FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas -- General Edward A. Rice Jr., commander, Air Education and Training Command, presented the Purple Heart and Air Force Combat Action Medals April 6 to an Airman for wounds received in combat action against a hostile enemy force in Afghanistan.

Senior Airman Erik J. Schadler, an explosive ordnance disposal specialist assigned to the 21st Civil Engineering Squadron at Peterson AFB, Colo., received the awards during a ceremony at Brooke Army Medical Center in what General Rice described as a "brief but important ceremony."

Airman Schadler was wounded in action while taking part in Operation Enduring Freedom March 21 in Afghanistan. General Rice noted to the family and friends on hand that Airman Schadler was an electrician before joining the Air Force, but traded that in to serve his country in explosive ordnance disposal, a career requiring both skill and courage.

Schadler, from Las Cruces, N.M., said his mother had asked him a while back to try to get home from Afghanistan early, but not in this manner.