Navy Crosses or Medals of Honor??? UPDATE: Navy Crosses 2/20/2009

It was a typical quiet morning on April 22, with the temperature intensifying as a bright orange sun emerged high from the horizon.

However, this morning would be different. Quickly it would turn chaotic, then tragic. Two Marines would gallantly sacrifice their lives so others could live.

Lance Cpl. Jordan Haerter, a rifleman with 1st Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 1, and Cpl. Jonathan T. Yale, a rifleman with 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, RCT-1, were standing post, just as they’ve done numerous times before. It was during a standard length watch at a small checkpoint protected by concrete barriers where they overlooked a small gravel road lined with palm trees leading to their entry control point.

A truck packed with thousands of pounds of explosives entered the area where Haerter and Yale were standing guard. Realizing the vehicles intentions Haerter and Yale, without hesitation, stood their ground, drew their weapons and fired at the vehicle. The truck rolled to a stop and exploded, killing the two Marines.

“I was on post the morning of the attack,” said Lance Cpl. Benjamin Tupaj, a rifleman with 3rd Platoon, Police Transition Team 3, Weapons Company, 1st Battalion, 9th Marines. “I heard the (M-249 Squad Automatic Weapon) go off at a cyclic rate and then the detonation along with a flash. Then I heard a Marine start yelling, ‘we got hit, we got hit.’ It was hectic.”

In the face of a committed enemy, Haerter and Yale stood their ground, in turn saving the lives of numerous Marines, Sailors, Iraqi policemen, and civilians. Both Marines displayed heroic, self-sacrificing actions and truly lived up to the Corps’ values of honor, courage, and commitment.

“They saved all of our lives; if it wasn’t for them that gate probably wouldn’t have held,” Tupaj said. “The explosion blew out all of the windows over 150 meters from where the blast hit. If that truck had made it into the compound, there would’ve been a lot more casualties. They saved everyone’s life here.”

“They are heroes because thousands of pounds (of explosives) would’ve made its way through the gate and many more of us wouldn’t be here,” said Lance Cpl. Lawrence Tillery, a rifleman with 3rd Platoon. “I have a son back home, and I know if that truck would’ve made it to where it was going – I wouldn’t be here today. Because of Lance Cpl. Haerter and Cpl. Yale, I will be able to see my son again. They gave me that opportunity.”

A week after the attack, the Marines with 3rd platoon, remember their fallen brethren as good friends and Marines

“Cpl. Yale was a great guy, really friendly and kind of shy,” said Hospitalman Eric Schwartz, a corpsman with the platoon.

“Haerter was an amazing guy. I knew everything about him; he was my best friend,” said Lance Cpl. Cody Israel, a rifleman with 3rd platoon and Haerter’s roommate for more than a year and half.

Haerter and Yale were both posthumously awarded the Purple Heart Medal, Combat Action Ribbon and have been nominated for an award for their valor.

DVIDS
By Lance Cpl. Casey Jones
Regimental Combat Team 1

Distinguished Service Cross

FORT BRAGG, N.C. (Army News Service, May 1, 2008) – A 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne) Soldier was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross during a ceremony here Wednesday for valorous actions during Operation Enduring Freedom.

A 20-year veteran, Master Sgt. Brendan O’Connor, formerly a senior medic on a 2nd Battalion, 7th SFG (A) Operational Detachment Alpha, was presented the award while he stood before family, friends, and fellow Soldiers.

“For the men who were with him that day, Master Sergeant O’Connor is a savior,” said Adm. Eric T. Olson, commander of United States Special Operations Command, who presented the award to O’Connor.

“For all Americans, he is a hero, and for all members of special operations across the services, he is a source of enormous pride,” he said.

O’Connor was instrumental in keeping his team alive during an intense battle with more than 250 Taliban fighters in southern Afghanistan on June 22, 2006. While making a temporary stop during a patrol, his team and their attached Afghan National Army soldiers were attacked from all sides with small-arms fire, heavy machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades, recoilless rifles and mortars.

During the 17 1/2 hours of sustained combat that followed, O’Connor and his team fought off wave after wave of Taliban attackers from a group of small compounds, fighting for their lives against insurgents who were intent on killing or capturing the beleaguered defenders. Much of the combat was so close that the defenders of the compounds could hear cursing and taunting from the enemies who swarmed the perimeter.

After hearing two Soldiers were wounded at another location, O’Connor removed his body armor and low-crawled under heavy machine gun fire to treat and extract his wounded comrades. O’Connor then carried a wounded Soldier back to a safer area, again passing through intense fire. One teammate commented that as he was crawling, machine gun fire “mowed the grass” around him.

“I don’t think that what I did was particularly brave,” said O’Connor. “My friend needed help and I had the opportunity to help him, so I did. I think I’m lucky to get this sort of recognition; there are so many other Soldiers who do similarly brave things overseas and are happy with just a pat on the back when they get home.”

O’Connor is the second Soldier to be awarded the DSC for actions taken in Operation Enduring Freedom. The first was a 5th Special Forces Group Soldier, Maj. Mark Mitchell in 2003. Before Mitchell there had been none since the Vietnam War. The DSC is the second highest award for valor, surpassed only by the Medal of Honor.

“I’ve never been more honored, but this medal belongs to my whole team,” said O’Connor.

“Every member was watching out for the other, inspiring each other, and for some, sacrificing for each other. We all fought hard, and it could just as easily be any one of them standing up here getting it pinned on; every one of them is a hero,” he said.

United States Army
BY Sgt. Daniel Love

Master Sgt. Brendan O’Connor, right, 7th Special Forces Group (A) Operational Detachment Alpha, was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross by Adm. Eric T. Olson, commander of United States Special Operations Command, during a ceremony at Bank Hall, Fort Bragg, N.C., April 30 for heroic actions during Operation Enduring Freedom. Photo by Sgt. Daniel Love

Master Sergeant Brendan W. O’Connor was born the “Irish fifth” to a large family of six children at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. After his father’s service and death in combat in the Republic of Vietnam, his family settled in Moorestown, New Jersey.

MSG O’Connor enlisted in the United States Army Reserves (USAR) and enrolled in the Reserve Officer Training Corps at Valley Forge Military Junior College at Wayne, Pennsylvania in 1978. He joined the 11th Special Forces Group, USAR in September 1979 and was commissioned in 1980 into the USAR and served as the Executive Officer of Operational Detachment Alpha Team (ODA) 1132 until 1985. Between 1985 and 1987 he served as a Rifle Platoon Leader and Rifle Company Commander in the 3d Battalion, 18 th Infantry, 187 th Separate Infantry Brigade, USAR. In 1987 he returned to the 11th Special Forces Group and assumed command of ODA 1125.

In 1994 he resigned his commission and enlisted in the Active Army. In 1996 he was assigned to the 7th Special Forces Group and ODA 765 as a medical sergeant. In 2002 he was assigned to the Joint Special Operations Medical Training Battalion (JSOMTB), United States Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School. In 2005 he returned to ODA 765 where he served as a medical sergeant and the Operations Sergeant until November 2007. Currently he is assigned to the 7th Group Surgeon’s Office as the Senior Enlisted Medical Advisor.

MSG O’Connor’s military and civilian education includes: 101st Air Assault Course, Army Airborne Course, Infantry Officer’s Basic Course, Pathfinder Course, Special Forces Detachment Officer Qualification Course, SERE High Risk, Ranger Course, Infantry Officer Advanced Course, Norwegian Winter Mountain Course, the 10th SF Group Command Language Program (Russian), Special Forces Medical Sergeant’s Course, Instructor Training Course, Small Group Instructor Course and the Static Line Jumpmaster Course. He graduated from Campbell University with a Bachelor of Science in Health Science and a concentration in History.

Awards include: Bronze Star Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal and the Army Achievement Medal. His decorations and badges include: Special Forces Tab, Ranger Tab, Combat Infantryman’s Badge, Master Parachutist Badge, Air Assault Badge, Pathfinder Badge and Parachutist badges from Germany, El Salvador, Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador. In 2004 he was recognized as the JSOMTB’s Special Operations Combat Medic Course Instructor of the Year. In 2006 he was recognized as the Special Operations Command’s Medic of the Year.

MSG O’Connor is married to the former Miss Margaret Elizabeth Garvey (Meg) of Chevy Chase, Maryland. Meg is a columnist writing for the Fayetteville News and Observer. Together they have been blessed by the gifts of children: Master Ryan Killian O’Connor, Master Colin Garvey O’Connor, Miss Darby Elizabeth O’Connor and Master Dillon Wright O’Connor. They reside in Fayetteville, North Carolina. He is preceded by his parents LTC Mortimer Lenane O’Connor of New York, New York and Elizabeth Celeste Wright O’Connor of Newton, New Jersey. He has brothers, Sean Lenane O’Connor of Westbury, New York, Brian Wright O’Connor of Cambridge, Massachusetts and Michael Wright O’Connor of Burlington, New Jersey. He also has sisters; Miss Siobhan Wright O’Connor of Montclair, New Jersey and the former Miss Elizabeth Wright O’Connor (Foglino) of New York, New York.

Special Operations Command-PDF file

Spc. Ross McGinnis, who was killed Dec. 4, 2006, in Iraq when he smothered a grenade with his body, will receive the Medal of Honor, sources told Army Times.

McGinnis, 19, is the second soldier to receive the nation’s highest valor award for actions while serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Sgt. 1st Class Paul Ray Smith, who was killed April 4, 2003, fighting off insurgents in a fierce firefight south of Baghdad, was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor two years after he died.

McGinnis, of 1st Platoon, C Company, 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, is credited with saving the lives of four fellow soldiers.

On Dec. 4, 2006, McGinnis was manning the turret in the last Humvee of a six-vehicle patrol in Adhamiyah in northeast Baghdad when an insurgent threw a grenade from the roof of a nearby building.

“Grenade!” yelled McGinnis, who was manning the vehicle’s M2 .50-caliber machine gun.

McGinnis, facing backwards because he was in the rear vehicle, tried to deflect the grenade but it fell into the Humvee and lodged between the radios.

As he stood up to get ready to jump out of the vehicle, as he had been trained to do, McGinnis realized the other four soldiers in the Humvee did not know where the grenade had landed and did not have enough time to escape.

McGinnis, a native of Knox, Pa., threw his back against the radio mount, where the grenade was lodged, and smothered the explosive with his body.

The grenade exploded, hitting McGinnis on his sides and lower back, under his vest. He was killed instantly. The other four men survived.

Army Times

A comment left on Blackfive’s story about McGinnis:

SPC McGinnis was a great soldier and I am alive due to his sacrifice. I was the driver of the vehicle the day we lost Ross to a cowardly enemy. I thank God everyday for blessing me with the opportunity to serve with such a brave man. For those of you that think the award process is moving to slow just know that it is seen and evaluated by many people in our chain of command. I as well would like to see it ASAP. The award requires alot of diagrams, witness statements from all who were there, and those that approve and later send to congress need to see what happened in detail otherwise they would be giving awards based on word of mouth.

I agree with SSG Troy Smith, it is carefully looked over so that no fraudelant cases arise. I have no doubt in my mind that he will receive the nation’s highest honor for his heroism. God bless his family and parents for raising such a wonderful person, soldier, friend, and brother!

Rest in Peace Ross. Gone, but never forgotten!

I love you little brother. Thank you for my continued life here on earth and I look forward to seeing you in heaven.
Posted by: SGT Lyle Buehler

Bronze Star with “V” device

A Bronze Star with “V” device for valor was awarded to Army Sgt. Ryan P. Inabnet, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, 1-91 Cavalry Squadron, at Fire Base Naray, Kunar province, April 24.

Brig. Gen. Mark Milley, CJTF-101 deputy commanding general for operations, awarded the medal to Inabnet and presented him with a coin for excellence.

Inabnet was recognized for his actions in combat July 27, 2007, when he saved more than a dozen Soldier’s lives during a combat operation in Kunar province. The Quick Reaction Team he was on was called out to re-enforce International Security Assistance Forces engaged in combat with insurgents.

“We first set out after receiving word that four casualties on the ground were injured and two of them were serious,” said Inabnet, a wheeled vehicle mechanic. “Once we arrived we got the four injured in the vehicles and dropped them off at the medevac site.”

Shortly afterward, Inabnet provided first aid to a wounded Soldier from his QRT.

“Once we had all the equipment and personnel, we started to head back,” said Inabnet. “That’s when we started taking [rocket propelled grenades] and small-arms fire.”

As the group tried to break contact, several Soldiers were wounded and put into Inabnet’s vehicle.

“My main goal was to get these guys back to the helicopter landing zone so they could survive,” said Inabnet. “I ended up staying up for hours until we got all our guys back inside the [forward operating base].”

“That day will be with me for a long time,” he said. “I would like to thank the Lord above and all my brothers who were in that fight with me.”

CJTF-101
Written by Army Pfc. Christina Sinders RC-East PAO

Silver Star

Though she won’t know it until she’s a bit older, Juliannah Roedema owes a lot to Lance Cpl. Moses Cardenas.

That’s because Cardenas, a scout with 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, gave her the best birthday gift: her father’s life.

Cardenas was awarded the Silver Star medal during a ceremony March 29 at Camp Las Flores, pinned by LtCol. Scott D. Leonard, commanding officer of 1st LAR, and LtCol. Kelly P. Alexander, former 1st LAR commanding officer during the battalion’s most recent deployment.

“I’m honored. My lieutenant was just telling me about the magnitude of this award,” said Cardenas, 20, a Fullerton, Calif., native. “Not a lot of people get it, and a lot of people have died for it. So, I’m a pretty lucky man to be alive and receive it.”

Luck may have had some part. More likely, though, was the training instilled in Cardenas and the sense of brotherhood developed by the Marines in his fire team.

Cardenas and Sgt. Randy M. Roedema were on a routine early morning zone reconnaissance patrol with the quick reaction force last year in Western Anbar province in Iraq. They happened upon a vehicle which crossed their sector, so they moved in to check it out, according to Cardenas.

After repeated attempts to get the driver and passengers of the truck to submit to a search, three men burst from the top of the vehicle and opened fire. The Marines quickly attempted to bound back to their vehicles for cover, and to allow their turret gunners an open line-of-fire.

Three Marines were hit. Lance Cpl. Christian Vasquez was killed, and Cardenas was hit in the neck. After he hit the deck, he looked up and saw that Roedema was on the ground.

“I saw my sergeant laying down and I said, ‘Not today,’” Cardenas recounted after the ceremony.

Already injured, Cardenas began dragging Roedema to safety, but they had more than 50 meters to cover, so Cardenas alternated dragging Roedema with applying suppressive fire with his squad automatic weapon.

“’You’re going to see you’re daughter,’ that’s what he said when he was pulling me,” said Roedema, 25, from Denver, Colo. “He saved my life.”

Cardenas was again hit with a round from the insurgent’s weapons, but he continued pulling Roedema until they we both safely behind cover, and only later, after a corpsman arrived, did Cardenas receive attention for his wounds.

Asked why he risked his life for Roedema, Cardenas answers simply, “He’s my sergeant; he’s the chief scout; it really didn’t register how dangerous it was. After sleeping, eating, and laughing with my fire team everyday, you get really close, like brothers.”

Roedema was treated and taken to medical facilities. Even better than the diagnosis that he was going to recover from his wounds was the news that he had just become a father, after his wife, Sharla, gave birth to baby Juliannah.

“Without [Cardenas], I’d never be able to see my daughter,” Roedema said. “Words don’t explain what he means to me and my family.”

Cardenas’ family watched the young Marine receive his medal from the front row at the ceremony, and couldn’t be happier with their son.

“I’m very proud of him,” said Raymundo Cardenas, Moses’ father. “Since he was 15 or 16, he said he wanted to go to the Marines.

“It was a sad day when they left on their last deployment,” Raymundo continued. “We didn’t know if he’d come back or not. We won’t be as worried this time; he knows what he went through.”

Cardenas and 1st LAR are scheduled to deploy back to Iraq in the Fall. When he returns, he’ll have with him a token of the Roedema family’s gratitude: a dogtag and cross inscribed with protective scripture.

“He’s a role model for fighting men in all services around the world,” said Alexander, Cardenas’ former CO. “We all want to be that guy.”

Cardenas was meritoriously promoted to corporal Apr. 2 at Camp Las Flores.

Marine Corps
By Sgt. M. Trent Lowry, 1st Marine Division
Photos by Cpl. Chris Mann