Photo By Pfc. Susan Blair | Sgt. Sean Boerrigter, a former squad leader from Headquarters Troop, 1st Squadron 73rd...... read more read more
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By Sgt. Susan Blair
2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Public Affairs Office
FORT BRAGG, N.C. – Sgt. Sean Boerrigter, a squad leader from Headquarters and Headquarters Troop, 1st Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, tells his infamous story so nonchalantly, it's as if he was describing an ordinary day. But to listen to him illustrate what happened during a routine patrol in Iraq, it sounds more like a scene from an epic war movie.
After Boerrigter's platoon found a large weapons cache' along the Tigris River, the platoon leader left him and a three man element behind to provide over-watch on the cache. The rest of the platoon headed back to the patrol base to wait for Explosive Ordinance Disposal to arrive so the cache could safely be destroyed, the Dacula, Ga. native explained.
"We were there for about 45 minutes to an hour, I had my guys in a tight 360 (degree) position when I heard the distinct sound of the spoon separating from a grenade," Boerrigter, who often goes by the nickname "Bo", described. "I looked up and saw the grenade sailing at us. It landed a few feet from me, it bounced and continued rolling towards the center of us," he said looking up as if he had just spotted the hand grenade.
Before the grenade had a chance to go off, Boerrigter grabbed the grenade and threw it into his fighting position then tried to roll out. He was about three to four feet away when the grenade detonated.
"I got up and fired off a few shots and then fell," he explained. "I was disoriented from the blast."
It was at that point when Spc. Michael Kulkarni, a paratrooper in the same squad as "Bo," ran up, grabbed him and brought him to a safer position. Once out of the open, Boerrigter's team continued to lay suppressive fire on the enemy as Kulkarni bandaged up his wounds.
While being bandaged Boerrigter stayed calm and let his platoon leader know what was happening around him.
"I called up a contact report and gave him a (situation report)," Boerrigter explains casually.
As the battle raged, Boerrigter's squad came under heavy machine gun fire from both sides of the river, a rocket propelled grenade was launched near the squad and landed just on the other side of their position near Sgt. David Sanders, another paratrooper in Boerrigter's squad, blowing out his ear drums.
After about an hour and a half, with the assistance of aviation and mortar men, the squad was finally able to get some breathing room and headed back to the patrol base. Once at the patrol base Boerrigter and Sanders were evacuated.
Boerrigter's efforts through out the battle didn't go unnoticed. In February he was rewarded the Silver Star as well as a Purple Heart. Even though he received such honored medals he still remains modest about the whole situation.
"It's not about medals and awards, I'd do it a thousand times over even if they didn't give me anything for it," "Bo" said humbly.
| Date Taken: | 04.17.2008 |
| Date Posted: | 04.24.2008 09:11 |
| Story ID: | 18726 |
| Location: | FORT BRAGG, NC, US |
| Web Views: | 776 |
| Downloads: | 281 |
This work, Paratrooper Reflects Back on Combat Mission that Earned him Silver Star, by PFC Susan Blair, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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