Army Ranger to be awarded MOH
Jeff Schogol, our ninja at the Stars & Stripes sends news that Sergeant First Class Leroy Arthur Petry will be the second living recipient from the current wars of the Medal of Honor on July 12th;
Leroy Arthur Petry was born on July 29, 1979. He is a native of Santé Fe, New Mexico and enlisted in the United States Army in September 1999. He attended Basic Training and Advanced Individual Training at Fort Benning, Georgia. Sergeant First Class Petry is currently assigned to the 75th Ranger Regiment and attached to Special Operations Command (SOCOM) with duty at Joint Base Lewis McChord as a liaison for the SOCOM Care Coalition where he tracks and monitors injured Rangers returning from the Theater of Operations to the initial place of care to home station care.
Petry has completed multiple combat tours to Afghanistan and Iraq totaling 28 months of deployment.
Updated from the Army News Service;
At the time of his actions in Afghanistan, Petry was assigned to Company A, 2nd Bn., 75th Ranger Regiment at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash. Petry’s actions came as part of a rare daylight raid to capture a high-value target.
On the day of the actions that would earn Petry the Medal of Honor, he was to locate himself with the platoon headquarters in the target building once it was secured. Once there, he was to serve as the senior noncommissioned officer at the site for the remainder of the operation.
Recognizing one of the assault squads needed assistance clearing their assigned building, Petry relayed to the platoon leader that he was moving to that squad to provide additional supervision and guidance during the clearance of the building.
Once the residential portion of the building had been cleared, Petry took a fellow member of the assault squad, Pvt. 1st Class Lucas Robinson, to clear the outer courtyard. Petry knew that area had not been cleared during the initial clearance.
Petry and Robinson, both Rangers, moved into an area of the compound that contained at least three enemy fighters who were prepared to engage friendly forces from opposite ends of the outer courtyard.
The two Soldiers entered the courtyard. To their front was an opening followed by a chicken coop. As the two crossed the open area, an enemy insurgent fired on them. Petry was wounded by one round, which went through both of his legs. Robinson was also hit in his side plate by a separate round.
While wounded and under enemy fire, Petry led Robinson to the cover of the chicken coop. The enemy continued to deliver fire at the two Soldiers.
As the senior Soldier, Petry assessed the situation and reported that contact was made and that there were two wounded Rangers in the courtyard of the primary target building.
Upon hearing the report of two wounded Rangers, Sgt. Daniel Higgins, a team leader, moved to the outer courtyard. As Higgins was moving to Petry and Robinson’s position, Petry threw a thermobaric grenade in the vicinity of the enemy position.
Shortly after that grenade exploded — which created a lull in the enemy fire — Higgins arrived at the chicken coop and assessed the wounds of the two Soldiers.
While Higgins evaluated their wounds, an insurgent threw a grenade over the chicken coop at the three Rangers. The grenade landed about 10 meters from the three Rangers, knocked them to the ground, and wounded Higgins and Robinson. Shortly after the grenade exploded, Staff Sgt. James Roberts and Spc. Christopher Gathercole entered the courtyard, and moved toward the chicken coop.
With three Soldiers taking cover in the chicken coop, an enemy fighter threw another grenade at them. This time, the grenade landed just a few feet from Higgins and Robinson.
Recognizing the threat that the enemy grenade posed to his fellow Rangers, Petry — despite his own wounds and with complete disregard for his personal safety — consciously and deliberately risked his life to move to and secure the live enemy grenade and consciously throw the grenade away from his fellow Rangers, according to battlefield reports.
As Petry released the grenade in the direction of the enemy, preventing the serious injury or death of Higgins and Robinson, it detonated and catastrophically amputated his right hand.
With a clear mind, Petry assessed his wound and placed a tourniquet on his right arm. Once this was complete, he reported that he was still in contact with the enemy and that he had been wounded again.
After the blast that amputated Petry’s hand, Roberts began to engage the enemy behind the chicken coop with small arms fire and a grenade. His actions suppressed the insurgents behind the chicken coop. Shortly after, another enemy on the east end of the courtyard began firing, fatally wounding Gathercole.
Higgins and Robinson returned fire and killed the enemy.
Moments later, Sgt. 1st Class Jerod Staidle, the platoon sergeant, and Spc. Gary Depriest, the platoon medic, arrived in the outer courtyard. After directing Depriest to treat Gathercole, Staidle moved to Petry’ s position. Staidle and Higgins then assisted Petry as he moved to the casualty collection point.
Higgins later wrote in a statement, “if not for Staff Sergeant Petry’s actions, we would have been seriously wounded or killed.”
Category: Breaking News, Real Soldiers, Terror War
Good on Petry, that’s awesome news. Now the Powers That Be need to pull their heads out of their asses, stop playing politics and get all the other MoHs out the door and into deserving hands.
R-A-N-G-E
Energetically will I meet my enemies. I shall defeat them on the field of battle for I am better trained and will fight with all my might. Surrender is not a Ranger word. I will never leave a fallen comrade under no circumstances will I ever embarrass my country.
R….
Hoo-rah, Petry. I have never forgotten the Ranger Creed…I may not have it perfect, but there it is. I learned it from two Rangers out of the 15th Regiment(?). Stellar dudes to say the least.
Damned skippy. Big ones. Freight train big ones.
RLTMFW.
Brave man. I think this would make him the first MOH recipient since the modern Ranger battalions were formed back in the 70s.
Hey NotSoOldMarine, some evidence please. I can only think of one other MOH potential recipient, and he will most likely be brought up shortly.
And “Stolen Valor” is not a crime? It is heroes like this that the sissies wish they were, (without the wounds of course).
RLTW
And “Defend USA” The Creed still lives.
re #5, It’s pretty common knowledge that the nomination process for the MoH is heavily politicized. You have to remember that, even though it’s got a lot better, there’s still an institutional competitiveness between services that sometimes slips into downright resentment. More so when press, medals and funding are involved. Keep in mind that awarding a medal of honor isn’t like other awards. You create a living legend when the Pres signs that paper. Leroy Petry will never gain be Leroy Petry, he will forever be Medal of Honor Winner Leroy Petry. That puts everything he does for the rest of his life under a microscope, everything he says put though a bullhorn. More so considering the politicization of the current conflicts. The last guy who got an MoH was a SSG who then got out and ran for Congress for christ’s sake. This leads to living nominees getting passed over and the dead getting to the front of the line. There’s defiantly an effort to “balance” awards between services and you can bet your bottom dollar that after Operation Red Wing there were a bevy of Admirals blowing up phones and beating down doors to get SOMEONE, anyone from the op an MoH because 12 SEALs were dead and nobody could give a good reason why. There’s also an effort to give awards to not just those who go above and beyond but those who saved someone or endangered themselves saving another. Simply exposing yourself and kicking seven sorts of ass doesn’t meet the political criteria for heroism any more, it’s not palatable to the public. Read this citation and tell me there shouldn’t be an MoH involved: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Chontosh Or any of the guys at the Battle of Shok Valley. An Air Force Cross and eight, yes eight Silver Stars. One SF guy had his leg amputated by sniper fire but continued to fight for hours and then climbed down a mountain with his leg tied to his belt by his bootlaces. Or Michael Carter who didn’t get one because he’s a combat cameraman. Read his Silver Star citation:… Read more »
The last guy who got an MoH was a SSG who then got out and ran for Congress for christ’s sake.
Sal Guinta ran for Congress? You might be thinking of FRANK Guinta, who never served (he’s my Congresscritter.)
SSG Guinta doesn’t leave active duty until next month, IIRC.
re #8,
I absolutely am thinking of Frank, my mistake.
I live in awe of men like this. God Bless him, and all who serve.
Congrat’s SFC Leroy Petry!
Not to nitpick, NSOM, but the Medal of Honor is not “won”, it is earned.
Sorry my hyperlink skills are horrible, your going to have to google on your own.
I had no idea that there was a effort to “balance” MOHs recipients amongst the services. That is simply impossible because the services don’t all have “equal opportunity” to possibly earn one. Merit and nothing more should be the only consideration of a possible nominee. Yes I knew members of congress could ask for a constituent service man to be reviewed, but most nominees were recommended by DOD.
I see your point about who gets MOHs and for what actions. Three of the four MOH Iraq recipients, got it for jumping on a grenade. Peralta a Marine Sgt, did the same but only received the Navy Cross. So what’s the standard?
There is never going to be a perfect formula however, because it is somewhat vague. I thought the rule of thumb was you had to do something not only brave but that meant almost certain death. This usually also required you to do something that significantly altered the fight. If we were to use the last as part of the criteria, most who received it recently would be disqualified.
I thought you were implying a conspiracy by the ARMY to deny a living Marine an MOH! Thats bullshit! That was my allusion to Dakota Meyer.
You mentioned Chontosh, go over to “From Cow Pastures to Kosovo” and look up SGT Takes. One tough Bastard! According to her the board split as to whether he diserved to get the DSC or the MOH. Take three guesses to which one he got. His actions stand at least as well as many of the recently fallen MOH recipients.
P.S. I think your mixing SSGT David Bellavia who was nominated for the MOH and ran in two primaries for congress, with Sal Giunta who is the only living recepient from either Iraq or Afghanistan.
re #13,
No, you’re right there isn’t equal opportunity which makes the balancing act that does go on silly. Yes the DoD does recommend the award through the chain of command but there is a review board at the Pentagon who vets all the nomination and then passes on their recommendations which are de facto decisions on what will or will not be awarded. The confusing standard of people getting things or not getting things based on the action (jumping on a grenade) is partly because some guys simply don’t get recommended by their chain of command or they don’t meet the litmus test for witnesses, etc. Often though guys just don’t make it out of the Pentagon committee for personal or political reasons.
When you see stories like Brad Kasal’s you know that MoH cites are getting torpedoed in the back rooms of the Pentagon.
If the MPs on your base were making frequent trips to your place between deployments for screaming matches with the wife they’ll look at that, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. They don’t need an MoH recipient to be on the front pages as “Medal of Honor Winner Arrested for Domestic Assault” and have it turn into some national discussion on the psychology of violence and PTSD. All this is part of the very political equation.
I suspect that Dakota Meyer will get the MoH too. It seems he truly deserves it but I think he’ll actually get his due recognition only because it’s the Marine Corps’ “turn” for an Afghan MoH.
Also, rereading my last post real quick it comes off as me insinuating that Kasal had DV issues which wasn’t my intention at all. I’ve never met him and don’t know anything about him, it’s just my poor prose.
This is incredible. As an ‘outsider,’ I have always been in awe of Army Rangers from the 75th Ranger Regiment. To me those guys have always been super heroes, not only one of the finest light infantry units in the world, but one of the finest group of athletes also.
#15
Yeah, well the chain of command kinda of fits into the larger vagueness I referred to earlier. Two different commands may have a very different view on what action(s) constitutes MOH consideration. Or for that matter, the awarding of other awards as well.
Nice discussion, our views are pretty close.
NSOM,
I remember reading about a Medic in the 101 that was wounded three trimes and managed to evacuate 15 people before he passed out from blood loss. He got a Silver Star, an I couldn’t help thinking in another war that might’ve been a MOH.
I won’t lie, I DO think saving another human being while under intense fire is heroic, and going through AIT at Ft Sam, myself and a few other guys I knew swore up and down that we’d never leave a man behind. I’m sorry to say more than one of the folks I know died. As a medic, when men are down, you do not think, and despite training that says otherwise, the patient always comes first. You’d rather die than let your guys down, and unfortunately that happens all too often.
having said that, there will be some guys that just defy what we think is possible. There was an SF team in Afghanistan that took out (with CAS) a regiment sized formation. I think the problem is that the war is not “Big” enough. The battles do not take place between thousands and thousands of men, it is usually small unit action, and while that might’ve cut the mustard in Vietnam, this war does not have the same impact on the American people. Personally I think its shameful that there are only two living MOH recipients. We need people we can talk to. The press above all needs to be reminded again and again that Valor,Bravery, Duty, Honor, Fidelity, and Sacrifice are not just words spoken by vain politicians, they are real things and they are not gone from this country.
There aren’t enough words for this kind of bravery.
And that’s one of the things I like best about TAH; we get to see the phonies, yes, but we also get to see the real ones, brave soldiers like SFC Petry.
Sorry, but this does not even come close to Medal of Honor status. Maybe a silver star at best. Ballsy behavior no doubt about it, but it just does not rise to that level of heroism.
USMC Steve, with all due respect, would your opinion be any different if SFC Petry had dove on top of the grenade instead of grabbing it and trying to throw it towards the enemy? I’m just curious that is all.
As a retired Mental Health therapist I have treated men with PTSD due to military service. I don’t think our government takes care of our service men and women like they should. War is HELL, our warriors come back from it forever changed. I think everyone that fights in a war is a HERO! As far as the MOH I don’t know the requirements for it. My grandson Dakata Meyer has been nominated for it. I don’t know if he will receive it or not. I just know he has been a hero all his life and will continue to be. GOD BLESS ALL MILITARY. Freedom isn’t free!