Photo By 1st Sgt. Justin A. Naylor | Spc. Rodney Thornton, a Houston native and gunner with Golf Forward Support Company,...... read more read more
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FORWARD OPERATING BASE WARRIOR, KIRKUK, Iraq—Spc. Rodney Thornton, a Houston native and gunner with Golf Forward Support Company, 3rd Battalion, 82nd Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, was awarded the Army Commendation Medal with V-device for valor, June 26.
Though not the only award that Thornton has, it is the one that he is most proud of.
On May 23, Thornton and his platoon were on a mission in Kirkuk city. As a gunner positioned above one of the vehicles, his job was to provide support for his truck and the sector that he was responsible for.
His convoy had nearly completed crossing a bridge, when suddenly he saw someone from behind the bridge wall lobbing an RKG-3, a type of anti-tank hand grenade, toward Thornton's vehicle.
"All I saw [of the attacker's arm] was from the elbow up," recalls Thornton.
Thornton fired two rounds at the attacker in response as the RKG flew through the air toward him.
"I saw the parachute come out of the RKG, I remember it was pink and white," he
said.
The RKG dangled in midair, held by the parachute, swinging from side to side. Thornton remembers thinking, "I hope it doesn't kill me or anyone in my truck," before the blast hit.
"It was loud...the loudest thing I've ever heard," he said. "There was a really,
really bright red ball and then smoke was everywhere."
The blast shattered Thornton's goggles and knocked him down into the vehicle, but left him miraculously unharmed.
"I saw the doc [medic] and asked her if she was OK," he said. He then checked
over the rest of his Soldiers in his truck and jumped back into the gunner's hatch.
"I saw the thrower through the smoke and fired off nine more rounds at him," he
continued.
By this time the first vehicle in the convoy had broken off in pursuit of the attacker, following him down an alleyway. Thornton had dropped from his gun, dismounted and began to follow on foot.
"We cleared the alley and cleared two houses," Thornton recalled.
A man in the alley told the Soldiers that the thrower and cameraman had disappeared around the corner in a blue Volkswagen.
Thornton and the other pursuers then returned to the vehicles and called the
Iraqi police, who came and investigated the incident.
Meanwhile, aerial support had identified a similar-looking blue vehicle and sent units to investigate. The vehicle turned out be a different one, but Soldiers collected photos of people in the area just in case.
Thornton reviewed the photos later that day, and to his surprise saw the man
who had attacked him.
With Thornton and another Soldiers' positive identification, Iraqi police returnedto the man's house and arrested him at 8 o'clock that evening.
"I was relieved when they caught him, so he wouldn't do this to another patrol," said Thornton.
Looking back on the incident, a fellow member of the convoy praised Thornton's
quick reaction.
"He did everything he was trained to do ... without hesitation," said Sgt. Brandon Carmouche, the Opelousas, La., native whose truck pursued the thrower down the alleyway. "Everything happened so fast."
Even after Thornton's truck was hit, he immediately came over the radio and told the other Soldiers in the patrol what the man looked like, giving them enough detail to positively identify the assailant as he ran away, said Carmouche.
A month later, Thornton received an ARCOM with V-device for his actions, along with a combat action badge and an Army Achievement Medal.
But Thornton knows none of it would have been possible without his fellow Soldiers who put their lives at risk everyday with him.
"When it comes right down to it, we come together," he said. "When it's all said and done, there isn't anybody better out there."
Thornton is the only person in his brigade to have received an ARCOM with V-device so far during this rotation to Iraq.
| Date Taken: | 06.26.2009 |
| Date Posted: | 06.30.2009 14:04 |
| Story ID: | 35803 |
| Location: | KIRKUK, IQ |
| Web Views: | 398 |
| Downloads: | 198 |
This work, 'Red Dragon' Soldier awarded for valor, by 1SG Justin A. Naylor, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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