Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Ryan Hohman | Spc. Anthony Pantoja, a military policeman with the 720th MP Bn, 89th MP Bde.,...... read more read more
FORT HOOD, Texas - Soldiers and civilians with the 89th Military Police Brigade and Fort Hood’s Directorate of Emergency Services gathered together to be recognized for their actions taken during and following the April 2 active-shooter incident at Fort Hood.
During the ceremony, two Soldiers received the Meritorious Service Medal, 14 received the Army Commendation Medal, 14 received the Army Achievement Medal and 11 received a Certificate of Achievement. On the civilian side, two received Superior Civilian Service Medals, two received Meritorious Civilian Service Medals and two received Commanders Awards.
“Man what a day that was,” Fort Hood Garrison Commander Col. Matt Elledge said. “I know all of us here train for something like this, but I pray to God that it would never happen under my watch, but it did, and man I was in awe of what happened – not just that day, but what has happened since then.”
Following the event on April 2, the 89th MP Bde. was tasked with assistance efforts to include securing the individual scenes, escorting local and state officials and providing security for President Barrack Obama’s visit.
Their dedication to service was seen not only on Fort Hood, but throughout the Army.
“My perspective from what happened is a little bit different than the garrison commander’s in that I wasn’t here,” said 89th MP Bde. Commander Col. Ross Guieb.
Guieb was serving as the executive officer to the Provost Marshal General April 2.
He said everyday he sat in conferences between the Fort Hood leadership and the Chief of Staff, Gen. Raymond Odierno and Vice Chief of Staff, Gen. John Campbell.
“The one thing that kept reminding me how excited I would be to come here is how adamant (Lt. Gen. Mark Milley) was to the chief and the vice about how professional the folks were in responding to what happened on April 2,” Guieb said.
Spc. Anthony Pantoja, 720th Military Police Battalion, was part of the Special Reaction Team April 2 and received an Army Comendation Medal. He attributed his ability to successfully handle the incident to the continuous training the brigade performs.
“It feels good to be honored with an award, but I just did what I had trained to do,” Pantoja said.
Lt. Col. David Stender, commander of the 720th MP Bn., spoke with the Soldiers and civilians about how the awards were earned.
“Yes, you are trained. Yes, you are ready for the mission you did on April 2 and beyond, but don’t ever think it is not going above and beyond,” Stender said.
“When you are driving around protecting the community at (2 a.m.) and you see things going on and you react, and do what you have to do,” Stender said, “you are going above and beyond what your fellow Soldiers are doing.”
| Date Taken: | 10.02.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 10.20.2014 12:17 |
| Story ID: | 145491 |
| Location: | FORT HOOD, TX, US |
| Web Views: | 53 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Soldiers, first responders honored with awards, by SFC Ryan Hohman, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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