant Chapman and his joint special operations teammates, the mission on the night of March 3 was to establish a reconnaissance position on Takur Ghar and report al Qaeda movement in the Sahi-Kowt area. The mountain of Takur Ghar was an ideal spot for such an observation post, with excellent visibility to key locations. In conjunction with Operation Anaconda in March 2002, small reconnaissance teams were tasked to establish observation posts in strategic locations in Afghanistan, and when able, direct U.S. “They were his life and he was proud of them…to the Air Force he was a great hero…what I saw was a great father.” Michael West, who served with Sergeant Chapman through Combat Control School, a three-year tour in Okinawa, Japan, and at Pope Air Force Base. “He would come home from a long trip and immediately have on his father hat – feeding, bathing, reading and getting his girls ready for bed,” said Chief Master Sgt. They had two daughters, who were the center of Sergeant Chapman’s world even when he was away from home – which was common in the combat control career field. “During one of his first days at Combat Control School, I noticed a slight smirk on his face like was too simple for him…and it was,” said Childress.įollowing Combat Control School, Sergeant Chapman served with the 1721st Combat Control Squadron at Pope Air Force Base, North Carolina, where he met his wife, Valerie, in 1992. Combat Control School is one of the most difficult points of a combat controller’s training program, from completing arduous tasks without sleeping for days, to running miles with weighted rucksacks and a gas mask. “One remembers two types of students – the sharp ones and the really dull ones – and Chapman was in the sharp category,” said Ron Childress, a former Combat Control School instructor. Only about one in ten Airmen who start the program graduate.įrom months of rigorous physical fitness training to multiple joint schools – including military SCUBA, Army static-line and freefall, air traffic control, and combat control schools – Sergeant Chapman is remembered as someone who could do anything put in front of him. Also an avid muscle-car enthusiast, he rebuilt and maintained an old Pontiac GTO.Ĭombat control would prove to be another instance of “making it look easy.”Ĭombat control training is more than two years long and amongst the most rigorous in the U.S. Dating back to his high school days, he made the varsity soccer squad as a freshman. In 1989, he cross-trained to become an Air Force combat controller.Īccording to friends and family, Sergeant Chapman had a tendency to make the difficult look effortless, and consistently sought new challenges. 27, 1985, as an information systems operator, but felt called to be part of Air Force special operations. Sergeant Chapman enlisted in the Air Force on Sept.