1) Honoring United States Air Force Colonel Kim "KC" (Killer Chick) Campbell. Then, Captain KC, was flying a combat mission in support of American ground forces over Baghdad on April 7, 2003.

2) "We were originally supposed to target some Iraqi tanks when we got a call over the radio that the Army and Marines on the ground needed our immediate help.

3) We descended down through the clouds to positively identify the friendly troops as well as the enemy's location and instantly saw the Iraqi troops firing rocket-propelled-grenades into our guys.

4) My wingman and i began making several passes, employing our 30mm Gatling gun and high-explosive rockets. While there was definitely high-risk involved flying that low over Baghdad, we did what any A-10 attack pilot would do in response to a "troops in contact" situation.

5) That's our job, to bring fire down on the enemy when our Army and Marine brothers and sisters need our help. It was when we were on our way out that i felt the jet get hit hard. It was pretty obvious - it was loud....I lost all hydraulics instantaneously.

6) The jet rolled left and pointed toward the ground, which was an uncomfortable feeling over Baghdad. It didn't respond to any of my control inputs". She tried several procedures to get the aircraft under control, none of which worked.

7) Last, she attempted to put the plane into manual reversion, meaning she was flying the aircraft without any hydraulics. "It was my last chance to recover the aircraft or i would be riding a parachute into downtown Baghdad," she said.

8) Luckily, the aircraft somehow responded. "The jet started climbing away from the ground, which was a good feeling because there was no way i wanted to eject over Baghdad."

9) With anti-aircraft artillery firing at them from every direction, KC attempted to fly the injured plane back in the direction of her airbase. "I couldn't do much but keep the jet moving so i was hoping that the theory of "big sky, little bullet" would work in my favor.

10) Amazingly, we somehow made it out of Baghdad and were able to ascend above the clouds". Due to the design of the A-10, KC couldn't see the damage to her jet, even using the cockpit mirrors.

11) Her flight lead flew in close beside her performing an initial battle damage check. He told her that she had hundreds of small holes in the fuselage and tail section as well as a football-sized hole on the right horizontal stabilizer.

12) KC had a decision to make. "I could try to get to friendly territory and eject, or stay with the jet and hope to make it all the way back to base and attempt to land it.

13) "She chose to remain calm and head for base, pursuing a landing that had never been done before, except in controlled tests. The landing was tricky. "When you lose all the hydraulics , you don't have speed brakes, you don't have wheel brakes, and you don't have steering."

14) On the ground it was discovered that her A-10 had sustained damage to the redundant hydraulic systems, disabling the flight controls, landing gear and brakes, and horizontal stabilizer.

15) A detailed inspection revealed hundreds of holes in the airframe and that large sections of the stabilizer and hydraulic controls were missing.

16) Captain Campbell was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and a year and a half later, she deployed again to Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, amassing over 375 total combat hours in her career.