David Sterling

David Sterling (born 1946) is a retired United States Army colonel who was the first US military liaison officer in Talas during Operation Starlight in 1992.^[1]

A Russian-speaking foreign area officer, Sterling arrived with the first US Marines airlifted into the airfield west of Talas on June 6, 1992, during the final weeks of the siege of the city. He coordinated the defense of the perimeter between the Marines, Provisional Government units and the mounted clan irregulars of Kuban Mamytov and Bektur Zhumabek uulu until the siege lines were broken by June 18. Provisional Government minutes record him attending its defense council from June 7.^[1][2] He then headed the US military liaison office in Talas until 1994 and worked on the first plans to expand Talas Air Base into a permanent installation. He retired from the Army in 1998.^[2]

References

1. ^ State Archives of Irad (Talas), Fond 108: Minutes of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Irad (1992).
2. ^ State Archives of Irad (Talas), Fond 131: Military Records of the First Iradi Civil War (1992).