Scott Fales

Scott Fales was the lead pararescueman on Blackhawk “Super Six-Eight” during the 1993 Mogadishu battle. Born in Hagerstown, Maryland, Fales enlisted in March 1977 and served three years as a Security Policeman. He would become a Pararescueman in October 1980 and spend the next decade assigned at Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona, and Kirtland AFB, New Mexico. In 1982, he received the Jolly Green Association “Rescue of the Year Award” for the rescue of eight victims of an aircraft crash high in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. While stationed at Keflavik Naval Air Station in Iceland, he led over 40 rescue missions in the Icelandic mountains, glaciers and the frigid North Atlantic, saving 56 lives and earned the 1986 Jolly Green Association “Mission of the Year.” In December 1989, Fales was part of the first assault wave in Operation JUST CAUSE, where he made a night combat parachute jump to seize Torios-Tacuman International Airport in Panama in the successful effort to depose Dictator Manuel Noriega. In April 1990, he was selected to lead an operational Special Tactics team with the 24th Special Tactics Squadron. He fought in Operation DESERT STORM where he conducted classified recovery missions in western Iraq. In August 1993, Fales was assigned to Task Force Ranger in Mogadishu, Somalia. On the fateful day of 3 October, he led the search and rescue of “Super Six-One,” a Black Hawk helicopter shot down by a rocket propelled grenade. Sustaining a gunshot wound during the fast-rope insertion from “Super Six-Eight” and continuing to fight, Fales would earn the Silver Star for his actions and the Purple Heart for his wounds. Retiring as a Master Sergeant from the active duty Air Force in April 1997, Fales joined the Joint Service Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape Agency as a personnel recovery operations officer. In April 2006, Fales returned to Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) at Fort Bragg, N.C., serving as the JPRA Command Representative to JSOC, providing personnel recovery, expertise and assistance to the commander. Today, Fales is the Director of Combat Development and Tactics for the 724th Special Tactics Group. Fales’ more than 30 years in Special Operations, significant contributions on the battlefield and his dogged commitment to American CSAR training is why he was selected as the 2012 Bull Simons Award recipient, U.S. Special Operations Command’s highest honor.