Sgt. Felipe Pereira to be awarded DSC today
We need a break from the phonies today, and who better than SGT Pereira, a dual citizen of the US and Brazil.
According to the Army, Sgt. Felipe Pereira will be awarded the Distinguished Service Cross today for his actions in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan, Nov. 1, 2010.
He was serving with Combined Task Force Strike when his unit came under heavy fire. Then a specialist, Pereira and his squad were returning from a dismounted patrol in Senjaray, Afghanistan, when a suicide motorcycle-borne explosive device detonated in the middle of his squad as they attempted to enter their combat outpost.
Two Soldiers were killed instantly, while four others were severely wounded, including his squad leader and fellow team leader. Pereira sustained shrapnel wounds to his spleen, liver, and left lung.
While Soldiers struggled to gain situational awareness, the enemy initiated a complex ambush, firing on the patrol from an estimated seven fighting positions with small arms and rocket-propelled grenades.
His lung beginning to collapse, Pereira struggled to breathe. But he refused medical treatment and instead commandeered an all-terrain vehicle and moved back into heavy enemy fire to provide an evacuation platform for his wounded comrades.
Pereira was able to move the vehicle within 20 meters of his fellow Soldiers, who were pinned down by enemy fire, but he was unable to gain effective cover. He immediately provided suppressive fires from the vehicle, allowing two of his fellow Soldiers to move two casualties to the vehicle.
As bullets ricocheted off the vehicle and nearly missed Pereira, he continued to provide fire direction for the remaining Soldiers on the ground. he then quickly pulled the vehicle back into the entrance of the outpost, where medics were standing by to receive the casualties.
Pereira helped move the casualties to care, then moved back into enemy fire a second time to continue evacuating and directing his fellow Soldiers. He is credited with saving the lives of two of his fellow Soldiers, while risking his own on multiple occasions. Only after all of the wounded Soldiers had been evacuated and were receiving medical care, did he accept treatment himself.
Category: Real Soldiers
Wow! Now that is the story of a true American hero. So nice to see someone get the recognition they deserve.
My Lord.
Words sometimes fail me. This is one of those times.
Well done, Sergeant. And yes – you are in fact a hero.
So good to see that some people actually earn praise and plaudits. Thanks for posting this. Makes me feel a lot better than just to read about phonies.
Bravo Zulu, Sergeant.
And to the phonies out there–no way in hell you’ll ever have the balls to do one-tenth of what this man went through, you cowards.
ROCK ON!
The greatest heroes are not usually ‘ordinary people caught in extraordinary circumstances’, some individuals do indeed stand head and shoulders above the rest.
Thank you for your service SGT Pereira, and for demonstrating a dedication all should aspire to.
Hey Guys,
Long time civilian lurker here with a question I’m hoping you can help me with. Who decides what decoration someone gets and how? The reason I’m asking in this post is I’ve read MOH citations that didn’t appear as heroic as what I read above… and he gets the DSC. I’ve also read about people getting the Silver Star for things comparable to this. Now his heroism has absolutely everything to do with what he did and absolutely nothing to do with what he got for it, but I was curious about the procedure for awards and any info you could give would be welcome.
Thanks,
-Ed
Indiana Ed: The answer to your question is actually surprisingly complex, but I’ll give it a shot. Award approval authority varies with the award, and is often different in peacetime and wartime. What I’m about to discuss below is wartime approval authorities for Army decorations, but I’m pretty sure the policies of the other services are similar. During peacetime, levels of approval authority tend to be higher. Wartime awards such as the MOH/DSM/SS/BSM are only rarely awarded during times when peacetime rules anyway. 1. For the MOH, the POTUS is the approval authority. Current regulations don’t allow that authority to be delegated. 2. For the DSC, the Secretary of the Army and officials formally delegated by him (if any) are the approval authority. A 4-star Army Force CG may also approve award of the DSC if wartime awards criteria have been activated. Further delegation is not authorized. 3. For the SS, LM, DFC, and SM, a 4-star Army Force CG is the approval authority. Authority to award the SS, DFC, and SM may be delegated down to commanders at the 3-star level; LM approval authority may not. (Dunno why there’s a difference for the LM.) 4. For the BSM, AM, and ARCOM, approval authority is at the 3-star level, but may be (and generally is) delegated down to the 2-star command level (this includes BGs serving in 2-star command positions). ARCOM approval authority may be further delegated down to the COL/O6 command level. 5. For the PH, approval authority can be (and routinely is) delegated down to hospital commanders and GO commanders. It technically can be delegated to any field grade commander whose HQ has the authority to issue orders. (Extracted from Table 3-6, AR 600-8-22, dated 11 Dec 2006) Any commander in the chain-of-command can also be delegated disapproval authority, as well as downgrade authority to awards within their approval authority. (It’s my understanding that such delegation of disapproval/downgrade authority is also routine.) For example, a 3-star commander could be delegated authority to disapprove or downgrade DSC recommendations to the SS. Interim awards are also sometimes made. An example… Read more »
Damn. Last sentence of comment 8 above should read “during periods when peacetime rules are in effect anyway”.
Sheesh, I’m just not hitting on all cylinders today. Comment 9 was referring to the last sentence of the 2nd para of comment 8.
Thank you Hondo, that helped alot (you weren’t kidding about complex though)
Outstanding! First 101st recipient?
Test
I met SGT Pereira recently while in Brazil, and he is a very humble and simple person. Good for you SGT Pereira, enjoy your time in Brazil.
BZ SGT. God bless you, your troops, the US Army, and your family.