MacDill Air Force Base -- Col. James Palmisano, commander of the 45th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron, MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, was awarded the Bronze Star during a ceremony held here, 7 Jan., for actions while on deployment to Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan.
While deployed, Palmisano was the commander of the 455th Expeditionary Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron, Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, from May to September 2017. While in command, Palmisano was credited with enabling the successful evacuation of 155 patients and supporting more than 13,000 coalition forces in theater.
As quoted in the decoration citation, on four occasions when medical evacuation could not execute the mission, Colonel Palmisano quickly launched his medical teams on emergency missions that saved lives, including an urgent mission from forward operating base Chapman to evacuate one soldier to Craig Joint Theater to receive emergency surgery.
“Col. Palmisano is one of those rare individuals,” said Col. Caroline Evernham, commander, 927th Operations Group. “He has a great strategic vision, by using his military experience and his civilian experience he is able to bring us amazing ideas on how we can make improvements.”
The Bronze Star is a United States decoration awarded to members of the U.S. Armed Forces for either heroic achievement, heroic service, meritorious achievement or meritorious service in a combat zone.