Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Glenn Sierra | U.S. engineers with 1st Platoon, 1014th Sapper Company, Task Force Roughneck, TF...... read more read more
BALKH PROVINCE, Afghanistan – U.S. Army 1st Platoon, 1014th Sapper Company, Task Force Roughneck, TF Sword, fought through a complex attack alongside of Swedish Quick Reaction Force while conducting a route reconnaissance mission northwest of Forward Operating Base Deh Dadi II, Aug. 15.
A squad of Sappers was scouting a village road when they began to receive mortar rounds and small arms fire. “We hit the ground as the rounds exploded around us,” said Staff Sgt. Rafael Bruno, the platoon sergeant of 1st Plt., 1014th Sapper Company, TF Roughneck, TF Sword, from Bayomon, Puerto Rico. Bruno positioned his men into a 360-degree defensive perimeter and had the soldiers scan their sectors. They reported enemy moving all around as bullets either snapped over their heads or impacted on their position.
“I thought to myself, ‘No, this isn’t happening,’ after the first explosion,” reflected Spc. Roberto Ortiz, a combat engineer with the 1st Plt., 1014th Sapper Company, TF Roughneck, TF Sword, from Bronx, N.Y. “But once [we were] in the ditch, our training kicked in; our perimeter was set; and we were ready to develop the situation.”
Ortiz said they turned off all radios except for one to conserve on batteries, controlled their water consumption, and communicated with each other to relieve the stress. Ortiz chuckled as he recollected a moment of one of his buddies in the ditch. “Spc. Gary Maldonado rolled over and asked Staff Sgt. Bruno for a cigarette. Sgt. Bruno was shocked. He looked at Maldonado and said, ‘You don’t smoke.’ and Maldonado said, ‘Today, I do.’”
Recalling another aspect of the encounter, 1st Lt. Anthony Santiago, 1st Plt., 1014th Sapper Company, TF Roughneck, TF Sword, the platoon leader from Orocovis, Puerto Rico, mentioned sending two gun trucks to suppress the enemy and recover his men. Sgt.
Hector Mendez, a combat engineer with the 1st, Plt., 1014th Sapper Company, TF Roughneck, TF Sword, from Carolina, Puerto Rico, continued where Santiago left off. “As we got to the gun trucks, I noticed fuel leaking from under one of them. Staff Sgt. Bruno set up security for me. I grabbed the leaking section, cut it off, and reconnected the line. It started right up.” Finally, Bruno and Mendez squeezed into the gun truck, and they quickly linked up with the rest of the platoon.
“Everybody did a great job,” concluded Mendez. “Everybody was a hero that day.”
| Date Taken: | 08.24.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 09.30.2011 08:10 |
| Story ID: | 77819 |
| Location: | BALKH PROVINCE, AF |
| Web Views: | 312 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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