A Combat Controller with the 21st Special Tactics Squadron, SrA Rhyner became the first living CCT to receive the Air Force Cross. During the Battle of Shok Valley (2008), he controlled 8 fighters and 4 helicopters while wounded on a cliffside to save his team. Attached to a Special Forces Operational Detachment Alpha (ODA), SrA Rhyner and his team were ambushed by an overwhelming force of insurgents occupying fortified positions. Within the first few minutes, he sustained a gunshot wound to the leg and was trapped on a near-vertical cliff. Despite his severe injuries and relentless enemy fire impacting feet away, SrA Rhyner remained calm, seamlessly directing close air support. Over the course of the six-and-a-half-hour battle, he orchestrated a barrage of danger-close airstrikes, utilizing F-15s, A-10s, and AH-64 Apaches. His actions single-handedly repelled the enemy assault, allowing his team to extract their casualties and survive.