Navy Cross

Citation:
The President of the United States takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Britt Slabinski, Senior Chief Information Systems Technician (SEAL), U.S. Navy, for extraordinary heroism as Sniper Element Leader in Sea-Air-Land Team EIGHT (SEAL-8), for a joint special operations unit conducting combat operations against enemy forces during Operation ANACONDA, Sahi-Kot Valley, Afghanistan on 3 and 4 March 2002, in support of Operation ENDURING FREEDOM.

On the evening of 3 March, Senior Chief Petty Officer Slabinski led his seven-man reconnaissance team onto the snow-covered, 10,000 foot mountaintop known as Takur Ghar, to establish a combat overwatch position in support of U.S. Army forces advancing against the enemy on the valley floor. As their helicopter hovered over the mountain it was met by unrelenting rocket propelled grenade (RPG) and small arms fire by entrenched enemy forces. As a result of several RPG hits, a member of Senior Chief Petty Officer Slabinski’s team was ejected from the helicopter into the midst of the fortified enemy positions. The badly damaged helicopter conducted a controlled crash, at which time Senior Chief Petty Officer Slabinski immediately took charge and established security on the crash location until the crew and his team were recovered to a support base.

At this point, Senior Chief Slabinski fully aware of the overwhelming, fixed, enemy forces over the mountain, but also knowing the desperate situation of his missing teammate, now reportedly fighting for his life, without hesitation made the selfless decision to lead his team on an immediate, bold rescue mission. He heroically led the remainder of his SEAL element back onto the snow-covered, remote, mountaintop into the midst of the numerically superior enemy forces in a daring and valiant attempt to rescue one of their own. After a treacherous helicopter insertion onto the mountaintop, Senior Chief Petty Officer Slabinski led his close quarter firefight. He skillfully maneuvered his team and bravely engaged multiple enemy positions, personally clearing one bunker and killing several enemy within.

His unit became caught in a withering crossfire from other bunkers and the closing enemy forces. Despite mounting casualties, Senior Chief Petty Officer Slabinski maintained his composure and continued to engage the enemy until his position became untenable. Faced with no choice but a tactical withdrawal, he coolly directed fire from airborne assets to cover his team. He then led an arduous movement through the mountainous terrain, constantly under fire, covering over one kilometer in waist-deep snow, while carrying a seriously wounded teammate.

Arriving at a defensible position, he organized his team’s security posture and stabilized his casualties. For over fourteen hours, Senior Chief Petty Officer Slabinski directed the defense of his position through countless engagements, personally engaging the enemy and directing close air support onto the enemy positions until the enemy was ultimately defeated. During this entire sustained engagement, Senior Chief Petty Officer Slabinski exhibited classic grace under fire in steadfastly leading the intrepid rescue operation, saving the lives of his wounded men and setting the conditions for the ultimate vanquishing of the enemy and the seizing of Takur Ghar.

By his heroic display of decisive and tenacious leadership, unyielding courage in the face of constant enemy fire, and utmost devotion to duty, Senior Chief Petty Officer Slabinski reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.

Home of Heroes

Maj. Danny Strelkauskas, currently the commanding officer of Force Company, 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, pins the Navy Cross on Gunnery Sgt. John S. Mosser, during a ceremony at Recon Point in Camp Schwab, Okinawa, Japan, Dec. 18. Mosser was awarded the Navy Cross by Strelkauskas, who was Mosser's team leader at the time, for actions in Afghanistan on June 2008. (Official U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Jeffrey Cordero)

Gunnery Sgt. John S. Mosser, a native of Dripping Springs, TX, was awarded the Navy Cross, the nation’s second-highest award given for valor in combat, in a ceremony here Dec. 18. Maj. Danny Strelkauskas presented the award to Mosser on behalf of the President of the United States.

According the citation, Mosser, currently assigned to 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, received the award for “extraordinary heroism while serving as Team Sergeant for Marine Special Operations Company H, 2nd Marine Special Operations Battalion, Special Operations Command, in support of Operation Enduring Freedom on June 26, 2008.”

Then-SSgt. Mosser’s patrol came under heavy fire while conducting a combat reconnaissance patrol under the cover of darkness to apprehend a high value target and an enemy security element. The terrain was restrictive and mountainous with large boulders and rugged terrain along the route.

The team came upon a white sport utility vehicle off to the side of the road and a red pick up truck blocking the path. Mosser’s team dismounted from their ground mobility vehicles, and immediately came under heavy machine gun fire from elevated positions cutting off forward and rear movement.

Mosser began to fire back at the enemy targets while directing his team to cover and safety. The team returned fire with machine guns, however, could not identify the enemy’s position. Mosser left his cover and ran back into the kill zone to direct the machine-gunners back on enemy positions then back to cover.

Two Marines soon were injured with gun shots through the legs and fell back into the kill zone. Mosser and another Marine, under heavy enemy sniper fire, ran back into the kill zone returning fire on the enemy positions and provided first aid to the Marines before dragging them to safety.

Mosser then left cover again to distract the enemy’s fire on the remaining team members that were pinned downed behind their vehicles. One team member was shot in the chest and Mosser remained in the line of fire until the individuals behind their vehicles could move the wounded to a better position of cover and continue medical attention.

After an hour of returning fire and maneuvering to better firing positions, close attack support from friendly aircraft began to drop ordnance on the enemy’s position. Seeing the rounds not on target, Mosser left cover again and positioned himself in the kill zone to gain accurate map coordinates for on-target airstrikes.

Two more Marines were soon wounded and Mosser again exposed himself to enemy machine gun and sniper fire for a fifth time to provide covering fire for the movement of the casualties.

Mosser then ordered the extraction of the remaining team members trapped in the ambush to safety while coordinating the movement of vehicles. An estimated 40 enemy combatants were killed in action.

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP S.D. BUTLER, OKINAWA, Japan

“I had been in firefights before but not like that,” Mosser said Friday. “It was unique. The enemy was well entrenched and firing at us from a high angle above. We were just reacting. There wasn’t much thinking — just return fire and take cover.” [snip]

“I wasn’t the only one doing things that day,” Mosser said. “The other Marines and sailors that were with me are some of the bravest people I have had the honor of serving with.”

Strelkauskas said the gunny was humble.

“There should have been a lot more of us that died that day,” Strelkauskas said, “but because of his heroic actions, we made it out of there.”

Stars & Stripes

See also: Major Daniel Strelkauskas – Silver Star

Lance Cpl. Brady Gustafson, a machine gunner with Golf Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, stands in from of the battalion at perfect parade rest, despite the amputation of his right leg below the knee. Gustafson received the Navy Cross and a meritorious promotion to corporal during a ceremony March 27 at Lance Cpl. Torrey Grey Field. Photo by Pfc. Michael T. Gams

Lance Cpl. Brady Gustafson’s parents describe him as “reserved, loyal, stubborn and determined.”
This was proven in action July 21, 2008.

His loyalty to his fellow Marines, his stubborn nature when he refused medical treatment and his determination under enemy fire as a machine gunner with Golf Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment earned him the Navy Cross, and a place among the ranks of such Marine Corps legends as Lewis ‘Chesty’ Puller, Daniel ‘Dan’ Daly and John Basilone.

He received this medal, the highest awarded by the Navy, for his deployment to Afghanistan is support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

The Navy Cross was pinned on his chest by Lt. Col. John M. Reed, the commanding officer of 2/7, and meritorious corporal chevrons to his collar by Maj. Gen. Thomas D. Waldhauser and Sgt. Maj. Randall Carter, the commanding general and sergeant major of 1st Marine Division, at a ceremony held March 27 at Lance Cpl. Torrey L. Grey Field. The ceremony included speeches from his former and current commanding officers.

Gustafson accepted his medal at a perfect position of attention, despite missing his right leg below the knee. His entire battalion was in attendance as well as Marines from across the nation, former service members, family and friends.

According to eyewitness accounts, Gustafson’s actions that fateful day in July 2008 met and exceeded the requirements for a Navy Cross.

On July 21 Gustafson was manning the turret of the lead vehicle, a mine resistant ambush protected vehicle, or MRAP, during a four-vehicle mounted patrol riding through the streets of Shewan, Afghanistan.

That’s when things got ugly.

The patrol came under heavy fire from machine guns as well as rocket-propelled grenades from hidden insurgent positions.

One of the RPGs hit Gustafson’s MRAP, piercing its armor, rendering the driver unconscious and partially amputating Gustafson’s right leg.

Despite his injuries, Gustafson remained vigilant on his M240B machine gun, locating and accurately firing on several insurgent positions, some as close as 20 meters from the vehicle.

He remained in the turret, reloading twice and firing over 600 rounds, while Lance Cpl. Cody Comstock, an Anderson, Ind. native, applied a tourniquet to his leg.

After regaining consciousness, the driver, Cpl. Geoffrey Kamp, an Indianapolis native, put the vehicle in reverse and pushed the disabled vehicle behind them out of the kill zone.

Not until both vehicles were safe from the heavy insurgent fire and all the Marines had evacuated the burning vehicle did he allow himself to be removed from the turret for medical treatment.

“I knew I was hit,” he said. “I guess the adrenaline kept me going.”

Gustafson humbly stressed that he was only doing his job, nothing more.

“Anyone I served with would have done the same,” said the Eagan, IL native. “Heck, if it wasn’t for everyone else out there, I wouldn’t have made it.”

After being treated by corpsmen at the scene, he was transported to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany and then to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

Upon regaining consciousness after surgery, Gustafson called his parents to tell them what happened, said the 21 year-old.

“We were worried about him,” said his mother, Kim Gustafson. “But we knew everything would work out, God does have a plan after all.”

During 2/7’s deployment to Afghanistan, “the extraordinary became ordinary,” said Lt. Col Richard Hall, 2/7’s commanding officer during the deployment. “I underestimated my Marines and I’m in awe of what they accomplished.”

Known as the hardest hit battalion in the Marine Corps during 2008, 2/7 lost over 20 Marines and sailors and sent over 80 home with serious injuries during their eight month deployment to Afghanistan.

Lance Cpl. Brady Gustafson received the Navy Cross and a meritorious promotion to corporal during a ceremony March 27 at Lance Cpl. Torrey Grey Field.

Gustafson is now looking to the future and says he is looking forward to a bright future outside of the Marine Corps.

“I took a lot of photos in Afghanistan,” said Gustafson. “I’m going to go to college in the fall and try and make a career out of it.”

Cpl. Brady Gustafson never faltered during the ambush and his heroism helped save the lives of all the Marines involved.

The valor and courage displayed on the streets of Shewan that July day embodied the core values of the Marine Corps and sets an example for all to emulate and be proud of.

“I’m proud of all the Marines,” said Kim. “There are so many heroes, I’m so lucky to count my son among one of them.”

United States Marines
By Pfc. Michael T. Gams,
Marine Air Ground Task Force Training Command 29 Palms

For additional information about the actions of these extraordinary Marines:
Marines Stop Enemy Attack – Heroic Last Stand

Marines Duty Valor

Marines render honors while the national anthem is played during a Navy Cross ceremony in honor of two fallen Camp Lejeune Marines, Lance Cpl. Jordan Haerter, from Sag Harbor, N.Y., and Cpl. Jonathan Yale, from Burkeville, Va. Secretary of the Navy, the Honorable Dr. Donald C. Winter, presented the awards at a ceremony at the National Museum of the Marine Corps. Haerter and Yale posthumously received the Navy Cross for actions in April 2008. They are credited with saving the lives of many Marines and Iraqi police.

Secretary of the Navy, the Honorable Dr. Donald C. Winter, presents Joann Lyles, mother of Lance Cpl. Jordan Haerter, the Navy Cross, at a ceremony at the National Museum of the Marine Corps. Haerter, from Sag Harbor, N.Y., and Cpl. Jonathan Yale, from Burkeville, Va., both were posthumously awarded the Navy Cross for their heroic actions in Iraq in April 2008.

Marines stand at parade rest during a Navy Cross ceremony in honor of two fallen Camp Lejeune Marines, Lance Cpl. Jordan Haerter, from Sag Harbor, N.Y., and Cpl. Jonathan Yale, from Burkeville, Va., Secretary of the Navy, the Honorable Dr. Donald C. Winter, presented the awards at a ceremony at the National Museum of the Marine Corps.

Photos by Petty Officer 2nd Class Kevin O’Brien

Navy Cross – posthumous (2)

Those three words belong together. In the two hundred plus years that the United States Marines have served their country, the young men who served have lived up to every challenge and met every foe.

Jordan Haerter and Jon Yale went out for guard duty in the morning of April 22, 2008. Before nightfall, their actions would become the stuff of Marine legend. A hundred years from now, drill sergeants will use their names to inspire future generations of Marines.

Manning a small guard post as they had dozens of times in the past, the two Marines saw a truck speeding towards them through the string of barriers on the road. It was obvious that something was wrong, that the truck was probably a suicide bomber driving a load of explosives.

Both Marines held their ground and began shooting. The truck detonated, well short of its goal, killing the two and leveling the guard post.

But 50 Marines and Iraqi policemen in the targeted building survived.

San Diego Union-Tribune

Two of the Marines, Cpl. Jonathan Yale, 21, and Lance Cpl. Jordan Haerter, 19, earned the Navy Cross, the service’s second-highest award for valor. On guard together at the front gate of a base in Ramadi, the two men stood their ground and opened fire as a truck loaded with 2,000 pounds of explosives weaved around concrete barricades toward them.

Their gunfire slowed the truck, which exploded close to where they stood. Yale and Haerter died, and three Marines were wounded along with eight Iraqi policemen and more than 20 civilians. But their actions are credited with saving the lives of at least 50 U.S. and Iraqi troops on the base.

“I will never forget blessing Lance Cpl. Haerter’s body,” said Lt. Cmdr. William Muhm, a chaplain who spoke at the service. “I will always be grateful that I was there to do it.”

Jonathan T. Yale

Marine Cpl Jonathan T Yale, Navy Cross for valor in Iraq

Jonathan Yale was close to his mother, a single parent who gave birth to him when she was only 17. And he was the kind of guy who liked to make people happy, she said.

“He was the class clown, even when he wasn’t at school,” his mother, Rebecca Yale, said yesterday. “But he also didn’t mind sitting home with his momma to watch a chick flick with a box of Kleenex between us. He was the best boy you could ask for.” [snip]

Yale grew up in rural Meherrin, one of those “teeny tiny little Virginia towns where if you sneeze, you miss it,” Rebecca Yale said.

When he was little, Yale loved to hang out with his granddad “in the bush and the thicket,” his grandfather, William Sydnor Sr., said. “I used to call him ‘Wild Man.’ No matter how much he would get scratched up in the woods, he always wanted to go again next time . . . and he was only 5 or 6 then.”

Sydnor said his son, Yale’s father, lived with the boy off and on while he was growing up.

Yale became an “awesome skateboarder” and “one of the top paintball players” in the area, according to his mother. She said he was setting up a Web site for a paintball team he had founded.

Jordan Haerter

Lance Cpl. Jordan Haerter, Navy Cross for valor in Iraq

Lance Cpl. Jordan Haerter, 19, was from a comfortably middle-class suburb on Long Island. As a boy, he had worn military garb, and he had felt the pull of adventure and patriotism. He had just arrived in Iraq.

On April 22, the two were assigned to guard the main gate to Joint Security Station Nasser in Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, once an insurgent stronghold and still a dangerous region. Dozens of Marines and Iraqi police lived at the compound, and some were still sleeping after all-night patrols when Yale and Haerter reported for duty that warm, sultry morning.

Yale, respected for his quiet, efficient manner, was assigned to show Haerter how to take over his duties.

Haerter had volunteered to watch the main gate, even though it was considered the most hazardous of the compound’s three guard stations because it could be approached from a busy thoroughfare.

The sun had barely risen when the two sentries spotted a 20-foot-long truck headed toward the gate, weaving with increasing speed through the concrete barriers. Two Iraqi police officers assigned to the gate ran for their lives. So did several Iraqi police on the adjacent street.

Yale and Haerter tried to wave off the truck, but it kept coming. They opened fire, Yale with a machine gun, Haerter with an M-16. Their bullets peppered the radiator and windshield. The truck slowed but kept rolling.

A few dozen feet from the gate, the truck exploded. Investigators found that it was loaded with 2,000 pounds of explosives and that its driver, his hand on a “dead-man switch,” was determined to commit suicide and slaughter Marines and Iraqi police.

The thunderous explosion rocked much of Ramadi, interrupting the morning call to prayers from the many mosques. A nearby mosque and a home were flattened. The blast ripped a crater 5 feet deep and 20 feet across into the street.

Shards of concrete scattered everywhere, and choking dust filled the air.

Haerter was dead; Yale was dying.

Three Marines about 300 feet away were injured. So were eight Iraqi police and two dozen civilians.

But several dozen other nearby Marines and Iraqi police, while shaken, were unhurt. A Black Hawk helicopter was summoned in a futile attempt to get Yale to a field hospital in time. A sheet was placed over Haerter.

When I interview heroes, or read their stories, two things stand out. They all say that they were not heroes, that they were just doing their duty. And they all say that they acted to save their fellow soldiers, sailors, airmen or Marines. I do not know what Jordan and Jon would answer to the question “Why?” but I am willing to wager that they would tell us that they did it because they were Marines and it was their duty.

Photos at Newsday

Jordan Haerter Memorial Site