American Heroes in Special Operations Page 18

  The driver pulled out of the back of the convoy and squeezed past the other vehicles, whose gunners were also probing the mountainside with their heavy weapons, trying to slow the volume of enemy fire. They were still having trouble identifying the well-hidden Taliban positions. Torrisi joined them, firing an M240G machine gun as they swerved around the rest of the vehicles in the convoy. But they were still seventy-five yards short of the three lead vehicles taking all the fire when the road became too narrow to pass, stopping their forward progress. Enemy machine gun fire raked the ground between Torrisi and those he was trying to reach. He closed his eyes for a moment and thought of his family back at home. Then he thought of his friends, wounded and trapped in the kill zone. He picked up his weapon and yelled, “I’m going in.”

  The gunner in the turret looked back at him and shouted, “Good luck.” Torrisi took a deep breath and jumped down out of the back of his vehicle, sprinting across the “beaten zone” where enemy fire was kicking up geysers of dirt. Taliban fighters saw him right away and he could hear incoming rounds snapping by his head as he ran.

  He slid in behind the third GMV like a baseball player dodging a throw at home plate. He looked in the open back door and saw a man hit in the arm and shoulder. He’d already been bandaged up and looked like he would survive for a while, so Torrisi pushed off and ran for all he was worth to the second vehicle in the convoy, the one which had been driven by Sgt Bolaños. He found Bolaños cradling Shoenheit, who had a bullet embedded in his skull. Torrisi’s eyes went wide when he saw brain matter squeezing out the entry wound. He shouted over the din of battle to Bolaños, “We’ve gotta get him out of here quick.” Schoenheit was conscious, but disoriented and unable to speak. Bolaños jumped into the driver’s seat and began backing the vehicle out of the kill zone very slowly while Torrisi put pressure on Schoenheit’s wound and tried to reassure him everything was going to be okay.

  The enemy was shooting down from such an elevated position that rounds kept coming in through the open gun turret and bouncing around inside the vehicle. Angry now, Torrisi picked up a rifle with an M-203 grenade launcher attached and started sending 40-mm high-explosive grenades up through the hatch back at the enemy. The unorthodox procedure worked and the rain of explosives projectiles landing on the Taliban positions above had the desired effect. The rounds coming in through the hatch stopped.

  MARSOC Marine checks out a cave in Afghanistan

  When the truck had backed up as far as it could, others came to help with Shoenheit. Torrisi grabbed his aid bag and again sprinted through the kill zone up to the lead vehicle, where he found Captain Strelkauskas, Gunny Mosser, the medic, Anthony Shattuck, SSgt Guendner, and several others, including the body of his friend, Ssgt Heredia. But there wasn’t time to grieve.

  Though Shattuck was in very bad shape, he was still working on his own wounds. Torrisi took over and immediately patched up the sucking chest wound so his mate could breathe. He also reinserted the needle into his chest cavity to relieve the fluid buildup on that lung.

  “Hey!” someone shouted. “I wouldn’t stand there if I were you!” Torrisi looked up to see another friend, Army Special Forces medic, Sergeant First Class John Crouse. Crouse, busy putting pressure on a bloody bandage on his own leg, yelled, “Hey, I was standing right where you are when they shot me!” But Torrisi didn’t have a lot of options for where to stand—there were seven men huddled behind that GMV and he had to keep working on Shattuck. He’d already jabbed that huge needle between the wounded Corpsman’s ribs half a dozen more times to keep him breathing.

  Just seconds later Torrisi suddenly realized he should have heeded Crouse’s warning, The Taliban bullet felt like he’d been jabbed in the buttocks with a hot poker. But he couldn’t let go of Shattuck at that moment to tend to his own wounds.

  “Here, I got you covered,” shouted one of the Marines, giving Torrisi a chance to shift his body around so another Marine could bandage his backside while he continued to keep pressure on Shattuck’s sucking chest wound. Though it was painful, Torrisi figured a bullet in the butt wasn’t going to kill him right away. He also knew if they didn’t get Shattuck to a hospital quickly, he wasn’t going to make it.

  Mosser took in the news, then nodded and picked up his handheld GPS unit. “Be right back.” He sprinted from cover back into the open where his Global Positioning System could get an unobstructed view of the sky. He stood there, stock-still allowing the little device to lock on to the satellites, while he ignored the enemy fire zipping through the air around him. Once the GPS had a good fix on their position, he ran back to cover. He then called the coordinates in on his radio and ordered an air strike run on the mountainside. When the aircraft checked in overhead, he shouted to the others, “This is gonna be danger close. Keep your heads down.”

  The bombs shook the mountainside, sending geysers of flame and debris into the air, while Torrisi draped his body over Shattuck, doing his best to shield his friend from debris and shrapnel. As he painfully stood up, he realized the enemy guns had gone silent. He stopped to listen and for the first time in over two hours, nobody was shooting at them.

  Gunny Mosser was listening to the chatter over the radio. “Medevac helicopters are inbound. Let’s get these guys out of here.” Torrisi nodded. Ignoring the pain in his backside, he grabbed Shattuck by the legs. Another Marine got him under the arms, and two others picked up SSgt Guendner in similar fashion. Half expecting the enemy to open up on them again, they hustled the two wounded men out of the kill zone, carrying them all the way to the rear of the convoy where a Black Hawk medevac helicopter found a place to set down.

  They wanted Torrisi to get on the helicopter with the rest of the wounded, but since he was the only one of the medical personnel still walking, he refused. Instead, he hobbled back up the road treating other walking wounded—Afghan commandos and American alike.

  When they finally got everyone out of the kill zone, Captain Strelkauskas called for more air strikes with two-thousand-pound bombs on the hillside. An after-action battle damage assessment counted forty dead Taliban fighters. Schoenheit had a bullet surgically removed from his brain and was flown back to the states, where he faces years of therapy. Jeremy Torrisi was offered a flight home as well, along with some time off to recover from his gunshot wound. But he refused and stayed in theater another four months.

  For his actions during the engagement, John Mosser was awarded the Navy Cross, while Captain Stelkauskas and Doc Torrisi were both presented with the Silver Star. Sergeants Shoenheit and Bolaños each received Bronze Stars with “V” device for valor.

  When asked about their awards, they all say the same thing: They didn’t do what they did, for an award. They did it for each other.

  Sgts Sam Shoenheit and Carlos Bolaños

  NAVY CROSS:

  STAFF SERGEANT JOHN S. MOSSER, UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS

  The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Staff Sergeant John S. Mosser, United States Marine Corps, for extraordinary heroism in connection with combat operations against the enemy while serving as Team Sergeant, Marine Special Operations Company H, Second Marine Special Operations Battalion, U.S. Marine Corps Forces, Special Operations Command, in support of Operation Enduring Freedom on 26 June 2008. While maneuvering through restrictive terrain to prosecute a time-sensitive high-value target, dismounted patrol members were engaged with heavy volumes of high-angle automatic and sniper fire. Within seconds, two Marines lay wounded in the kill zone unable to seek cover. With disregard for his own safety, Staff Sergeant Mosser maintained keen situational awareness and calm under fire as he rushed to the aid of the nearest Marines. He single-handedly dragged the wounded Marine over thirty-five feet to a covered position and administered first aid. With the entire patrol desperately pinned down, one Marine killed, and five more severely wounded, Staff Sergeant Mosser devised a plan to
break contact and extract his team. While adjusting close air support, he personally shielded and moved the wounded Marine through the kill zone a second time to safety. He then ordered the extraction of the remaining twenty-two members trapped in the ambush. As he instructed the team to move, Staff Sergeant Mosser exposed himself repeatedly to enemy fire and engaged the enemy until all members were safe. By his courageous actions, bold initiative, and total devotion to duty, Staff Sergeant Mosser reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and of the United States Naval Service.

  Maj Danny Strelkauskas, commanding officer of Force Company, 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, pins the Navy Cross on Gunnery Sgt John S. Mosser.

  SILVER STAR:

  CAPTAIN DANIEL A. STRELKAUSKAS, UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS

  The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Captain Daniel A. Strelkauskas, United States Marine Corps, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action against the enemy as Mission Commander, Marine Special Operations Company H, Second Marine Special Operations Battalion, U.S. Marine Corps Forces, Special Operations Command, in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, on 26 June 2008.

  While conducting a time-sensitive mission, the dismounted patrol Captain Strelkauskas was leading came under heavy machine gun and sniper fire from entrenched positions. He began immediate actions to move his team to cover as the patrol began taking casualties. With complete disregard for his own life, and under heavy fire from more than a dozen positions, Captain Strelkauskas ran deeper into the kill zone to drag a wounded Marine across open terrain to a covered position.

  With multiple fragmentation wounds to his hands and rounds ricocheting near his position, and with the enemy machine guns delivering devastating fire and preventing the movement of casualties, he ordered a critical Close Air Support deployment of two-thousand-pound bombs well within danger close parameters. This provided enough suppression of the enemy force to allow the relocation of the wounded to a consolidation point where five friendly Wounded-in-Action and one friendly Killed-in-Action were evacuated.

  Upon completion of the evacuation, Captain Strelkauskas coordinated follow on air strikes resulting in an estimated forty enemy killed in action, including several mid-level Taliban leaders. Through his tremendous courage and extraordinary battlefield leadership, he guided his team out of a complex and well-orchestrated ambush executed by an entrenched enemy.

  By his bold initiative, undaunted courage, and complete dedication to duty, Captain Strelkauskas reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and of the United States Naval Service.

  Maj Daniel Strelkauskas, right, shakes the hand of Maj Gen Richard Mills after Mills presented him with the Silver Star for his heroic actions in Afghanistan.

  SILVER STAR:

  HOSPITAL CORPSMAN FIRST CLASS JEREMY K. TORRISI UNITED STATES NAVY

  For service as set forth in the following Citation: The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Hospital Corpsman First Class Jeremy K. Torrisi, United States Navy, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action against the enemy as Team Corpsman, Marine Special Operations Company H, Second Marine Special Operations Battalion, U.S. Marine Corps Forces, Special Operations Command, in support of Operation Enduring Freedom on 26 June 2008. Petty Officer Torrisi courageously exposed himself to accurate fire numerous times when his company was pinned down in a mountainous draw by withering fire from a concealed enemy position. After several Marines and other medical providers were hit by enemy fire, he ran into the kill zone with total disregard for his own safety to provide desperately needed aid. After stabilizing one Marine and dragging him to cover, he ran back through a hail of bullets to the side of a fellow Corpsman and began to administer life-saving medical care. Petty Officer Torrisi was subsequently shot in the leg but continued treating casualties for several hours while refusing medical treatment for his own injuries. Under intense fire, while simultaneously directing the evacuation of the wounded Marines and Sailors, he laid down suppressive fire until every team member had evacuated the kill zone. His actions ultimately saved the lives of four of his teammates, and his courage and quick thinking prevented further loss of life. By his relentless resolve, courageous fighting spirit, and unwavering dedication to duty, Petty Officer Torrisi reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.

  Maj Gen Paul E. Lefebvre, the commander of U.S. Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command presents Chief Petty Officer Jeremy K. Torrisi, a hospital corpsman with 2nd Marine Special Operations Battalion, with the Silver Star Medal.

  "Shura"-a town meeting with local tribal leaders

  THE BATTLE FOR AZIZ ABAD

  HERAT, AFGHANISTAN

  Sometimes the heroes lose, even when they win.

  In the war in Afghanistan, the Taliban have consistently bested the Coalition in one very important area: the media battle space. In August 2008 our FOX News combat coverage team was eyewitness to such an event. Though the battle was a spectacular tactical victory, it became a strategic loss because the Taliban did a better job at getting out their side of the story.

  A Taliban sentry fired the first shots shortly after 2:30 a.m. as Afghan Commandos and U.S. Special Operations Command troops breached the outer gates of the walled compound at Aziz Abad. Though the Marine Special Operations Team employed a daring deception to achieve surprise, they were engaged by gunfire from AK-47s and machine guns almost immediately after entering the compound.

  The target was a Taliban commander named Mullah Siddiq. United States Special Forces and Marine Special Operators had been tracking him for months. Credible information received after a “Shura”—a town meeting with local tribal leaders—revealed the timing and location of a Taliban meeting. The intelligence was confirmed painstakingly and U.S. Special Operations Command officers sat down with their Afghan Commando counterparts to carefully plan a “capture-kill mission” with the goal of taking several key Taliban leaders into custody. Cameraman, Chris Jackson and I accompanied the raid force.

  Gunnery Sergeant Joseph Parent, the #2 MARSOC operator on the mission was wounded shortly after they burst into the compound. A Taliban fighter on a rooftop opened up directly above the breach element, hitting the Gunnery Sergeant in the leg. The bullet entered his Achilles tendon and exited the bottom of his foot.

  Taliban fighters on the rooftops, concealed from the team on the ground, were clearly visible on the thermal scope aboard a USAF MC-130 Combat Talon aircraft orbiting overhead. The overhead imagery was transmitted via satellite radio to the Joint Tactical Air Controllers with the assault and support elements and they quickly called in a burst from its 20-mm cannons.

  The heavily-armed AC-130 Hercules is crewed by capable special-operations airmen.

  At that point the second half of the assault element—members of the 7th Special Forces Group and additional Afghan Commandos arrived on the scene. As they attempted to enter the Taliban compound, they too were engaged by insurgent fighters. Once again the JTAC called in fire from above. For the next 2 1/2 hours, the 207th Afghan Commandos and their U.S. Army and Marine counterparts were in a running gunfight with heavily armed Taliban fighters inside the walled compound. When enemy combatants on rooftops and in narrow alleyways could not be dislodged by fire from U.S. and Afghan troops on the ground, they were hit by supporting fire from manned and unmanned aircraft overhead.

  Getting ready for a night op

  By dawn 22 August, the compound was finally secured. Several dozen noncombatants—women, children, and old men—were segregated and guarded by an Afghan commando security element. Throughout the engagement, Jackson and I watched as noncombatants were humanely treated, provided with medical attention, and q
uietly questioned about what they knew.

  To those of us who were there, it appeared that the commandos and their American advisers achieved a stunning success. Gunnery Sergeant Parent was the only friendly casualty, a senior Taliban leader and twenty-five of his fighters were dead. One of the houses turned out to contain much more than anticipated—large stockpiles of arms and ammunition, a major cache of IED-making material including explosives and detonators. Because the quantity of contraband was too large to carry off, a representative sample of the material was loaded aboard commando trucks and an engineer placed a small explosive charge on top of the remainder. When the charge detonated it set off a large secondary explosion that literally brought the house down.

  The search element also found communications equipment, terrorist training paraphernalia, thousands of dollars in cash, and the biggest shocker—care packages mailed from the United States and meant for the Special Operators from friends and family members at home. Apparently the Taliban had an agent inside the base who was stealing boxes of cookies before they could be delivered to the intended recipients.

  After the compound was secure, we accompanied the ODA team sergeant through the entire objective. We counted about twenty-five bodies, all armed, and apparently all military-age males. The commandos also discovered two wounded females—apparently a mother and her child. They were gently treated by a Special Operations medic and quickly evacuated to a hospital as the commandos withdrew from the objective. As our cameras recorded, the mission was a success due to careful planning and measured application of firepower. It appeared to be a major victory.