Sergeant Gregory La Fleur & Staff Sergeant Kenneth Kam saving the world
Two Army sergeants were awarded the Soldiers Medal for their “heroism not involving actual conflict with an enemy”. The first is Sergeant Gregory La Fleur of the 7th Special Forces Group who earned the medal for subduing a gunman on Eglin Air Force Base, despite the gunman’s repeated attempts to ventilate the good sergeant.
Staff Sergeant Kenneth Kam of the Combat Training Company, 43rd Adjutant General Battalion at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri was supervising a soldier on his grenade range firing line when the young soldier failed to get her grenade over the blast wall. Thinking quickly, SSG Kam extricated himself and the young soldier from the pit when the grenade rolled back to them in the three seconds it takes for a grenade to explode after the pin pulled. Neither of them were injured.
Thanks to Chief Tango for the links
Category: Real Soldiers
Way to go!
You could never have convinced me to be a pit NCO for a bunch of basic training kids. I remember the NCOs that were the pit NCOs at Benning. They all seemed a little….off.
Perhaps a slingshot would help the young lady throw the thing a little further?
Anyway, kudos to both of these men.
And the poor bastard that didn’t throw the grenade right is STILL in the front leaning rest position…
Seriously, I wonder if he will get thrown out now?
SHE failed to clear the pit wall.