Marine Raider awarded for valor in Afghanistan [Image 2 of 3]

CAMP LEJEUNE, NC, UNITED STATES

07.10.2020

Photo by Gunnery Sgt. Lynn Kinney 

Marine Forces, Special Operations Command

A Marine Raider was awarded the Silver Star Medal for heroic actions while deployed to Afghanistan in 2019, at a ceremony aboard Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune. July 10, 2020. The master sergeant and Critical Skills Operator, was serving as a Team Chief with 2nd Marine Raider Battalion in support of Operation Freedom’s Sentinel when his team was engaged by enemy combatants. According to the award citation, during a heliborne raid into difficult enemy-controlled terrain in Southern Afghanistan, he led his team of Marine Raiders and partner nation forces in four hours of close combat with more than a dozen Taliban fighters occupying defensive strongholds. The Team Chief exposed himself to enemy fire to lead an assault across 30 meters of open terrain, attacking Taliban fighters entrenched in a bunker with his rifle and hand grenades. While he and his team took accurate enemy fire, the Team Chief again exposed himself by climbing on top a building to employ a roof charge in order to recover a wounded Afghan soldier. With enemy fighters barricaded just a few feet away, he heroically pulled the wounded man to a covered position in a valiant attempt to save his life, while allowing his team to engage the barricaded fighters with fragmentation grenades.

• Date Taken: 07.10.2020
• Date Posted: 07.14.2020 08:23
• Photo ID: 6273063
• VIRIN: 200710-M-IR546-389
• Resolution: 1207x791
• Size: 682.79 KB
• Location: CAMP LEJEUNE, NC, US