"The real honor that I feel is the honor for having stood side by side and fought alongside some very great warriors. Getting a Silver Star pales in comparison to the honor I feel at having served alongside those men. The honor was being there that day." - SFC Jonathon Clouse, awarded the Silver Star for running through enemy sniper and machine-gun fire to save the lives of wounded Marines. On August 16th, seven silver stars were awarded to Special Forces Soldiers - unfortunately, one was posthumously awarded...Lt. Gen. John F. Mulholland, USASOC commanding general, presented the awards. We'd like to thank the 7th SFGA PAO for the invite to the ceremony. The Fayetteville Observer has the story: ...Former Marine Maj. Danny Strelkauskas, who was Clouse's team leader, came to the ceremony in civilian dress to talk about Clouse's actions on that day. The team was ambushed and pinned down by snipers and machine guns, Strelkauskas said. Clouse was working as a liaison officer with the Marines, but the team medic was injured, and Clouse stepped back into his old role. "He repeatedly rushed through the kill zone in order to render aid to some of the fallen Marines that were around him," Strelkauskas said. "In the process, he was shot in the back of his body armor where he had battery, and it ended up igniting and he was on fire." Clouse put out the fire and ran back across the kill zone to help an injured Marine. "He was pretty much directly responsible for establishing a casualty-collection point," Strelkauskas said, "and ensuring that the multiple wounded that we had were able to be extracted." Clouse probably saved the lives of more than 14 people, Strelkauskas said... Much more including video at the FayObserver site. The posthumous award was to SFC David Nunez. Spc. Rene Nunez, SFC Nunez's little brother who is a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division, received the award for his brother. SFC Nunez was killed in the Farah Province, Afghanistan, in late May of 2008 when his Ground Mobility Vehicle was struck by enemy fire in the course of conducting a mounted combat reconnaissance patrol. He was a Special Forces Operational Detachment-Alpha team engineer sergeant assigned to Company B, 3rd Battalion, 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne) at Ft. Bragg, N.C. - ODA 7326. Nunez is survived by his sons, David Jr., and Julian, of Raeford, N.C. He was engaged to Sergeant Cynthia Rivera at the time of his death. Godspeed SFC David Nunez. Airborne!
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Posted
Aug 17 2010, 12:50 AM
by
BLACKFIVE