CommunityEditor
03-30-2009, 09:28 PM
For 2nd Lt. Nicholas Eslinger, it was instinct.
On Oct. 1, Eslinger, a platoon leader in Charlie Company, 2nd Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, and about 12 of his soldiers were on a dismounted patrol in Samarra, Iraq, when a grenade was thrown into their formation.
Eslinger ran toward the grenade, which was about six feet away, and covered it with his body.
“I saw the hand grenade come over the wall,” he said to an Army broadcaster on March 16. “I quickly did a hop, skip and a jump and landed on my side, pinning the grenade against the ground and into my chest, and kind of in one motion, as quickly as I could, I grabbed the grenade and threw it towards the wall that it came from.”
Eslinger yelled for his men to take cover and the grenade exploded.
“It’s not something that I thought about,” Eslinger said. “If I would have thought, things would not have happened so well.”
His actions that day saved the lives of at least six of his soldiers and earned him a Silver Star, the Army’s third-highest award for valor.
Eslinger, a West Point graduate who is now a first lieutenant, received his Silver Star from Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey during a ceremony March 16 at Fort Campbell, Ky.
Three other soldiers, all of them from 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, also received Silver Stars during the same ceremony.
Staff Sgt. Mark Quigley
On Jan. 8, 2008, soldiers from 1st Platoon, Alpha Company, 2nd Battalion, 327th Infantry, conducted a dismounted reconnaissance patrol of a suspected al-Qaida patrol base southwest of Samarra.
As Quigley, a squad leader, and his soldiers began their search of the dense terrain, which included navigating through 10-foot high reeds, they were ambushed.
Sgt. David Hart, who was in front with Quigley, fell during the initial attack, and Quigley immediately fired his M4 and threw two grenades.
Quigley continued to fire, using four magazines to suppress the enemy’s advance. He then began low-crawling, forcing the thick reeds to his side as he fought under fire to reach Hart.
Quigley decided to break contact so that he could get more ammo and reinforcements.
Quigley, out of breath and heart racing, moved out of the dense reeds and told his platoon leader that Hart was severely wounded. Quigley then got more ammo and told his platoon leader about enemy positions that needed to be destroyed. The platoon members reoriented their crew-served weapons, suppressing the enemy.
Quigley assembled a four-man team and led them “back into certain danger ... to rescue his fallen comrade,” according to the narrative.
Not long after they entered the reeds, Quigley and his team came under AK-47 and hand grenade attacks.
The soldiers finally reached Hart, freed him from his body armor and controlled his profuse bleeding before carrying him to safety. Medics at the scene were able to stabilize Hart, but he died of his wounds while being evacuated, according to the narrative.
Pfc. Ivan Merlo and Pfc. Phillip Pannier also were killed that day.
Spc. Raphael Collins and Pfc. Brendan Quinn
Collins, Quinn and six other soldiers from C Troop, 1st Squadron, 32nd Cavalry Regiment, were serving as their squadron’s aerial reaction force during an air assault mission near Balad, when they were called to interdict a group of six men.
It was Jan. 16, 2008, and the unidentified men were trying to flee the objective area of the squadron’s air assault. Aerial observers were unable to determine if the men were armed, and as Collins and his team landed, the men took cover in a clump of brush in a barren field lined with irrigation ditches.
Unknown to the soldiers, the clump of brush was a weapons cache containing six AK-47s, numerous magazines and at least two fragmentation grenades.
Collins and 1st Lt. Tim Hanson ordered the men to surrender. When the men didn’t, the soldiers, believing the men were unarmed, moved to detain them.
That’s when the men fired their weapons at close range and threw the grenades. The fire was so intense that the weapons of three of the soldiers were struck by small-arms fire or grenade fragments.
Quinn and his teammate, Pfc. Danny Kimme, dropped to return fire, but Kimme was fatally struck in the head.
The rest of the team was pinned down in the field.
Quinn continued to engage the enemy, by Kimme’s side, in the open, 10 meters from the enemy.
Collins was shot through his left shoulder with the bullet leaving an exit wound the size of a small fist. The impact knocked him on his back and his M4 was destroyed.
Collins rolled backward from the enemy, “rapidly realized that his team could be decimated in the open field, and immediately stood up, assaulted directly into the enemy position firing his 12-gauge shotgun, killing two,” according to the narrative.
Collins and Staff Sgt. Christopher McGraw, who also had been wounded by bullets and shrapnel, moved to a position behind Quinn.
Quinn crawled back to them, administered first aid and immediately crawled back into the fight by Kimme’s side, where he was once again engaged, at less than 15 meters, by enemy fire, according to the narrative.
Collins and McGraw called in support from the UH-60 Black Hawks that had dropped them off. Quinn continued to fire his weapon as the helicopter crews flew in and killed the remaining enemy fighters.
Three soldiers — Kimme, Pfc. David Sharrett, and Spc. John Sigsbee — died that day.
Collins, who is now a sergeant, was evacuated to Landstuhl, Germany, but three weeks later, he was back in Iraq with his unit.
Quinn also is now a sergeant.
Collins said he was humbled by the Silver Star.
“All I really can say is some days you eat the bear, some days the bear eats you,” he said. “You don’t really think much — you just do.”
Article: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/03/army_silverstars_032909w/
On Oct. 1, Eslinger, a platoon leader in Charlie Company, 2nd Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, and about 12 of his soldiers were on a dismounted patrol in Samarra, Iraq, when a grenade was thrown into their formation.
Eslinger ran toward the grenade, which was about six feet away, and covered it with his body.
“I saw the hand grenade come over the wall,” he said to an Army broadcaster on March 16. “I quickly did a hop, skip and a jump and landed on my side, pinning the grenade against the ground and into my chest, and kind of in one motion, as quickly as I could, I grabbed the grenade and threw it towards the wall that it came from.”
Eslinger yelled for his men to take cover and the grenade exploded.
“It’s not something that I thought about,” Eslinger said. “If I would have thought, things would not have happened so well.”
His actions that day saved the lives of at least six of his soldiers and earned him a Silver Star, the Army’s third-highest award for valor.
Eslinger, a West Point graduate who is now a first lieutenant, received his Silver Star from Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey during a ceremony March 16 at Fort Campbell, Ky.
Three other soldiers, all of them from 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, also received Silver Stars during the same ceremony.
Staff Sgt. Mark Quigley
On Jan. 8, 2008, soldiers from 1st Platoon, Alpha Company, 2nd Battalion, 327th Infantry, conducted a dismounted reconnaissance patrol of a suspected al-Qaida patrol base southwest of Samarra.
As Quigley, a squad leader, and his soldiers began their search of the dense terrain, which included navigating through 10-foot high reeds, they were ambushed.
Sgt. David Hart, who was in front with Quigley, fell during the initial attack, and Quigley immediately fired his M4 and threw two grenades.
Quigley continued to fire, using four magazines to suppress the enemy’s advance. He then began low-crawling, forcing the thick reeds to his side as he fought under fire to reach Hart.
Quigley decided to break contact so that he could get more ammo and reinforcements.
Quigley, out of breath and heart racing, moved out of the dense reeds and told his platoon leader that Hart was severely wounded. Quigley then got more ammo and told his platoon leader about enemy positions that needed to be destroyed. The platoon members reoriented their crew-served weapons, suppressing the enemy.
Quigley assembled a four-man team and led them “back into certain danger ... to rescue his fallen comrade,” according to the narrative.
Not long after they entered the reeds, Quigley and his team came under AK-47 and hand grenade attacks.
The soldiers finally reached Hart, freed him from his body armor and controlled his profuse bleeding before carrying him to safety. Medics at the scene were able to stabilize Hart, but he died of his wounds while being evacuated, according to the narrative.
Pfc. Ivan Merlo and Pfc. Phillip Pannier also were killed that day.
Spc. Raphael Collins and Pfc. Brendan Quinn
Collins, Quinn and six other soldiers from C Troop, 1st Squadron, 32nd Cavalry Regiment, were serving as their squadron’s aerial reaction force during an air assault mission near Balad, when they were called to interdict a group of six men.
It was Jan. 16, 2008, and the unidentified men were trying to flee the objective area of the squadron’s air assault. Aerial observers were unable to determine if the men were armed, and as Collins and his team landed, the men took cover in a clump of brush in a barren field lined with irrigation ditches.
Unknown to the soldiers, the clump of brush was a weapons cache containing six AK-47s, numerous magazines and at least two fragmentation grenades.
Collins and 1st Lt. Tim Hanson ordered the men to surrender. When the men didn’t, the soldiers, believing the men were unarmed, moved to detain them.
That’s when the men fired their weapons at close range and threw the grenades. The fire was so intense that the weapons of three of the soldiers were struck by small-arms fire or grenade fragments.
Quinn and his teammate, Pfc. Danny Kimme, dropped to return fire, but Kimme was fatally struck in the head.
The rest of the team was pinned down in the field.
Quinn continued to engage the enemy, by Kimme’s side, in the open, 10 meters from the enemy.
Collins was shot through his left shoulder with the bullet leaving an exit wound the size of a small fist. The impact knocked him on his back and his M4 was destroyed.
Collins rolled backward from the enemy, “rapidly realized that his team could be decimated in the open field, and immediately stood up, assaulted directly into the enemy position firing his 12-gauge shotgun, killing two,” according to the narrative.
Collins and Staff Sgt. Christopher McGraw, who also had been wounded by bullets and shrapnel, moved to a position behind Quinn.
Quinn crawled back to them, administered first aid and immediately crawled back into the fight by Kimme’s side, where he was once again engaged, at less than 15 meters, by enemy fire, according to the narrative.
Collins and McGraw called in support from the UH-60 Black Hawks that had dropped them off. Quinn continued to fire his weapon as the helicopter crews flew in and killed the remaining enemy fighters.
Three soldiers — Kimme, Pfc. David Sharrett, and Spc. John Sigsbee — died that day.
Collins, who is now a sergeant, was evacuated to Landstuhl, Germany, but three weeks later, he was back in Iraq with his unit.
Quinn also is now a sergeant.
Collins said he was humbled by the Silver Star.
“All I really can say is some days you eat the bear, some days the bear eats you,” he said. “You don’t really think much — you just do.”
Article: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/03/army_silverstars_032909w/