Photo By 1st Lt. David Spangler | Lt. Col. Jeffrey Denius (left), commander of 3rd Battalion, 69th Armor Regiment, 1st...... read more read more
By Sgt. Mary S. Katzenberger, 1st AAB, 3rd Inf. Div., USD-C
BAGHDAD – Sgt. Claudia Sandoval remembers three things from the April evening when an explosively formed penetrator struck the Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected vehicle in front of the bobtail truck she was driving—the enormous fireball that erupted from the explosion, the gnarled bridge left in the explosion’s wake and reacting to the blast instinctively.
“We went over it before every convoy,” Sandoval said. “If [a roadside bomb] explodes in front of you, you back up. So I stomped on the brakes and then I reversed; that’s what they teach you.”
Sandoval, a Gonzales, Calif., native, was one of 10 soldiers with 3rd Battalion, 69th Armor Regiment, 1st Advise and Assist Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, United States Division – Center to be honored recently by receiving a combat action award for having been engaged by the enemy. Three soldiers were awarded Combat Infantryman Badges, two soldiers received Combat Medical Badges, and six soldiers were awarded Combat Action Badges. The ceremony’s final awardee marked the regiment’s 282nd soldier to be presented a combat award since January.
“The Combat Infantryman Badge, Combat Medical Badge or Combat Action Badge you now bear [is a mark] of distinction, for you have answered the call for freedom’s cause,” said Lt. Col. Jeffrey Denius, commander of 3rd Bat., 69th Armor Regt. “Know that I’m proud of each and every one of you for doing what you trained to do.”
For Spc. Jerald Shaw II, a medic with 3rd Bn., 69th Armor Regt., and a Kodak, Tenn., native, doing what he was trained to do meant dismounting from an MRAP less than 100 meters from the site where the EFP was aimed at the convoy so he could assess and treat an injured soldier.
“[We] thought everything was good and then [we] were going to push on and one of the soldiers [said he couldn’t feel his leg],” Shaw said. “You start running through your mind all of the possibilities that—in that one area—could cause [the soldier] to lose feeling in his leg.”
The soldier Shaw assessed had been knocked around by the blast and had sustained some minor bruising along his spine.
“Just the shock waves from those blasts can do all sorts of things to you,” Shaw said.
While Sandoval and Shaw each admit that their experiences on the battlefield will not easily be forgotten, they said they were just doing their jobs and will continue to do so.
Sandoval was on the road driving the same truck along the same route less than three days after experiencing the attack.
“It was a little scary [and] a little intimidating, but you have to get back out there and do it again,” Sandoval said. “If you dwell on a situation like that, it’s just going to take you over.”
“It’s just something you’re going to have to deal with,” Shaw said. “The Army trains you [that when] this happens, this is what you do—period. You don’t think much of it until you actually get into a situation, then it counts.”
| Date Taken: | 10.01.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 10.26.2010 12:41 |
| Story ID: | 58855 |
| Location: | BAGHDAD, IQ |
| Web Views: | 56 |
| Downloads: | 13 |
This work, Proof that training counts: USD-C Soldiers receive combat awards, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
LEAVE A COMMENT