Altus Airman saves lives during convoy attack Published Nov. 6, 2006 By Col. Keith Moncrief 97th Mission Support Group ALTUS AFB, Okla. -- "I just did what I had to do...," is how 22-year old Airman 1st Class Casey Holihan, desk sergeant at the Altus Air Force Base Security Forces Squadron, describes actions he took while on nighttime combat patrol in Tikrit, Iraq during the Spring of 2005. "I had never been shot at before, and green firefly-like tracer rounds were flying by my face," he said. Casey fell back on his training, saving the lives of the 42-person Army and Air Force convoy he was ordered to protect. Airman Holihan, affectionately known across the 97th Mission Support Group as "the poster boy" because his image adorned pre-March 2006 Headquarters Air Education and Training Command posters across the base, is in real life a very humble fellow. Hailing from Seattle, then 19-year-old Casey joined the Air Force Dec. 2, 2003. "It was either join the Air Force, the Marines or go into the roofing business," said Airman Holihan. "In high school I got good grades, wrote and played soccer," he said. Having earned a black belt in Tae Kwan Do, Airman Holihan fell hard for the Air Force's camaraderie and an opportunity to see the world. That opportunity came when Airman Holihan was deployed to Iraq in March 2005. On May 9, 2005, a few weeks into his tour of duty, Airman Holihan was part of a security detail, covering a routine convoy movement. Manning one of four gun trucks, Airman Holihan scanned the dusk sky for any signs of enemy insurgent activity. Other than some random, uncoordinated shots at the convoy, Holihan saw nothing out of the ordinary. A civilian vehicle at the rear of the convoy was suddenly rocked by an exploding Improvised Explosive Device. Then an intense firefight ensued, apparently originating from the same area as the earlier IED explosion. "It was two shooters against one...me," recalled Airman Holihan. "They fired AK-47s at me from the rear of the formation. There was not room enough for me to swing the big 50 caliber gun that was mounted on the gun truck around, and so I had to use my personal weapon, an M4." The M4 is an semi-automatic weapon which Airman Holihan had "fired too many times to count." As the sound of shots first erupted, the Airman began to see everything in slow motion. "Lime-green fire-fly like bees" streamed towards him, it seemed, arching eerily close to his firing position. Airman Holihan then realized that the fire-flies were actually green tracer rounds that narrowly flew past his head. The Airman calmly focused, placing the M4's red dot target designator on suspected enemy position and pulling the M4's trigger with an even two-pound squeeze. "Bam!" The shooting stopped. A quiet Iraqi night once again descended upon Holihan and his three-person party. All he could hear was his own heavy breathing and feel his heart pounding the walls of his chest. He was uninjured. A subsequent daylight investigation of the area revealed that there had been two snipers shooting from the insurgent firing position. One had fled on foot. A confirmed kill was attributed to Airman Holihan. Instead of celebrating, he keenly felt remorse and sadness at the needles loss of a human life--the life of an unknown assailant bent on perpetrating violence on him and his convoy the night prior. About a year has passed since the incident. Only recently has Airman Holihan been able to talk publicly about it, starring in a "12 o'clock High" lunchtime speaking event at Club Altus in June. The speech was well received. "It was the first time anyone got a standing ovation," said one teary-eyed club patron who was in attendance. "He had a wonderful story." Airman Holihan's immediate plans are to "go as far as I can" in the Air Force. "Hopefully I'll make Chief one day," said Airman Holihan. As he reconstitutes and readies himself for yet another deployment to the Central Command Area of Responsibility, Airman Holihan is mostly about family, spending quality time with his wife, a personnelist with the 58th Airlift Squadron at Altus, and their terrier mix canine. Airman Holihan also loves being a Defender, the Air Force-renowned nickname for Security Forces personnel. "I need action in my job," said Airman Holihan. Finally, Airman Holihan wants everyone to know that he loves Altus. Though he initially came kicking and screaming to Oklahoma, he views Altus and the community as home. Airman Holihan safely returned to Altus because, in his words, "I used my training." His story is a testament to the patriotism, tremendous dedication, and goodness of Airmen at Altus, establishing a standard for excellence that is the envy of Air Education and Training Command--at least.