Staff Sgt. David Fitzpatrick salutes Col. Michael Bartley after receiving a Bronze Star on Monday during a ceremony at Nellis Air Force Base. Photo by Gary Thompson.

Staff Sgt. David Fitzpatrick's family didn't think he was cut out to be an explosive ordnance disposal expert, let alone take on one of the most dangerous tasks in wartime service only to become one of the heroes of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

As it turned out, disarming bombs that could kill soldiers, Marines, airmen, sailors and innocent Iraqi people is what he excelled in along with six others from his Nellis Air Force Base unit who were awarded Bronze Star medals Monday for meritorious service in Iraq last year.

"Of course my family wasn't too happy with the choice because they thought I was a klutz. I couldn't walk and chew bubble gum at the same time. How am I supposed to go and do this?" the 28-year-old airman said, reflecting on the day in 1996 when he sat in the recruiter's office and accepted the challenge of safely disposing of explosives.

Little did he know at the time, when he lived in Oak Park, Ill., that his job would be one of high demand in the global war on terrorism.

While serving as a team leader at Balad Air Base from January to June last year, he rendered 22 live homemade bombs safe, destroyed a dozen weapons caches and supported the Army's 3rd and 29th infantries in a wide swath of northern Iraq.

Once, he responded to investigate a blast following a Hellfire missile attack on three insurgents who had put a bomb, known as an improvised explosive device, along a main supply route.

"The insurgents were wounded, and the Army's quick reaction force had struck another IED on the way to the incident, leaving a chaotic and possibly deadly scene," Lt. Col. Patrick Fogarty said, describing what Fitzpatrick encountered.

"Sgt. Fitzpatrick quickly responded, and with the medivac helicopter only two minutes out, he immediately manually cleared a landing zone of secondary explosive devices. His selfless actions allowed the helicopter to land and transport the wounded, and reopened the convoy route within 35 minutes," Fogarty said at the awards ceremony Monday at Nellis Air Force Base.

Backed by a giant U.S. flag, Fitzpatrick stood on a stage before his wife, Staff Sgt. Heather Fitzpatrick, and fellow airmen and their families while 99th Air Base Wing commander Col. Michael Bartley clipped a Bronze Star ribbon and medal on his jacket, like he had first on Capt. Brian Castner and Tech. Sgt. Michael Bibb and later Staff Sgt. Robert Krumlinde.

Heather Fitzpatrick, who just returned from Iraq working as a weapons systems video technician, said she has gotten used to the dangers of her husband's job.

"I knew what he did before I married him and I would never ask him to stop because I know how much he loves his job," she said. "I know he'll always try to be as safe as possible. It's just something I accept. He could get hit by a car and it wouldn't make any difference but I know he always does everything as safe as he can."

David Fitzpatrick said a variety of methods are used to disarm bombs and explosives, including robotic equipment and retrieving them while wearing special bomb-protective suits. Much of what he does is classified, he said.

The focus of his work is often leftover artillery rounds, homemade explosives and commercial explosives that are smuggled into Iraq from other countries. Bomb demolition experts have to be flexible, he said, because the enemy's tactics and procedures change often.

Three other Bronze Star recipients were not present for the ceremony. Master Sgt. William Kudzia had transferred to another base. Tech. Sgt. James Ruth was back in Iraq and Staff Sgt. John Blas was in Qatar.

But eight others were also presented with Army Commendation medals for their support of soldiers on the ground in making things safer in Iraq by disposing of explosives and responding to blasts and bomb threats.

The group of airman stationed in Baghdad -- Anthony Homerlein, David Kuric, John Wawrzynski and Scott White -- played key roles in the hunt for two kidnapped soldiers in June, "ultimately disarming several booby traps directly targeting responders attempting to recover and repatriate the remains" of the soldiers.

The others who received Army Commendation medals for actions out of Balad were Staff Sgts. Ian Garcia and Wesley Kory and senior airmen Ryan Wiley and Joshua Wilson.

During Castner's stint as a commander in Kirkuk, he led 29 airmen through 880 combat missions in support of the 1st Brigade Combat Team and the Army's famed 101st Airborne Division. In all, they probed 198 post-blast craters, investigated 45 vehicle-borne IED attacks and destroyed more than 40,000 pieces of ordnance, accounting for one-fourth of all explosive ordnance disposal missions in northern Iraq.

Castner said the Bronze Star medal "is something that I'm proud of for my family, but I really did nothing different than any of the other guys there."

"The most important thing was coming home safe and succeeding in the mission," he said. "All the other medals afterwards are just icing on the cake."