Paratroopers stood at attention at Caserma Ederle's post theater as Maj. Gen. William B. Garrett III, commander of U.S. Army Africa, fastened the Silver Star to Staff Sgt. Matthew Matlock's uniform. - U.S. Army photo by Barabara Romano

Hundreds of maroon-bereted Soldiers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team gathered Nov. 30 to honor Staff Sgt. Matthew Matlock, a noncommissioned officer from Company C, 1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment for actions he took under fire to save Soldiers in Afghanistan.

Paratroopers stood at attention at Caserma Ederle’s post theater as Maj. Gen. William B. Garrett III, commander of U.S. Army Africa, fastened the Silver Star to Matlock’s uniform.

During the ceremony, Matlock’s thoughts turned to guys who were with him that day and what they endured, he said. Matlock said he was just doing his job as an NCO, not something he deserved an award for. Soldiers in combat are brothers, like family, he added.

“They were wounded and couldn’t fight back. I was going to make sure they made it out of there,” Matlock said. “They would have done it for me, so I did it for them.”

Still, a day seldom passes when Matlock doesn’t think about June 20, 2008, when his convoy was moving through Zerok, in Afghanistan’s Paktika province.

“It was one of those days,” Matlock said. “We were on our way back to Orgun-E from our last mission. We were getting ready to go home.”

Just a few miles from their destination, the patrol drove into enemy fighters who attacked Matlock’s patrol with small arms and rocket-propelled grenades.

“Everything broke loose. We kept trying to push through. But they targeted our truck with RPG’s and disabled it,” Matlock said. “They just kept hitting us one after the other, until finally the truck caught on fire and I had to get everybody out of there.”

An RPG struck an external fuel tank, sending flames and shrapnel inside – seriously wounding three Soldiers from Matlock’s squad. Under direct fire and wounded himself, Matlock evacuated his injured comrades and treated them with first aid. He fired back and directed his squad to shoot at enemy positions.

But RPGs poured in, sending hot metal fragments through the air. Each time, Matlock used his body to shield fellow Soldiers, receiving shrapnel wounds in the process. That’s where training pays off, allowing instincts to take over, Matlock said.

“You never know, really, what you’re made of until you’re put into that situation,” Matlock said. “You don’t really think about anything else except getting your guys out of there. That was all that was going through my head – these guys are going to make it home. And I made sure of that.”

Eighteen months passed since that day in Afghanistan. Matlock listened from the theater’s front row as Garrett spoke of his actions.

“Staff Sgt. Matlock fought with such incredible bravery, deliberately putting himself at risk time and time again to save the lives of his men,” Garrett said. “He stepped forward without hesitation and did everything we expect of a seasoned combat leader of any rank.”

Matlock, 26, a native of Amarillo, Texas followed in the footsteps of his father, William Matlock, a retired U.S. Army Special Forces master sergeant. In 2002, he joined the infantry and underwent airborne training before joining 1-503rd, the battalion known as “First Rock,” where he served in the scout platoon sniper section. In March 2003, Matlock served a yearlong tour in Iraq. In 2005, he served a year in Afghanistan. Afterward, Matlock joined Company C, 1-503rd, rising from team leader to squad leader. In 2007, Matlock deployed again to Afghanistan. It was during that second Afghanistan tour when his actions merited the Silver Star, the military’s third highest award, given only for valor and gallantry in combat.

Matlock currently serves as a weapons squad leader with Company C. This month, he returns to Afghanistan with his unit. He’s inspired by young volunteers filling the ranks, “ready to learn and ready to fight,” still knowing they will be sent into harm’s way, he said. During training, he pushes his troops to their limits, to prepare them for combat. He hopes his recognition sets an example and the standard for other Soldiers.

“Everything we’re going to do is real life-and-death situations. I just want them to know it’s real, the bullets are real out there,” Matlock said. “It’s not a game.

By Rick Scavetta
U.S. Army Africa

Army Staff Sgt. Conrad Begaye stands before fellow soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 503rd 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 503rd Infantry Regiment’s 2nd 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

Silver Star

A 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat team Soldier was awarded the Silver Star for valor in a ceremony at Caserma Ederle here Oct. 31.

Spc. Dillon Bergstad of Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion (Airborne), 503rd Infantry Regiment, received the medal for his actions Aug. 27, 2007, in Paktika Province, Afghanistan, while deployed with the 173rd ABCT in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

Bergstad was serving as an M2 .50-caliber machine gunner as part of a mounted patrol providing overwatch security for a route clearance element in Afghanistan’s Zerok District when the patrol was attacked by 20 to 25 insurgents.

During the battle that followed, Bergstad was knocked out of his turret three times by enemy fire. The first time his truck was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade. The second time he was shot through the right biceps by an armor-piercing incendiary round. Bergstad was thrown from his vehicle a third time when his vehicle was again struck by a rocket-propelled grenade. Each time he fought his way back into the turret to continue engaging the enemy.

Those accounts of the battle came from Bergstad’s fellow paratroopers and his Silver Star citation. The specialist says he does not have a clear recollection of the events. But his focus at the time was clear.

“I just had to keep my weapon going,” the North Bend, Oregon, native said. “It was all completely reactionary.”

“I don’t even remember when I got shot. It’s kind of like a car wreck. You know what happened, but you can’t really remember any of it,” said Bergstad.

As a result of Bergstad’s actions, the gunner of an enemy rocket-propelled grenade team was killed and fire from several known enemy machine gun positions was suppressed, according to the medal citation.

When the ambush was over, Bergstad refused medical treatment for his arm until all other wounded personnel were treated first. He refused painkillers and morphine and reported for duty five days after the attack.

Brig. Gen. William B. Garrett, commander of the Southern European Task Force, presented the award to Bergstad. The general said he was impressed with the warrior spirit the specialist showed that day.

“On this day we recognize Spc. Bergstad for what he did,” said Garrett during the ceremony. “And again, courage is the primary thing that we look for in any Soldier and any warrior, and he displayed it in spades that day, and that is why we are recognizing him.”

US Army
BY Sgt. 1st Class Jacob Caldwell,
173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team Public Affairs Office

Bergstad’s father, Walter Bergstad of Bend, said Tuesday he first learned the details of his son’s attack when his niece came across a Coos Bay newspaper article, describing the incident.

The phone call created heavy emotions with Dillon’s family, who after the incident wasn’t sure if Dillon would make it out of his tour of duty alive.

Dillon’s grandfather, Virgil Bergstad, remembers wat his father told him: “As a young man, he told me, never worry about those bullets you can hear. The ones you don’t hear (are) the ones you’ll have to watch out for.”

It was that advice, passed on from two generations to Dillon Bergstad, which hasn’t been forgotten.

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