3 posts tagged “bronze star for valor”
I posted a few days ago about awards being presented to Sky Soldiers for Valor. I said in that post that many more than the four mentioned had been awarded medals and even more were in the pipeline. Here's one more award being presented to a Great American Soldier. These men are beyond amazing! May Goc keep them all safe until they return to their home bases in Europe later this summer.
From CJTF - 101
Airborne Soldier awarded Bronze Star for Valor
Written by Army PFC Christina Sinders TC East PAO
Monday 28 April, 2008
BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan — A Bronze Star with “V” device for valor was awarded to Army Sgt. Ryan P. Inabnet, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, 1-91 Cavalry Squadron, at Fire Base Naray, Kunar province, April 24.
Brig. Gen. Mark Milley, CJTF-101 deputy commanding general for operations, awarded the medal to Inabnet and presented him with a coin for excellence.
Inabnet was recognized for his actions in combat July 27, 2007, when he saved more than a dozen Soldier’s lives during a combat operation in Kunar province. The Quick Reaction Team he was on was called out to re-enforce International Security Assistance Forces engaged in combat with insurgents.
“We first set out after receiving word that four casualties on the ground were injured and two of them were serious,” said Inabnet, a wheeled vehicle mechanic. “Once we arrived we got the four injured in the vehicles and dropped them off at the medevac site.”
Shortly afterward, Inabnet provided first aid to a wounded Soldier from his QRT.
“Once we had all the equipment and personnel, we started to head back,” said Inabnet. “That’s when we started taking [rocket propelled grenades] and small-arms fire.”
As the group tried to break contact, several Soldiers were wounded and put into Inabnet’s vehicle.
“My main goal was to get these guys back to the helicopter landing zone so they could survive,” said Inabnet. “I ended up staying up for hours until we got all our guys back inside the [forward operating base].”
“That day will be with me for a long time,” he said. “I would like to thank the Lord above and all my brothers who were in that fight with me.”
"Dirkintis was medevaced to Germany where he recovered and, against doctors advice, volunteered to come back to Afghanistan."
As you read the following account of SGT Kyle S Dirkintis's actions during a Fire Fight at the Ranch House keep the quote above in mind. You'll see it at the end of this article. You might also want to feel VERY sorry for the next person(s) I hear talking in less than heroic ways about our military personnel. Men and women like SGT Dirkintis and those with whom they serve are greater humans than any so called "hero" or "role model" as deemed by and within the civilian population of this nation. SGT Dirkintis had every right and opportunity to choose not to return to Afghanistan. But SGT Dirkintis is a man of duty, honor, courage, conviction and committment. THAT, my friends, is a hero and a role model. He doesn't do what he does for money or fame. He does it for every good reason other than that.
HOORAH to SGT Dirkintis. HE IS MY HERO!
From CJTF - 101
Medic recognized for actions during insurgent assault
Written by Army Staff Sgt Brandon Aird 173rd ABCT Public Affairs
Saturday, 12 April, 2008
KUNAR PROVINCE, Afghanistan – Army Sgt. Kyle S. Dirkintis, a medic from Chosen Company, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment (Airborne), also known as “The Rock”, was awarded a Bronze Star for valor, April 1, for his actions at Ranch House Outpost, Kunar province.
Aug. 22, 2007 Dirkintis, a Racine, Wis., native, woke to the sound of gun fire, something he hadn’t heard during the first three months of his deployment at Ranch House, a remote outpost defended by 25 Soldiers.
Minutes after the first shot, roughly 20 insurgents breached the outpost’s perimeter.
“We were pretty surprised,” said Dirkintis. “We didn’t know what was going on. It was the first time we had been in contact out there.”
Dirkintis and the rest of 1st Platoon, Chosen Company, put on their gear while Soldiers manning the perimeter exchanged gun fire with the approaching insurgents.
As Dirkintis headed toward the fight, a volley of rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire hit the aid station and tactical operations center. The insurgents had taken up positions at the Afghan Security Guards’ post.
The fleeing ASG left half the perimeter unguarded, which allowed the insurgents to breach the wire.
ASG are a privately owned Afghan security company.
“Post 4, post 3 and post 2 had all called in and said they had made contact,” said Dirkintis. “At that point in time, we sustained our first casualty in the fight. Our forward observer received some shrapnel to his face.”
Dirkintis treated the Soldier’s shrapnel wounds while insurgent fighter’s approached 40 meters south of his position.
“I exchanged weapons with him (for the Soldier’s M-4) and ran down to the TOC to let the guys know what was going on with the casualty. Rounds were skipping by me. I was seeing rocks explode every where. You could hear RPG after RPG exploding. I kept thinking is this really happening?”
After moving to the TOC to inform 1st Lt. Matthew Ferrara about the injured Soldier the building was hit by a RPG.
“I remember the lights came down from the ceiling and it got really dusty in there,” said Dirkintis “I can’t remember if the radios had gone down or not, but the antennas had gotten blown off the roof and turned into a bunch of twisted metal.”
After the RPG hit the TOC, Army Staff Sgt. Eric Phillips ran inside and informed Ferrara and Dirkintis that post 3 was under heavy attack and a Soldier had been shot at post 2.
“I grabbed my aid bag and went outside with Phillips,” said Dirkintis.
Tactically moving toward post 2, Dirkintis and Phillips took cover behind post 2’s living quarters where they were pinned down for 15 minutes by machine-gun and small-arms fire. Unable to advance, both Soldiers stayed put and returned fire. The fighting between the forces was escalating and Phillips told Dirkintis to get inside the building.
“Rounds started coming through the building so I went back outside and got behind some sandbags,” said Dirkintis.
Once outside, Soldiers manning post 2 yelled down that insurgents were maneuvering around the living quarters. Phillips threw hand grenades around one corner while Dirkintis wheeled around to fire down another corner.
“As soon as I kneeled and looked around the corner I took a shot to the chest,” said Dirkintis. “At first I didn’t know I had been shot. My vision had gotten real blurry. It was difficult to breath. My entire body felt really, really numb.”
The force of bullet knocked Dirkintis to the ground and punctured a lung.
“I tried to crawl to all fours and to get up, but that’s when I started coughing up blood,” said Dirkintis. “I just couldn’t get up. It hurt really bad.”
Dirkintis continued to try to get up and get back in the fight. Unable to stand, he was dragged by Phillips 30 meters to the mortar pit. While the battle raged on, Dirkintis helped Soldiers find medical supplies in his aid bag and struggled to keep conscious.
For the next hour and a half, Soldiers used hand grenades, claymore mines, small arms and heavy weapons to repel the attacking Taliban. A-10 Warthog jets strafed a section of the base occupied by insurgent fighters. By the end of the fighting, 11 of 25 Soldiers defending Ranch House Outpost had suffered injuries. Five of those Soldiers later died from their wounds.
Dirkintis was medevaced to Germany where he recovered and, against doctors advice, volunteered to come back to Afghanistan.
Dirkintis now works in the pharmacy on Forward Operating Base Fenty, Nangarhar province.
From American Forces Press Services
Face of Defense: Soldier Receives Bronze Star for Heroic Actions
By Sgt. 1st Class Eric Hendrix, USA
Special to American Forces Press Service
FORWARD OPERATING BASE FENTY, Afghanistan, March 10, 2008 – Army Sgt. 1st Class Michael Loetz recently received a Bronze Star Medal for Valor for saving the life of an Afghan truck driver in 2007.
The story behind the rescue is both harrowing and heartwarming.
The Distribution Platoon of Company F, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, had just taken over combat logistics patrol operations and were taking a load of ammunition to troops in the Korengal Valley on May 30, 2007.
“I took over a platoon with a lot of brand-new privates with no experience,” said Loetz, a 37-year-old native of Charleston, S.C. “The roads hadn’t been improved at all. We were almost tearing the doors off the trucks because it was cliff on one side, rocks on the other.”
Distro platoon’s mission is to take vital supplies to locations where supply helicopters can’t get to. It will often use the services of area Afghan drivers and their rugged vehicles nicknamed “jingle trucks.” Loetz’s platoon delivers ammunition, mail and everything in between to warfighters in these hard-to-reach locations. It’s a dangerous drive into the Korengal Valley. “We got hit going up the road. It was just small-arms fire, but the jingle truck in front of me got hit,” Loetz said. A firefight ensued, and the Afghan driver of the truck in front of Loetz got out and crawled underneath the truck for safety. “We talked the driver out from under the vehicle (after suppressing enemy fire), got him back in the truck and continued on,” Loetz said.
At the top of the hill where the load of ammunition was to be dropped, Loetz talked with the Afghan driver and told him that as long as he stayed with the platoon on the way back down, he would make sure that the driver got to the bottom in one piece.
Then the worst happened.
“We got hit by an (improvised explosive device) on the way back down,” Loetz said. “At least three (rocket-propelled grenades) hit the side of the cliff below my truck, and at least two hit the rock wall above it.”
The jingle truck in front of him took some small-arms fire, tearing up its front end. “At that point, we were separated from our lead element, and we couldn’t drive around the jingle truck on that narrow road,” Loetz said.
Loetz’s gunner was laying suppressive fire with a .50 caliber machine gun. “I said, ‘the hell with it,’ and I got out of the truck and went and grabbed the jingle truck driver,” Loetz explained. “He was hiding under the rear axle of his truck trying to avoid getting hit again.”
Despite the hail of gunfire, Loetz put his own life in jeopardy, snatched the Afghan driver and threw him in the backseat of the Humvee.
“He had no way to protect himself and no way to defend himself. I had already promised him that we would take care of him,” Loetz said. “You just don’t go back on a word like that. I knew that if I didn’t get him, he would stay right there and die.”
The next step was to get the platoon back together and move down the hill. “I was thinking that I needed to move the jingle truck just enough to get my vehicle around it,” Loetz said. “There was just no room. So, I pushed it off the cliff.”
Trying to push the truck off the cliff with a Humvee was not feasible because of the possibility of damaging their ride out of the valley. Loetz pushed the truck so that it would roll off the side of the cliff. The jingle truck tumbled more than 100 feet to the valley bottom.
Army Lt. Col. William Ostlund, commander of 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, talked about seeing the event unfold from the battalion operations center on Camp Blessing. “I remember very well, watching the video feed and watching as the truck rolled over the cliff, thinking that it was one of our trucks and it took the breath out of me,” Ostlund said.
On the road, Loetz was getting his convoy back together. “We were still taking small-arms fire, and I got back in my vehicle and we were assessing the situation. By that time, Company A had moved into an over-watch position and locked on the opposite side of the valley,” Loetz said.
The coordinated suppressing-fire effort gave the distribution platoon the chance to get out of the kill zone and down the hill to safety.
Ostlund recounted getting the good news that Loetz’s convoy had gotten out of the valley safely. “We got word that not only did we not lose any soldiers from (Company F), but we didn’t lose an (Afghan) either. The local population is our center of gravity. We need to maintain the love and affections of the population and protect them. And if we put them at risk and don’t do everything to protect them, we’re really not doing what we’re supposed to be doing here,” Ostlund said.The lanky platoon sergeant from whom those brand-new privates had learned a valuable lesson said only: “It’s what you train for.”
(Army Sgt. 1st Class Eric Hendrix is assigned to 22nd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment.)
