9th District Cmdr. Steve NaSalle is an airman who served in Grenada, Panama and Persian Gulf
Death from above
FERGUS FALLS — Veterans of the Army, Navy, Marines and Coast Guard often kid Air Force veterans for that branch’s reputation of comfortable living conditions and less physically demanding roles.
Fergus Falls American Legion Post 30 member and 9th District Commander Steve NaSalle’s military service defies the stereotype.
“The Air Force isn’t all Chair Force like a lot of people think. I didn’t play golf.”
NaSalle, 62, graduated from Rosemount High School in 1980. He was living on his own in 1981 and jobs were scarce. He joined the Air Force for a career.
“I came from a family of veterans,” he said.
NaSalle was in the third phase of air traffic control school when the Air Force showed him some other training options. He was impressed with TACP — Tactical Air Control Party.
The job calls for supporting Army S-3 (operations and training) officers in ground or airborne units with airstrikes where needed for the advancement of infantry.
He ended up in the 21st Tactical Air Support Squadron at Shaw AFB in South Carolina. In January 1982, he graduated from the Army Airborne School at Fort Benning, Ga. Stationed at Shaw, the 21st TASS would support many Army units: 82nd Airborne Division, 101st Airborne Division, 1st & 2nd Ranger Battalions, 1st Armored Division, among others.
While supporting, tactical air controllers would train with the Army soldiers on field exercises. If the soldiers jumped out of airplanes, so did NaSalle. If they rucked 12 miles, so did NaSalle. If they slept on the ground in January and ate MREs, so did NaSalle.
NaSalle was attached to the 82nd Airborne’s HQ when the division deployed to Grenada as part of Operation Urgent Fury, a mission to quell political violence, remove Cuban influence, protect the lives of U.S. students and restore democratic government.
While elements of the 82nd did parachute onto Grenada’s new airport, NaSalle was with the part that landed.
American forces took the island in 72 hours. NaSalle controlled two airstrikes during the 12 days he was there. Both were on Grenadian military convoys with Cubans among them. An A-10 Warthog would strafe the target with its 30 mm Gatling gun, then return to drop cluster bombs. After the air attack, Army artillery shells would land. The infantry soldiers would do the rest.
Urgent Fury exposed differences in Air Force and Navy close air support (CAS) language. Ninety percent of the Purple Hearts awarded were because of friendly fire. After that, the Joint Chiefs of Staff put all military branches on the same page.
In 1984, he achieved the status of airborne jumpmaster at the age of 22, a pretty rare feat for that age.
That same year, the Air Force asked NaSalle to activate with the 3rd Ranger Battalion at Fort Benning.
“Working with a Special Operations unit was awesome,” he said.
It goes without saying that training with Rangers was hard. The colonel, NaSalle said, was nice. He treated anyone attached to his unit the same as the Rangers themselves.
“We had to keep up with their guys just like they did,” he said. “Training was constant and put a strain on family life.”
The pressure for an airmen to keep up on runs and marches was strong, NaSalle said, because, if he fell out, it represented his entire branch of service. He was an E-5 staff sergeant at the time.
Training wasn’t just at Benning, either. They travelled around the Western Hemisphere. With the Rangers, he went to Panama, Nicaragua, Chile, Belize, Mexico and a few undisclosed locations.
After, the Air Force sent NaSalle to Korea. He was with a joint-branch unit at Uijeongbu listening to radios and watching video feeds at a base inside a hill, logging what he observed. Now and then, he went a camp near the DMZ for scenario briefings.
Six months later, he went back to the States for a family emergency. The Air Force sent him back to Benning, and he was reassigned to Detachment 4. He was NCOIC for a team attached to the 10th Mountain Division before it moved to Fort Drum, N.Y., in 1985. He didn’t go with them to Drum.
While supporting the 10th Mountain, they went to a battle exercise at Fort Irwin, Calif. When it was over, an Army colonel stepped into the tactical operations center and asked: “Who controlled the airstrike that killed all the bad guys?”
Someone pointed out that it was Sgt. NaSalle.
“Oh crap. I thought I did something wrong. I shouldn’t have been controlling that airstrike. I just knew the terrain.”
The colonel congratulated him. “You did a fantastic job of clearing the way so my guys could pass their test.”
There were no drones with cameras back then, so tactical air controllers sought “eyes.” They had maps, compasses and coordinates, but if they could see what terrain looked like — either for themselves or with pictures — it helped.
NaSalle knew the terrain because of prior certification training there. The colonel awarded him with an Army Commendation Medal.
Other Benning units he supported while with Detachment 4 were 197th Infantry Brigade and 75th Ranger Regiment. He participated in one of the Reforger exercises in Europe. In addition to West Germany, he visited Holland, Belgium and France.
NaSalle was attached to the 82nd Airborne (and still with Det. 4) in December 1989 when the 82nd jumped into Panama for Operation Just Cause. NaSalle jumped, too.
It was a low-altitude drop of 500 feet. Airborne drops are usually 800 feet or 1,250 feet.
This left NaSalle with no time to untwist tangled-up suspension lines. Time spent trying to untwist them left him with no time to lower his equipment. Thud! He burned in. (In paratrooper lingo, “burn in” means hit the ground without a parachute or with an ineffective parachute.)
It was a combat jump — no going to sick call — so he got up and went to the Steiner Aid (drop zone gathering point), then rucked 21 miles while hurt.
“It all went pretty fast. We didn’t engage an enemy because they were already engaged,” he said.
He was involved in getting civilians to safer places before heading to a C-130 and waiting around on the tarmac.
“When we got back, I made sure to take my Army guys to Air Force dining facilities,” NaSalle said.
And the Navy performed surgery on his spine, at Bethesda Naval Hospital. This is why Legionnaires see him with a cane at gatherings. He doesn’t want a wheelchair.
In May 1990, he went to Puerto Rico and participated in Operation Ocean Venture, a military exercise in the Caribbean involving all military branches.
Most veterans know Iraq invaded Kuwait on Aug. 2, 1990, and America began sending troops to Saudi Arabia to protect that country and prepare for the liberation of Kuwait. NaSalle arrived Jan. 29, 1991, during the air war of Operation Desert Storm. He was attached to the 82nd Airborne at first, then to the XVIII Airborne Corps. He had a backup role and never called an airstrike.
He went from Riyadh to the tent city at King Khalid Military City. He flew in a Blackhawk helicopter to 82nd forces in Iraq near Tallil and near As-Salman, then back to KKMC. He was sent back to the United States on the 10th day.
In March 1991, NaSalle had his second spinal surgery. This time, the Air Force gave him a non-combat job: medical administration. It sent him to Maxwell AFB in Alabama. He spent his final year with the 42nd Medical Group before medically retiring.
He has 165 jumps to his name. Most were static from C-130s and C-141s. Some were from choppers. Some were HALO jumps. HALO is “high-altitude, low-opening.”
What happened to NaSalle’s lower back? He had blown out two discs. Now, he has a fused lumbar spine at three levels, plates in the front and back of his cervical spine, pins in his right knee and neuropathy in his legs.
NaSalle stayed in Alabama and went to college at Troy University, getting a bachelor’s degree in resource management in 1996. He joined The American Legion in Montgomery in 1993 but didn’t renew after graduation.
He moved to Indiana in 1998. In 2001, he became a deputy sheriff in the Johnson County Jail. In 2004, he was hired by Butler University as a security guard. In 2004, he graduated from the Indiana Police Academy. Then Johnson County asked him to return and be their training officer and work as a deputy sheriff.
In 2001, he met Pollyanna Rupert. As groomsman and bridesmaid, they walked down the aisle together at his brother’s wedding. In 2005, he considered moving back to Minnesota. His sister-in-law informed him Pollyanna was available, and he called her up during a heavy snowstorm.
She lived in Eden Prairie at the time. His sister lived in Burnsville, and Pollyanna drove through the heavy snow to see him.
“And we’ve been together ever since.”
In January 2006, he moved back to Minnesota and quickly gained work as a veteran service representative for the VA Regional Office at the Whipple Federal Building at Fort Snelling. He handled veteran pensions.
He married his sweetheart on Dec. 27, 2006, and lived in Eden Prairie. The VA rated him 100 percent in 2009, right after another back surgery. In 2015, they moved to Chaska, and in 2016, he rejoined the Legion with Post 57, becoming commander for three years beginning in 2017. In 2020, he switched to Chanhassen Post 580.
In December 2021, he and Pollyanna moved to Fergus Falls for a new start. He qualified for two VA adaptive housing grants, and contractors presently are modifying their home “so I am able to do things as much as possible on my own.”
He originally joined Underwood Post 489 and soon switched to Fergus Falls Post 30. He serves on the Post 30 Honor Guard, though getting around the cemeteries is painful. He became 9th District commander in 2023 and is in his second term. He is running for department vice commander for districts 6 and 9.
NaSalle’s Commander Project is divided into two: Legionville and the Fargo-Moorhead Honor Flight. His project during his first term was the Fergus Falls Veterans Home.
He said he loves the Legion for the veterans.
“Everyone I come into contact with, I love them to death,” he said.
He likes the camaraderie, the rivalries among branches and the shared memories of time in service.