Col. Thomas K. Smith, Jr., 433rd Airlift Wing commander, coins Thomas Hamill on April 13, 2017 at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland. Hamill was a government-contracted truck driver during the Iraq War in 2004, when his convoy was ambushed and he was taken prisoner. The speech focused on being resilient and never giving up in the face of danger. (U.S. Air Force photo by Benjamin Faske)