I am Technical Sergeant Christopher Frost, I go by “Frosty”, and I grew up in Northern California and attended college at Chico State University before enlisting in the United States Air Force in 1996. I trained as an Explosive Ordnance Disposal EOD technician and was responsible for locating, identifying, rendering-safe, and disarming US and foreign munitions from hand grenades to nuclear weapons. I also performed searches in advance of visits by the President, Vice President, Secretary of State, and other world leaders including two tours of duty at the White House, a stint at the Bush ranch near Waco, Clinton’s trip to China, and Bush’s trip to India. On 9/11 I was a trained EOD team leader attending an expeditionary EOD course at Fort Dix, New Jersey when the planes were crashed into the Pentagon and the World Trade Center. I was immediately tasked to travel to the Port Mortuary Facility at Dover AFB, Delaware, where performed the initial forensic identification of the remains from the Pentagon. I had several deployments and overseas assignments including Vietnam where I , successfully, searched for the remains of missing personnel, Iceland, Korea twice, California, Utah, Qatar, Kuwait, and finally Iraq where I was the team leader for Weapons Intelligence Team One. There I was in charge of a multi-service, interdisciplinary team responsible for collecting forensic evidence, performing post-blast investigations, and identifying the bomb makers who were using improvised explosive devices, commonly known as IEDs. In less than six months I was involved in over 400 incidents, ultimately leading to the capture of at least 7 priority enemy targets that we were able to identify through fingerprints and DNA discovered at the sites of bombings. I was riding in an MRAP, mine resistant armor protected vehicle, on May 8, 2008 on my way to conduct a post blast investigation when the truck I was in was struck by a large IED that had been buried in the road. I was seriously injured, eventually resulting in the loss of both legs below the knee. I endured over 40 surgeries and two and a half years of physical therapy. I re-enlisted in the Air Force in March of 2009, and eventually retired in 2012.
While at the hospital, I met my wife, Catherine, a soldier who was recovering from pancreatic cancer. We married in August of 2010.
Since my retirement from the Air Force, I have been a civilian employee of the Department of Defense, with 5.5 years at the Defense Intelligence Agency where I did a few different jobs, and currently at the Pentagon Force Protection Agency where I am a GS-13 technical investigator.
We have a daughter, Chloe, born March 2014, a dog, a cat, and a fish.
Part of my story was featured in the book, All the Ways We Kill and Die, by Brian Castner.
Awards/Decorations I have received include:
Bronze Star Medal
Meritorious Service Medal
Purple Heart
Air Force Commendation Medal
Joint Service Achievement Medal
Air Force Achievement Medal
Air Force Combat Action Medal
