The hope that the missing SEAL Aviation Boatswain’s Mate (Handling) 1st Class Neil Roberts, was held prisoner in an al-Qaida bunker drove the six men to go up the mountain and take on several al-Qaida positions.

As the team assaulted a machine-gun nest, Chapman was struck again and again by enemy rounds.

He died there, as did Roberts, in what later was called the Battle of Roberts Ridge.

Chapman’s dedication to his job and fellow servicemen will be remembered Jan. 10 at Pope Air Force Base, N.C., as the special-operations and Air Force communities honor Chapman with the Air Force Cross.

Chapman, a married father of two daughters, served with Pope’s 24th Special Tactics Squadron, part of the Air Force Special Operations Command.

Chapman was part of a joint special-operations team that was to fly in March 4 for a reconnaissance assignment atop the mountain Takhur Ghar.

As the Army MH-47E Chinook designated Razor 3 neared its landing zone at night, it came under fire from machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades.

In the confusion of a darkened aircraft rocked by enemy fire and barely able to stay aloft, Roberts fell out of the aircraft.

As their flight controls seized up, the Army pilots couldn’t turn back for Roberts. The aircrew managed to keep control of the stricken helicopter and land about 4½ miles away from the attack.

Once on the ground, Roberts went to work, helping guide in another Chinook, Razor 4, to recover the SEAL team and Army crew.

Safely back at a forward operating base, Chapman agreed to return with the SEALs to Takhur Ghar and find Roberts.

Razor 4 flew the rescuers back to the mountain and landed the team near where Roberts was thought to be.

Again, enemy fire targeted a Chinook, but Razor 4 delivered Chapman and the SEALs.

In mountain terrain of hip-deep snow and barren rocks, the team quickly became engaged in a firefight while searching for Roberts.

Chapman moved to take out an enemy machine-gun emplacement and was struck down, but not before his own bullets found their marks.

Eventually, the SEALs found safety farther down the mountain slope.

Chapman was the fifth airman to be honored with the service’s second most prestigious medal since the end of the Vietnam War.

Among those expected to attend the ceremony are Secretary of the Air Force Jim Roche, Chief of Staff Gen. John Jumper, leaders from the U.S. and Air Force Special Operations commands and Chapman’s brothers in arms from his 17 years of service.

Chief Master Sgt. Robert Martens Jr., now AFSOC’s command chief, served with Chapman in the 320th Special Tactics Squadron at Kadena Air Base, Japan, in the mid-1990s.

“He was the ‘go-to guy’ on his team,” Martens said.

In addition to mastering the air-controller and physical skills of his job, Chapman loved gadgets, Martens said. If the squadron needed a tool that didn’t exist, Chapman improvised.

Martens remembered best Chapman’s awareness of details and planning. “His focus and attention — they could benefit airmen in any AFSC the Air Force owns,” he said.

It was Chapman’s operational savvy, Martens said, that prompted him to recommend that Chapman take an assignment at Pope’s 24th STS so that he could work closely with the Army’s special-operations units at nearby Fort Bragg, N.C.

In a Dec. 16 interview with Air Force Times, Roche said he would reserve his thoughts about Chapman for the Jan. 10 presentation.

Roche praised the combat controllers and their performance during Operation Enduring Freedom.

“It is a level of heroism that is just spectacular. And they truly make role models for lots of us,” Roche said.

The respect for the controllers extends throughout the service. “When I ask pilots do they mind working for sergeants in doing close-air support, not a one ever said anything other than, ‘No, sir. They’re great,’ ” Roche said.

Chapman was one of seven U.S. servicemen to die March 4 on the mountain. Among the seven was Senior Airman Jason D. Cunningham, 26, a pararescueman with the 347th Rescue Wing at Moody Air Force, Fla.

Cunningham’s family was presented his Air Force Cross on Sept. 13.