Here are more pictures of female warfighters being recognized for their good work.

Spc. Kassandra Rutherford, Task Force 34 INTEL analyst from Dundas, Minn., received an Army Commendation Medal at an award ceremony at Joint Base Balad, Iraq on April 20. The Army Commendation Medal is awarded to Soldiers who distinguish themselves by an act of heroism, extraordinary achievement, or meritorious service which has been of mutual benefit to a friendly nation and the United States. Photo by Staff Sgt. Lynette Hoke

Spc. Amber Zimmerman, Task Force 34, 34th Combat Aviation Brigade, S1/human resource specialist, is awarded an Army Commendation service medal for her achievements during Operation Iraqi Freedom 08-10 on Joint Base Balad, Iraq, April 22. The Army Commendation Medal is awarded to any member of the Armed United Forces of the United States who distinguished himself by heroism, meritorious achievement or meritorious service. Spc. Zimmerman is a native of Lakeville, Minn. Photo by Staff Sgt. Lynette Hoke

Sgt. Josephine Bush, Task Force 34, 34th Combat Aviation Brigade, S1/human resource non-commissioned officer, is awarded an Army Commendation service medal for her achievements during Operation Iraqi Freedom 08-10 on Joint Base Balad, Iraq, April 22. The Army Commendation Medal is awarded to any member of the Armed United Forces of the United States who distinguished himself by heroism, meritorious achievement or meritorious service. Sgt. Bush a native of Minneapolis, Minn. Photo by Staff Sgt. Lynette Hoke

Col. Wayne W. Grigsby, Jr., from Prince George’s County, Md., the commander of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, awards Maj. Cynthia Majerske, from Bar Harbor, Maine, the brigade surgeon for the 3rd BCT, a Bronze Star Medal for her service during Operation Iraqi Freedom at Forward Operating Base Hammer, April 13.

Bronze Star with V device, Purple Heart

Army Sgt. Kyle S. Dirkintis, a medic attached to Chosen Company, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment (Airborne), also known as “The Rock”, was recently awarded the Bronze Star Medal for Valor for his actions at Ranch House Outpost in Kunar province, Afghanistan.

Dirkintis, from Racine, Wisconsin, woke to the sound of gun fire at Ranch House Aug. 22, 2007.

Something he hadn’t heard in the first three months of deployment at Ranch House. Within minutes of the first shot Ranch House’s perimeter would be breached by roughly 20 insurgents.

“We were pretty surprised,” explained 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. The attacking insurgents were dressed in the same uniform as the Afghan Security Guards, which added to the confusion and made it difficult to tell friend from foe.

“I noticed the ASG Commander and some of the ASG members started running down the hill as soon as the contact was started,” said Dirkintis.

The attacking insurgents knew the layout of Ranch House, and where all the heavy weapons and tactical buildings were located.

As soon as the ASG passed Dirkintis 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 ASG post. The fleeing ASG left half the perimeter unguarded, which allowed the insurgents to breach the wire.

“Post 4, Post 3 and Post 2 had all called in and said they had made contact. At that point in time we sustained our first casualty in the fight,” said Dirkintis. “Our forward observer (Spc. Kain Schilling) received some shrapnel to his face.”

Dirkintis treated Schilling while insurgent fighter’s approached 40 meters south from his position.

“I exchanged weapons with him (for Schilling’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 of 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. 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 Staff Sgt. Eric Phillips ran inside and informed Ferrara and Dirkintis that Post 3 was under heavy attack and a Soldier was shot at Post 2.

“I grabbed my aid bag and went outside with Phillips,” said Dirkintis.

Assaulting toward Post 2 Dirkintis and Phillips took cover behind Post 2’s living quarters where they were pinned down for 15 minutes by PKM and small arms fire. Unable to advance both Soldiers stayed put and returned fire. The fighting between the two 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 the bullet had 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 Dirkintis 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 were called in to strafe the section of the base occupied by insurgent fighters. By the end of the fighting 11 out of 25 Soldiers defending Ranch House were injured.

Dirkintis suffered a gunshot wound to the chest and a collapsed lung. He 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 in Nangarhar province, Afghanistan.

DVIDS
By Staff Sgt. Brandon Aird
173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team Public Affairs

Bronze Star with V device

Marine Corps

A station explosive ordnance disposal Marine received a Bronze Star Medal with Combat V here March 26 for his heroic achievement in Iraq.

Staff Sgt. Alexander Mazza earned the medal for actions with II Marine Expeditionary Force between March and September 2007.

In one operation, Mazza climbed into a dump truck, containing more than 2,200 pounds of ordnance in downtown Fallujah, Iraq. He chose to manually disarm it immediately because the threat could cause heavy casualties and damage to the area.

Seventy-five improvised explosive devices were rendered safe and 11,000 pounds of unexploded ordnance were disposed of during Mazza’s more than 50 missions per month in Iraq.

After receiving his award, Mazza, 26, put his fellow Marines who died during the war on terror before himself.

The Crestview, Fla., native placed his medal on the station’s EOD memorial, which displays the pictures of 19 EOD Marines from around the Corps who have been killed serving overseas since 2001.

“I am leaving this medal here because this is really about them,” said Mazza.

Although Mazza honored his fellow Marines, Headquarters & Headquarters Squadron commanding officer Lt. Col. Kenneth Woodard, spoke with pride for Mazza’s achievement.

“His ability to risk his life to defuse a complex situation and save many others makes him a true American hero,” said Woodard.

Mazza’s Bronze Star is the second awarded to a station EOD Marine this year. Chief Warrant Officer 4 Charles Whitlock, EOD officer in charge, received the medal Feb. 2 for his actions in Iraq during a 2006 deployment.

Arizona Daily Star

A Marine who disarmed a huge truck bomb outside a bombmaking factory in Iraq last year has been awarded the Bronze Star medal.
Staff Sgt. Alexander Mazza was presented the medal Wednesday during a ceremony at Marine Corps Air Station in Yuma. The explosive ordnance disposal technician went on more than 300 missions during his 6-month deployment to Iraq in 2007 and safely disarmed 75 improvised explosive devices and disposed of more than 11,000 pounds of unexploded ordnance and explosives.

My apologies for the odd formatting. I am unable to locate the problem at this time.

US Army

****It is fair to state that the actual number of individual decorations awarded under combat conditions cannot be stated with absolute certainty. Normally during these periods, award approval authority for most decorations is delegated to field commanders. That is, the system is decentralized to provide for more timely recognition of the combat soldier. The numbers for the individual decorations shown on these charts represent only those awards that were properly processed and reported to Headquarters, Department of the Army. These charts reflect the current statistics recorded by the Military Awards Branch.

Statistics provided by the U.S. Army Military Awards Branch, February 5 2008