Face of Defense: Woman Soldier Receives Silver Star

Face of Defence ^ | Spc. Micah E. Clare, USA

[SandRat]

BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan, March 24, 2008 – Heroes are made, not born. And a hero like Army Spc. Monica Brown, 19, is no different.

Army Spc. Monica Brown, a medic from the 782nd Brigade Support Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, stands over Forward Operating Base Salerno in Khowst province, Afghanistan. Brown is the second woman since World War II to earn a Silver Star for gallantry in combat. (Photo by Spc. Micah E. Clare, USA  
(Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available.

Brown, recognized for her gallant actions during combat in Afghanistan in 2007, is the second woman soldier since World War II to receive a Silver Star, the third highest award given for valor in enemy action. She received the medal from Vice President Richard B. Cheney during a ceremony here March 20.

It was dusk on April 25, 2007, when Brown, a medic from the 82nd Airborne Division’s 782nd Brigade Support Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, was on a routine security patrol along the rolling, rocky plains of the isolated Jani Khail district in Afghanistan’s Paktika province when insurgents attacked her convoy.

“We’d been out on the mission for a couple of days,” said Brown, who at the time was attached to the brigade’s 4th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment’s Troop C. “We had just turned into a wadi (empty river bed) when our gunner yelled at us that the vehicle behind us had hit an (improvised explosive device).”

The soldiers looked out of their windows in time to see one of the struck vehicle’s tires flying through the field next to them. Brown had just opened her door to see what was going on when the attack began.

“I only saw the smoke from the vehicle when suddenly we started taking small-arms fire from all around us,” she said. “Our gunner starting firing back, and my platoon sergeant yelled, ‘Doc! Let’s go.’”

Brown and her platoon sergeant, Staff Sgt. Jose Santos, exited their vehicle, and while under fire, ran the few hundred meters to the site of the downed Humvee.

“Everyone was already out of the burning vehicle,” she said. “But even before I got there, I could tell that two of them were injured very seriously.”

In fact, all five of the passengers who had stumbled out were burned and cut. Two soldiers, Spcs. Stanson Smith and Larry Spray, suffered life-threatening injuries.

With help from two less-injured vehicle crewmen, Sgt. Zachary Tellier and Spc. Jack Bodani, Brown moved the immobile soldiers to a relatively safe distance from the burning Humvee.

“There was pretty heavy incoming fire at this point,” she said.

“Rounds were literally missing her by inches,” said Bodani, who provided suppressive fire as Brown aided the casualties while injured. “We needed to get away from there.”

Attempting to provide proper medical care under the heavy fire became impossible, especially when the attackers stepped up efforts to kill the soldiers.

“Another vehicle had just maneuvered to our position to shield us from the rounds now exploding in the fire from the Humvee behind us,” Brown said. “Somewhere in the mix, we started taking mortar rounds. It became a huge commotion, but all I could let myself think about were my patients.”

With the other vehicles spread out in a crescent formation, Brown and her casualties were stuck with nowhere to go. Suddenly, Santos arrived with one of the unit’s vehicles and backed it up to their position, and Brown began loading the wounded soldiers inside.

“We took off to a more secure location several hundred meters away, where we were able to call in the (medical evacuation mission),” Brown said.

She then directed other combat-life-saver-qualified soldiers to help by holding intravenous bags and assisting her in preparing the casualties for evacuation.

After what seemed like an eternity, Brown said, the attackers finally began retreating, and she was able to perform more thorough aid procedures before the helicopter finally arrived to transport the casualties to safety.

Two hours after the initial attack, everything was over.

In the darkness, Brown recalled standing in a field, knee-deep in grass, her only source of light coming from her red head-light, trying to piece together the events that had just taken place.

“Looking back, it was just a blur of noise and movement,” the Lake Jackson, Texas, native said. “What just happened? Did I do everything right? It was a hard thing to think about.”

Before joining the Army at the age of 17, the bright-eyed young woman said she never pictured herself being in a situation like this. Originally wanting to be an X-ray technician, she changed her mind when she realized that by becoming a medic, she’d be in the best place to help people.

“At first, I didn’t think I could do it,” she said. “I was actually afraid of blood. When I saw my first airway-opening operation, I threw up.”

She quickly adjusted to her job and received additional training both before and during her deployment to Afghanistan.

“I realized that everything I had done during the attack was just rote memory,” she said. “Kudos to my chain of command for that. I know with training, like I was given, any medic would have done the same in my position.”

“To say she handled herself well would be an understatement,” said Bodani, who quickly recovered from his injuries and immediately returned to work. “It was amazing to see her keep completely calm and take care of our guys with all that going on around her. Of all the medics we’ve had with us throughout the year, she was the one I trusted the most.”

Earning trust with a combat unit is not something easily earned, said Army Capt. Todd Book, Troop C’s commander at the time of the attack, but it was something Brown had taken upon herself to prove long before the Jani Khail ambush.

“Our regular medic was on leave at the time,” Book said. “We had other medics to choose from, but Brown had shown us that she was more technically proficient than any of her peers.”

Having people call her “Doc” means a lot to Brown because of the trust it engenders.

“When people I’ve treated come back to me later and tell me the difference I was able to make in their life is the best part of this job,” she said.

During her rest and recuperation leave in May, Brown visited Spray in the hospital and met his mother.

“I almost cried,” Brown said. “Spray’s mother was so thankful, and she hugged me. That was the moment that made me feel the best about what I did.”

Even though she felt proud when she was informed that she was going to receive a Silver Star, she considers her actions to be the result of effort put into her by everyone she’s worked for.

“While I’m not scared to get my hands dirty, I have to say that I never fully became a medic until I came over here and did it first-hand,” she said. “I just reacted when the time came.”

Due to her quick and selfless actions, both Smith and Spray survived their injuries.

(Army Spc. Micah E. Clare serves with the 82nd Airborne Division’s 4th Brigade Combat Team Public Affairs Office.)

Related Sites:
Silver Star

Related Articles:
Cheney Thanks U.S. Troops Serving in Afghanistan

	Army Spc. Monica Brown, a medic from 782nd Brigade Support Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, is the second woman since World War II to earn a Silver Star award for gallantry in combat. Photo by Spc. Micah E. Clare, USA   Download screen-resolution    Download high-resolution
	Army Spc. Monica Brown, a medic from 782nd Brigade Support Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, stands in the hallway of the Forward Operating Base Salerno hospital in Afghanistan. Brown is the second woman since World War II to earn a Silver Star award for gallantry in combat. Photo by Spc. Micah E. Clare, USA   Download screen-resolution    Download high-resolution
	Army Spc. Monica Brown, a medic from 782nd Brigade Support Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, takes another soldier's blood pressure reading at the hospital on Forward Operating Base Salerno, Afghanistan. Brown is the second woman since World War II to be awarded a Silver Star for gallantry in combat. Photo by Spc. Micah E. Clare, USA   Download screen-resolution    Download high-resolution
	Army Spc. Monica Brown, a medic from 782nd Brigade Support Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, takes an Afghan boy's blood at the hospital in Forward Operating Base Salerno, Afghanistan. Brown is the second woman since World War II to be awarded a Silver Star for gallantry in combat. Photo by Spc. Micah E. Clare, USA   Download screen-resolution    Download high-resolution

[SandRat]

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[cubreporter]

Congratulations!

[mirkwood]

Shouldn’t it read “soldier wins silver star”.

[monkeycard]

Bravo!

[SandRat]

Nope. No one save a fool sets out to “WIN” a medal. Soldiers receive them as awards for their unselfish conduct and valor.

Except for Kerry and his Purple Hearts.

[fr_freak]

This woman sounds like a credit to the Army, but I have to ask why we have female personnel out on security patrols. Have we lifted the ban on women in combat? She should not have been there.

[AFreeBird]

Congratulations to Brown!

But I have a question regarding the award. And I only ask because I DON'T KNOW, and this account is probably too little information.

But I've read accounts of others in battle who, on the face of this account, would seem more heroic(?), but have only received the Bronze Star. A medic tending to wounded while taking fire, close fire, is to be sure, damn heroic. But do they all receive Silver Stars? (they probably should!)

Again, I'm not trying to dispute, or imply that Spc. Brown is not worthy of this award and recognition; I'm sure the guys she saved don't.

Just curious as to medal award criteria.

[SandRat]

It’s the new PC ethos.

[SandRat]

After 20+ years serving I still couldn’t understand the workings or thinking of the Awards Review Boards.

[rednesss]

The wording is slightly different between the two. The bronze star says it is earned by "distinguished himself or herself by heroic or meritorious achievement or service" and the silver star is earned by "is cited for gallantry in action against an enemy of the United States while engaged in military operations involving conflict with an opposing foreign force".

The difference seems to be between gallantry in action and distinguishing oneself in action.

Dictionary definition of gallantry: Nobility of spirit or action; courage.

[AFreeBird]

Thanks for the info.

I guess I understand. My simple understanding was along the lines of: Bronze/Silver and Star. Bronze being an alloy, and a lessor metal, while Silver is an Element and a greater (value wise) metal, means that a Silver Star would be the top award in the "Star" line.

If that makes any sense.

th But from reading Red's definitions; it's two different awards. A subtle difference perhaps, but different none the less?

[SandRat]

Go to http://www.tioh.hqda.pentagon.mil/Awards/Ribbons/OrderofPrecedence.htm and starting at the top left and reading to the right is the order from the Highest to the lowest. Click on the Name bar under the ribbon of the one you’re interested in to see the history and the requeirements for awarding.

[ops33]

I agree, she earned her award as a Soldier, not as a woman.

[Centurion2000]

I’d be interested to see the citations side by side for both women.

[TNdandelion]

It sounds like she was right where she was supposed to be.

[AFreeBird]

Great, thanks!

Now, if you could just explain why all rank insignia are silver (for non BDU/subdued) but for the rank that shares the oak leaf; the lessor rank (major) is signified by the greater metal (gold) and the higher rank (Lt. Co.) is a silver oak leaf.

Then there's the Maj. Gen (two star) and Lt. Gen. (three star), when a major outranks a lieutenant.

It just seems illogical and bassackwards to me. Though I'm sure there's some traditional and historic reasons for it.

I asked a friend (Army Lt. Col retired) about it once, but it was at a busy bar, and I don't recall getting a satisfactory answer. ;)

[SandRat]

scratch-scratch-scratch,.. now that’s got me going through my dusty cob web infested memory,.. scratch-scratch-scratch,..

[rabidralph]

Do you know any MEN who are available to take her place?

[AFreeBird]

LOL. Don’t sweat it. Don’t want to disturb all the cobs. I guess it’s one of those convoluted Army things.

[fr_freak]

What’s your point?

[swmobuffalo]

“What’s your point?”

the point is she is a SOLDIER. She did a SOLDIER’S job. Who cares whether she’s a female or whether she shouldn’t have been there. Quite obviously she was in the right place at the right time with the right training and DID THE JOB RIGHT.

[El Gato]

Shouldn’t it read “soldier wins silver star”.

No, it's not a contest. You receive it, or are awarded it. You don't "win" it.

Unless you meant that "woman" should have been left off. I'd agree with that, except that someone recieving a Silver Star is news, but not big news. This a man bites dog type story, just due to the rarity of a woman receiving this medal.

I know one guy, AF F-4 pilot, with a Silver Star, which he didn't he deserved.

I know another with the Medal of Honor, and although reading the citation, I think he deserved it, he is somewhat ambivalent about it. You'd know him too, if I gave his name, which I will not.

[fr_freak]

Calm down. Everything is going to be OK.

[NucSubs]

Excellent.