Afghanistan

Spc. Monica Lin Brown

By Chuck Simmins ⋅ March 10, 2008 ⋅  Email this post ⋅  Print this post ⋅ Post a comment⋅ Trackback⋅ RSS Feed

Silver Star

Houston Chronicle
”She just did what she was trained to do,” her 74-year-old grandmother, Katy Brown, said from her Lake Jackson home on Sunday.

Monica Brown, a medic, was part of a four-vehicle convoy patrolling near Jani Kheil in the eastern province of Paktia when a bomb struck one of the Humvees on April 25, military officials said.

After the explosion, she braved insurgent gunfire and mortars to reach five wounded soldiers. She shielded them as she administered aid and helped drag them to safety, the military said.

“I did not really think about anything except for getting the guys to a safer location and getting them taken care of and getting them out of there,” Monica Brown told The Associated Press on Saturday from a U.S. base in the province of Khowst.

Katy Brown said her granddaughter graduated from Brazos River Charter School in Morgan at 15. She joined the Army with her brother, Justin Brown, in November 2006 to get a college education, Katy Brown said.

She said she is not surprised by her granddaughter’s heroics.

”She’s just a strong, strong young woman, and she’s very caring,” Katy Brown said.

Monica Brown told her grandmother she didn’t have time to be scared.

She just jumped into action and ”made medics out of those infantry men,” Katy Brown said.

Lake Jackson Texas is a small town due south of Houston.

Fox News
Brown, of the 4th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, said ammunition going off inside the burning Humvee was sending shrapnel in all directions. She said they were sitting in a dangerous spot.

“So we dragged them for 100 or 200 meters, got them away from the Humvee a little bit,” she said. “I was in a kind of a robot-mode, did not think about much but getting the guys taken care of.”

For Brown, who knew all five wounded soldiers, it became a race to get them all to a safer location. Eventually, they moved the wounded some 500 yards away and treated them on site before putting them on a helicopter for evacuation.

“I did not really have time to be scared,” Brown said. “Running back to the vehicle, I was nervous (since) I did not know how badly the guys were injured. That was scary.”

The military said Brown’s “bravery, unselfish actions and medical aid rendered under fire saved the lives of her comrades and represents the finest traditions of heroism in combat.”

Sgt. Leigh Ann Hester, of Nashville, Tenn., received the Silver Star in 2005 for gallantry during an insurgent ambush on a convoy in Iraq. Two men from her unit, the 617th Military Police Company of Richmond, Ky., also received the Silver Star for their roles in the same action.

As I get more information, I will post new stories. Currently I am unable to find anything at the 82nd Airborne site, the CJTF-82 site or at the DoD main site. Nice job, guys. [/sarcasm]