On August 16, 2017, in Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan, Daniel Keller, a staff sergeant at the time, was serving as a Joint Terminal Attack Controller with a combined joint special operations assault force during a clearance operation against approximately 350 ISIS fighters.

After fifteen hours of intense combat, a house-borne IED detonated, killing four coalition personnel and wounding thirty-one. Less than ten feet from the blast, Sgt Keller was thrown to the ground and suffered a traumatic brain injury.

He got back up.

While returning fire with his M4, he simultaneously directed precision air-to-ground strikes, repelling an enemy assault less than 150 meters away. Under constant fire, he helped move thirteen critically wounded teammates to a landing zone.

When medevac helicopters struggled to identify the LZ, Keller sprinted into the open under enemy fire to guide them in and assist with loading casualties.

Despite his injuries, he later escorted wounded teammates on foot for over two kilometers, repelling a three-sided enemy attack along the way.

His actions directly contributed to the survival of 130 members of the assault force and an estimated fifty enemy fighters killed.

For extraordinary heroism under fire, Staff Sergeant Daniel Keller was awarded the Air Force Cross.

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