Ranger Staff Sgt. Michael Young earns Silver Star
Devtun sends us a link to Stars & Stripes which reports that Ranger Staff Sgt. Michael Young was awarded a Silver Star for his heroics performed on April 27, 2017 at Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province.
Throughout the fight, the noncommissioned officer displayed an “extraordinary ability to maintain composure in a terrifyingly chaotic situation,” his award citation reads.
Young, 28, was ultimately credited with saving the lives of 22 Rangers, according to the citation.
It’s an award that Young, a member of elite 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, never anticipated receiving, he told Stars and Stripes on Friday following the ceremony. But the honor served to validate the importance of that mission and the sacrifices made by Sgts. Joshua P. Rodgers and Cameron H. Thomas, who were killed during the operation.
Category: Real Soldiers
I read about reluctant and real heroes like this young man and people like Braddy piss me off even more.
Ditto, and well said.
BZ!
Quote from the article:
Spoken as a true hero.
Saved 22? This award should be upgraded to M.O..H. imho!
Bravo Zulu Staff Sergeant!
He is credited with saving the lives of 22 Rangers? This SS may very well be upgraded. What a hero and all the more reason I despise posin’ pieces of shit.
Well done Staff Sergeant Young! Damned eell done.
SSG Young demonstrates a real life example of:
Rangers Lead The Way
Five tours in the ‘stan!
God Bless, Michael. Stay safe!
Well Done SSG Young!
There is absolutely no reason it should take a YEAR to give someone an award.
Say what you will about the Russians, but in WW2 they were pinning medals on their soldiers while their guns were still hot from firing.
Agreed!!!
Silver Stars get investigated by an officer appointed by the Divisional Commander. That takes a while. And everything approved for the attached narrative have to have at least two witnesses and accompanying sworn statements.
“Silver Stars get investigated by an officer appointed by the Divisional Commander. That takes a while.”
It takes a while because it’s not a priority.
I remember when The USMC had the “Warfighting” MCI that SNCOs were required to take. It had to be graded by an Officer or a SNCO who had taken the course.
When I did mine I worked at MCRD for a Captain who was absolutely outstanding about being task oriented and getting shit done. I would hand it to him in the morning and he would have it graded and mailed off to MCI HQMC by 1300.
When I got to my next unit there were SNCOs who would turn these in and they were lucky to have them sent in within two months.
I had a fellow SNCO whose Platoon Commander was sitting on his so I told him to Bring it to me. I’d get it graded by the next day.
I also had a Company Commander who would get tasked with investigating recruit allegations from other Battalions that involved getting statements and interviews from several recruits and Marines,, often up to 20 or 30. He was a full time commander and thorough as hell ( He ended up getting out and working for the FBI) It usually took him under 3 days to have them done.
No fucking excuse for an award taking that long.
It takes a while because it’s not a priority.
What he said.
Awards Clerk was one of my jobs. I was probably a 5wpm typist at the time, and the Bn CO was very aggressive in getting awards to soldiers. (Peacetime, mid eighties)
They got done. Timely.
I have to infer that either the pipeline is jammed, or broken.
I would take a wild guess that reports of social interactions and of mindless trivia are getting the priority on clerk time, because politics.
And -that- is just -wrong-.
Lol it took the marine corps 3 years to input my CAR, 2 of which after I was out. It’s not even on my DD214 but in the database. US military awards are god damn ridiculous.
This is what a Silver Star should be awarded for. Well done.
Meanwhile, GEN Perkins, TRADOC, got a Silver Star as LTC, as a Bn Commander, for his battalion being the first to Baghdad in 2003. I guess Officers can get meritorious Silver Stars, despite regulations.
During Desert Storm our Battalion CO and Sgt Major wrote each other up for Silver and Bronze Stars respectively.
The CO got his for calling in Air and Artillery on a Orchard full of retreating Iraqis. He called it in himself despite having his Air Liason Officer and two SNCO FO’s plus a gaggle of lower ranking enlisted FO’s and RTOs working the mission up for him and perfectly capable of doing it themselves.
The Sgt Major got a Bronze Star for shooting an Abandoned BMP with a Mk-19 after he told the Cpl and L/Cpl manning it to get out the way.
GEN Perkins just retired last month. A water walker who was featured in a good book Thunder Run & got enormous press from the cable news talking heads. I guess being first matters – even Silver Star worthy.
The race was on by the Army & Marines to have the honor of being first to take Baghdad, and it wasn’t the Marines. From what I gathered, the Marine generals including then MajGen Mattis ,commander of the 1st MarDiv, were unhappy campers about the publicity the Army forces were getting pushing into Baghdad. MajGen Mattis even fired a regimental commander, a bird colonel, for perceived lack of aggressiveness. Yeah everyone is on the same team & under the same flag, but service prestige & pride matters a whole helluva lot.
I hear the Marines were demotivated because they were told that Sadaam prohibited Crayons in Baghdad.
Probably an Army Signal guy was the first boots eer…loafers on the ground.
Yes, I too believe that star will be up graded. A true United States Army hero.
I take my hat off to you.
I read the quote provided by Stars & Stripes, reportedly from the citation and it struck me as odd. Here it is again: “Throughout the fight, the noncommissioned officer displayed an ‘“extraordinary ability to maintain composure in a terrifyingly chaotic situation,”’ his award citation reads.”
SSG M. Young was not awarded the Silver Star for keeping his wits. His was awarded the Silver Star for gallantry and for saving the lives of 22 fellow Rangers and dispatching the enemy in a 4-hour plus fight. He braved accurate enemy fire to take the highest point in the LZ and called and directed air support danger close, exposing himself to enemy fire to eliminate the enemy and protect his men.