America's North Shore Journal

Silver Star

What started as a several-day, hundreds-of-miles over-desert-terrain presence patrol in Southern Afghanistan, turned into a near ambush by enemy forces.

According to the citation narrative, Sgt. 1st Class Ray Plasterer and his team were conducting a patrol in a rural area and were caught in a surprise attack initiated with rocket propelled grenades, small arms fire, and fragmentary grenades resulting in five wounded friendly forces and four friendly forces killed in action. Plasterer’s actions, along with his team, saved numerous lives and led to a decisive victory and the death of 22 enemy combatants.

“We did not really feel threatened during the initial part of the patrol but we had the feeling that we were being watched prior to the actual ambush,” said Plasterer.

Upon the initiation of the enemy contact, Plasterer found himself in the middle of the kill zone, receiving effective enemy fire from two locations. He immediately returned lethal fire to the north and south of the convoy in an effort to provide suppressive fire for the vehicles caught in the kill zone, the citation said.

“We were about one day into our mission when we were attacked,” said Plasterer. “We were in a convoy of approximately 20 vehicles and I was about four vehicles from the back of the convoy.”

Plasterer immediately took control of a nearby interpreter and a five-man squad and this allowed the element to move to a more defendable location to fight from. Plasterer identified two enemy combatants and quickly eliminated them, according to the citation.

“These types of missions are what we train to do,” said Plasterer. “It’s something, when it actually happens, you don’t even think about the danger. Nobody does, you just do your job.”

Soon after, a team member identified another member of the team who had received a serious gunshot wound to the neck. Plasterer identified the need to get to a radio and request emergency close air support, as well as MEDEVAC for the wounded individuals. With complete disregard for his own personal safety, Plasterer moved from his covered position, under a barrage of AK-47 and RPG fire, through an open area to reach a vehicle that would have a radio to report the situation. Realizing the radio was inoperable, he moved back to his vehicle in the middle of the kill zone under a high volume of enemy fire to contact higher headquarters, the citation said.

“Sgt. 1st Class Plasterer did what every good Ranger NCO does, he took charge of the situation and got it under control,” said Lt. Gen. Robert Wagner, U.S. Army Special Operations Command commanding general.

According to the citation, while Plasterer was calling for close air support and MEDEVAC, his vehicle came under heavy small arms fire, and knowing that he was pinned down and needed to link back up with the five-man squad, he used the vehicle and drove it in reverse back to the squad. As the vehicle was moving backward, the volume of enemy fire increased and the truck became disabled. He exited the vehicle and once again braved the intense small arms fire to link up with the squad. Once back with his squad, Plasterer reassumed command and control and contacted the ground force commander.

“Sgt. 1st Class Plasterer’s team turned what the enemy hoped to be a decisive victory over the Rangers into a decisive defeat of the enemy,” said Wagner.

Plasterer’s assessment of the situation allowed him to pass critical information to the ground force commander who was able to maneuver forces into a position to fix and kill a seven-man, enemy-flanking element. Additionally, Plasterer’s decision-making put his own element into a position that allowed them to engage the enemy with deadly precision to maintain superiority over the enemy, enabling the remainder of the force to enter the larger building and kill the last of the enemy combatants, the citation said.

“Many of you don’t realize how important your work is; you put your lives on the line everyday to serve our nation and the impact you have on the war is tremendous,” said Wagner addressing the Rangers. “You have been engaged in this conflict since the beginning and your skills and ability continue to amaze and impress me.”

The attention that receiving the Silver Star has generated makes Plasterer quick to point out that he did what anyone else would have done that day.

“Nobody does it for the attention that you get out of it, you do it for job satisfaction,” said Plasterer. “And you have the knowledge that what you are doing is important as well as the friendships that you make that will last a lifetime.”

Plasterer was awarded the Silver Star at a valorous awards ceremony Oct. 17.

The Bayonet
By 75th Ranger Regiment, Tracy A. Bailey

“You’ve been engaged in this war from the very beginning seven years ago,” said Wagner, “but your stories are rarely told. A lot of people don’t know to thank you because they don’t know what you’ve done.”

But that’s standard operating procedure for the Rangers, whose regiment is based at Fort Benning.

There’s no huge sendoff at Lawson Army Airfield when they deploy; no Welcome Home ceremony at Freedom Hall when they return. Even the families back home are kept in the dark while the guys are gone.

“I didn’t even hear about this particular mission until he got back,” said Kristy Plasterer, whose husband Sgt. 1st Class Ray Plasterer was presented the Army’s third highest award for combat valor for an incident that occurred in southeast Afghanistan last May. “Of course that’s always the way it is. He’s not allowed to tell me anything about what he’s doing or where he is.”

Of course Kristy Plasterer, who works in the Muscogee County Sheriff’s Department, is used to that. Ray’s latest mission was his ninth, seven of them to Afghanistan, during his nine years in the Army.

Ledger-Enquirer

US Army Special Operations Command