Sergeant First Class Richard Harris awarded Silver Star
Devtun sends us a link to Military.com and the story of Sergeant First Class Richard Harris who was caught in an ambush with his special forces team sergeant Master Sgt. Danial “Slim” Adams;
Almost immediately, Adams took a burst of PKM fire — suffering wounds to his wrist, thigh and neck – and was thrown from his ATV within meters of the enemy line.
Harris recalled the area around them suddenly came to life with the sounds and flashes of close gunfire. “My mindset was, ‘Holy crap. We’re in deep trouble,'” he remembered.
“At the time, I didn’t know what happened,” Harris said. “I just saw him kind of dive off/fall off his ATV.”
Harris aborted his path and veered up a small hill to take cover between two buildings. Harris, under intense enemy fire, fired his M-4 rifle and grenade launcher at the enemy, all the while calling out to his team sergeant below.
Adams died of his wounds on that Sept. 13, 2011, but Harris spent the rest of the battle aggressively attacking the ambushing insurgents while guarding the body of his team sergeant at significant risk to his own life, according to the release.
The Army Times has a more detailed recitation of Harris’ actions that day that you should read.
Category: Real Soldiers
Wonder if he sings a great “MacArthur Park”, too? (smile)
Seriously: well done, SFC Harris – damn well done. Kudos.
Showing your age there Hondo! This Richard Harris exemplifies all that is good in a man.
RIP MSG Adams. How men under withering fire don’t shite their pants is incredible. Almost 5 yrs For SFC Harris to be awarded silver star…was GEN Pusstraeus the approving authority & paperwork somehow got lost/diverted ?
LTG Ken Tovo is one of the best looking GOs I’ve ever seen…right out of central casting.
Funny hoW GOs awards are approved very quickly. They will get a Silver Star for flying around in a C&C bird 2500 feet above the actual battle. But the actual warriors wait years for awards that I’m sure they really didn’t want to Begin with.
Badass
Good write-up at the Army Times; all these guys are BAMFs. Thanks for the link, Jonn.
So WTF did it take almost five years to recognize the hero? Is our Army that f’d up?
Yes!
Definitely–but he was neither a private nor a corporal at the time of the fight, so the debate probably centered on his expected leadership, that he was only doing what he was expected to do. It’s the new Army, one in which ARCOMs are issued for reporting what a soldiers says on FaceBook.
The Army of one!