When you see the medal it's an inch and a half in diameter attached to a red, white and blue ribbon that measures one and three-eighths inch in length.  It's a small award – barely measuring three inches.

      It's the Bronze Star, which is awarded to military personnel who distinguish themselves by heroic or meritorious achievement while engaged in action against an enemy of the United States.

      In appearance, the medal seems almost insignificant when compared to the actions for which it is awarded.  The citation, an abbreviated version of why the award was given, reads in part: “ while exposed to extreme danger from hostile bombing and mortar attacks...his actions, while under enemy fire, brought an end to the threat…Master Sgt. Joseph C. Kunkle's convoy was attacked…he left his vehicle to make sure his Airmen were safe, and then began searching the area for secondary terrorist devices...Master Sgt. Kunkle provided cover for Army Soldiers as they pursued terrorists through streets and alleys.”

      Master Sgt. Kunkle served as the NCOIC of Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD), 447th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron, 332 Air Expeditionary Wing at Baghdad International Airport, Iraq, from July 20 to Nov. 15, 2003.  He became the first member of the 177th Fighter Wing to receive a Bronze Star while serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

      It all began at 8 a.m. on Sept. 12, 2003.  EOD received a call from the Army requesting an EOD team for a convoy that had just been attacked at a marketplace six miles away.  EOD teams are comprised of two members who are sent out in response to such calls.  Kunkle and Staff Sgt. Justin Krowicki were assigned to respond to this particular call.

      When Kunkle and Krowicki arrived, they discovered that an improvised explosive device (IED) had been detonated and multiple, rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) had been fired at the convoy.   An RPG had destroyed an armored HUMVEE, which was carrying munitions, some of which also had detonated spreading unexploded ordnance around the area.  "When we arrived it was chaos," began Sgt. Kunkle.

      "Civilians and military personnel were everywhere.  Krowicki and I first eliminated hazards from the unexploded ordnance and searched for other IEDs."

      Two hours later, they were sent to a water treatment facility that had been under mortar fire the night before. "Two mortar shells didn't detonate and were stuck in the roof," stated Kunkle.    "Using remote techniques, we were able to remove the mortar shells and render the fuses safe without causing any additional damage to the critical infrastructure."

      There was no let-up. At quarter of two in the afternoon, Sgt.'s Kunkle and Krowicki received a report of multiple IEDs on a major convoy route 15 miles away.  "The area was one of the worst locations in Baghdad," observed Kunkle.

      "As we drove our armored HUMVEE through an apartment complex, people began throwing rocks at us from the ground and from rooftops."

The rocks soon were replaced by automatic gunfire from the apartments.  When the airmen arrived at the scene, they saw two large, burlap, feedbags and a metal can along the side of the road.

      The bags each contained about 75 pounds of explosives while the can contained 25 pounds of explosives attached with a wire to a remote-control device.  "While Staff Sgt. Krowicki guarded our backs, my Army security team and I traced the wire to a tunnel - no one was inside."

      "I returned to the metal container and rendered it safe.  I then found a buried wire running from the can to the two burlap bags."  The bombs, which were designed to detonate at the same time, were capable of taking out an entire convoy as it drove by.

      The first feedbag was rendered safe.  Repeating the same procedure on the second roadside bomb would not be as easy.  "As I was returning to the second bag, we came under increased gunfire from the front and rear.  Bullets were flying past us and hitting right at our feet. We took cover in a ditch.  When we tried to climb up the sides to return fire, we came under additional gunfire.  We were caught in a crossfire.  The Army called for help and in fairly short order Army tanks, assisted by coalition soldiers, responded; providing use with cover while we completed our ‘render-safe' procedures."

      It was now 4 o'clock pm and their day was just halfway over.  Still on the road, the two EOD personnel received a call from an Army patrol about two "rocks" with wires located in the median of another convoy route approximately three miles away.  They again responded and found that the two "rocks” were actually large pieces of concrete curb with wires protruding from them.  "Sgt. Krowicki broke off a piece of the "curb" in his hand; it was Plaster of Paris," noted Kunkle.

      The explosives had been covered in plaster and then rolled in dirt and small rocks to make it look like a piece of curbing.  Staff Sgt. Krowicki immediately rendered both bombs safe and the team began looking forward to returning to base.  In fact, they weren't even close to getting back to their base at Baghdad International Airport.

      At 8:30 p.m., they received another call.  Two IEDs had been located at a marketplace.   When they arrived, they were met with automatic gunfire.  Between attacks, they talked to military and Iraqi police to find out where the roadside bombs were.  They were in the wrong location; the devices were a block away.  When they arrived on-site, they found wires in the dirt next to the curb. Kunkle followed the wires and found a mortar shell buried just beneath the surface of the road.  He pushed away the dirt, and found a remote-control device attached to the mortar shell, which he rendered safe.  He then followed another wire and found more buried explosives.

      "There was something about the way the explosives were sitting, so I dug a little with my hand and found another mortar shell buried underneath it. I was about to safe the device when we started taking gunfire from across the street. I decided to blow up the device.   When our Army security team went after the terrorist, I placed a charge and ran for cover."

It was now midnight Baghdad time: As they returned to base, an IED detonated as they crossed an intersection.  "We were traveling fairly fast, so the bomb missed us," noted Sgt. Kunkle.  "We felt the blast overpressure, but nobody was injured."

      Sixteen hours later, the day was over.  Master Sgt. Kunkle and Staff Sgt. Krowicki had rendered safe seven IEDs designed to take out U.S. convoys and personnel.

      "Even though this is a snapshot of just one day, this is what happens every day," observed Kunkle.  "What was unique about this particular day was the fact that we rendered seven IEDs safe.  Usually our team would render safe three or four IED's daily."