Photo By Staff Sgt. Candace Mundt | U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Charles T. Cleveland, left, the commander of U.S. Army Special...... read more read more
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FORT BRAGG, N.C. - Room 275 in Bank Hall was packed front to back, and side to side. The sea of camouflage was not there for mandatory training or a massive graduation. They were all there in recognition of one soldier.
Staff Sgt. Tyrone A. Mitchell sat on stage in a serious manner; his stare focused, and his posture stern and strong.
The narrator read the story of a hero. A man, with no regard for his own life, broke the window of an overturned vehicle, causing him multiple lacerations, cuts and abrasions.
He freed the trapped driver and proceeded to give her first aid until paramedics arrived.
“Ladies and gentlemen please stand for the presentation of the Soldier’s Medal,” said the narrator.
Mitchell stepped forward on the stage and stood beside the presenting officer - eyes, still focused straight ahead, and stance, still strong. As the narrator read the award, the presenting officer raised the red, white and blue, striped ribbon to Mitchell’s collar.
With his medal affixed to his chest, he saluted the general and looked out onto the crowd of Soldiers, family members, co-workers and friends.
Mitchell’s brave actions on the morning of May 20, 2012, in Spring Lake, N.C., brought him to that stage, in front of that crowd, and earned him the Soldier’s Medal. Not for one second, though, was he thinking of all that while he was saving the life of someone he did not even know.
“He knows it’s a big deal, but he didn’t lobby for this at all,” said Capt. Nicholas Ennis, 8th Military Information Support Battalion communications officer in charge, and Mitchell’s supervisor.
“He just shrugged his shoulders and just did what he had to do,” Ennis continued. “That just speaks volumes to his character and his humility.”
“The medal is bigger than myself,” Mitchell, 8th MISB communications noncommissioned officer in charge, said. “I didn’t think about it. I just reacted.”
The Soldier’s Medal is presented to any service member who at the time of a heroic act, distinguishes him or herself by heroism not involving contact with an enemy. The event must have involved personal hazard or danger and the voluntary risk of life.
As a soldier with two deployments to Qatar, Mitchell felt his actions that morning were very similar to what he would have done in a combat situation.
“I don’t think you really think about it that much when you see a situation and you know that someone else needs help,” said the Syracuse, N.Y., native about reacting to an emergency.
Mitchell said he would have reacted the same way in a combat zone if an improvised explosive device detonated as he did at the crash site.
During his speech in the ceremony, Lt. Gen. Charles T. Cleveland, U.S. Army Special Operations Command commanding general, spoke of how Mitchell’s heroic deed embodies what the U.S. military is all about.
“You may be called upon to do actions that may be seen by others as brave, as heroic,” Cleveland said. “It is part of the organization that we joined. It is a part of the ethos, the community that we are a part of.”
While most soldiers do not get the chance to save a life stateside, Mitchell believes that his brothers and sisters in arms would have reacted the same way he did.
“At the end of the day, any service member, if they were in the same situation, would’ve done the exact same thing,” Mitchell said. “You feel as if you’re a public servant, you serve the people of the United States. If you see someone in trouble, either in uniform or out of uniform, you feel that you have to try to do something to help them or keep them out of harm’s way.”
Mitchell’s humility and willingness to help others was not just a one time thing, it is an everyday occurrence, according to Ennis, that comes naturally.
“He is one of the most phenomenal NCOs I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with,” Ennis said. “You can see it in his care for soldiers, in their personal lives, and for training.”
“He is everything that’s right with the NCO Corps, everything that’s right with the Army, he’s everything that’s right as being a human being.”
| Date Taken: | 02.13.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 02.14.2013 14:54 |
| Story ID: | 102015 |
| Location: | FORT BRAGG, NC, US |
| Hometown: | SYRACUSE, NY, US |
| Web Views: | 112 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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