Scott D. Sather
Staff Sergeant, United States Air Force
June 21, 1973 – April 8, 2003
Age – 29
Clio, MI
Operation Iraqi Freedom
24th Special Tactics Squadron, Pope Air Force Base, NC
Killed while conducting combat operations in Iraq.
Born on 21 June 1973 in Flint, Michigan, Sergeant Sather entered the Air Force on 13 May 1992 and completed basic training at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas. Immediately after basic training he entered the arduous Combat Control pipeline training course. Following graduation, Sergeant Sather was assigned to the 321st Special Tactics Squadron, United Kingdom. He returned to the United States on an assignment to the 22nd Special Tactics Squadron, McChord Air Force Base, Washington. On 30 April 1999, Sergeant Sather applied for and was accepted for special duty assignment with the 24th Special Tactics Squadron. He was attached to a Joint Task Force at the time of his death.
He was a combat controllers which is an elite group of fighters who lead allied aircraft to enemy targets. There are only about 300 controllers, a group that had not suffered a war casualty until last year. Scott’s a great American,” said Major Robert Armfield. “He was a hard-charging guy. He wanted to be the best at what he did, and that’s why he became an Air Force combat controller.
USAF Staff Sergeant Scott Sather, a combat controller, was the first Airman killed during Operation Iraqi Freedom on April 8, 2003. As part of the US Air Force’s elite 24th Special Tactics Squadron, Sather served with a Joint Special Operations Task Force alongside members of the US Army’s “Delta Force” and 75th Ranger Regiment.
Sather and his team, along with five Army tanks, were tasked with invading Iraq from the west of Baghdad towards Tikrit in March 2003. They planned to make Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein believe the ground attack would come from the west to keep them from escaping south into Syria.
The diversion worked, and during the next thirty days SSgt. Sather led his team to secure the first five landing zones in Iraq and reported enemy troop movement. While assaulting an enemy objective in Northern Iraq, Sather’s vehicle was hit by direct enemy fire and he was killed.
His awards include the Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Air Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Joint Service Achievement Medal, Air Force Achievement Medal (with 3 devices), Combat Readiness Medal, Air Force Good Conduct Medal (with 2 devices), National Defense Service Medal, Humanitarian Service Medal, and the NATO Medal.