America's North Shore Journal

Army Staff Sgt. Con­rad Begaye stands before fel­low sol­diers from 2^nd Bat­tal­ion, 503^rd Infantry Reg­i­ment, dur­ing a cer­e­mony in Vicenza, Italy, June 30, 2009. Begaye was awarded the Sil­ver Star for his val­or­ous actions dur­ing an enemy ambush Nov. 9, 2007, in Afghanistan’s Nuris­tan province. U.S. Army photo by Capt. Joseph Sanfilippo

Even as Army Staff Sgt. Con­rad Begaye relived the fire­fight that took the lives of his fel­low sol­diers, and even as he was awarded the military’s third-highest honor for valor yes­ter­day, his thoughts were on his comrades.

Begaye, a Navajo from Black Canyon City, Ariz., said he wants the story of his actions in Afghanistan to help younger sol­diers under­stand the impor­tance of train­ing, lead­er­ship and moti­va­tion. For troops eager to see com­bat, he said, he hopes his story instills a sense of the real­ity of war.

"It should open their eyes. A fire­fight is a life-altering expe­ri­ence — one that I'm still liv­ing through," Begaye said fol­low­ing a June 30 cer­e­mony here in which he received the Sil­ver Star. "Sol­diers should under­stand … this is real life, and peo­ple do die."

On Nov. 9, 2007, Begaye, an Air­borne Ranger with the 503^rd Infantry Regiment’s 2^nd Bat­tal­ion, was part of a unit that had just met with local lead­ers in Afghanistan’s Nuris­tan province. They were hik­ing along rugged ter­rain when his squad, his platoon's head­quar­ters sec­tions and a squad of Afghan sol­diers began tak­ing fire from enemy posi­tions above.

Pinned down at first, Begaye was struck in the arm while return­ing fire and direct­ing his men. Begaye bounded over a cliff, call­ing to his troops to fol­low him down the rocky slope to find cover.

Keep­ing his com­po­sure against over­whelm­ing odds, Begaye directed and encour­aged his fel­low sol­diers under heavy fire. One para­trooper had been shot in both legs and was still tak­ing fire. Begaye called out to him to play dead, know­ing the enemy would shift their fire away if they thought the sol­dier was killed — quick think­ing that likely helped to save that soldier's life.

Ignor­ing his own injuries, Begaye moved a wounded sol­dier to a nearby cave to pro­tect him from enemy fire. Using a radio, he called his higher head­quar­ters and directed mor­tar fire onto enemy posi­tions — essen­tially end­ing the bat­tle. Then he moti­vated a sol­dier to orga­nize a defen­sive perime­ter of Afghan sol­diers to pre­vent their unit from being harassed or overrun.

Twenty-one months later, with his com­rades stand­ing qui­etly on the parade ground behind him, Begaye lis­tened as Maj. Gen. William B. Gar­rett III, com­man­der of U.S. Army Africa, spoke here, where Begaye began his ser­vice 10 years ago.

"Today, we honor a non­com­mis­sioned offi­cer whose bold actions turned the tide of bat­tle and saved the day, … [and] whose courage under fire and fierce loy­alty to his men still astounds us all," Gar­rett said. "Out­num­bered, wounded, and ini­tially pinned down in the kill zone of an enemy ambush — he didn't hes­i­tate to leap for­ward, lit­er­ally, and take charge of the fight."

Gar­rett spoke of the "war­rior ethos" that guides sol­diers: place the mis­sion first, never accept defeat, never quit, and never leave a fallen comrade.

"These are just words to some peo­ple," Gar­rett said. "But the war­rior ethos is a way of life to Staff Sergeant Begaye. Amaz­ing acts of brav­ery and valor were com­mon­place that grim day. But this morn­ing, we rec­og­nize Staff Sergeant Begaye for his courage — and we are thank­ful for the oppor­tu­nity to serve with such a man."

After the cer­e­mony, Begaye's wife, Air Force Staff Sgt. Idel­lia Beletso, a flight medic based at Aviano Air Base, Italy, hugged her hus­band. Hun­dreds of red-bereted para­troop­ers lined up to shake Begaye's hand, many of whom served with him in combat.

"There are peo­ple who have passed on that deserve this," said Begaye, who served three com­bat tours. "There were five men who died. I'll accept and wear it in honor of them, not for my actions, but for theirs."

Begaye said he would have pre­ferred a sim­ple hand­shake or a pat on the back. After all, he said, infantry­men don't fight for medals, they fight for each other. That's why Begaye felt grate­ful to have sol­diers from his unit, Cho­sen Com­pany, behind him on the parade field dur­ing the ceremony.

"What hap­pened there is some­thing I think about every day,” Begaye said. “It's not easy to for­get about."

DoD
By Army Capt. Joseph San­fil­ippo
Spe­cial to Amer­i­can Forces Press Service