Archive for the ‘Hero Of The Week’ Category

As the Infantry Headquarters Company Commander of during a 2005 to 2006 deployment to Iraq, U.S. Army Major David Bursac spent much of his time in the field working with the Iraqi Police in the town of Hawijah, located near Kirkuk in Northern Iraq.

We were primarily responsible for being out there, providing security for the locals in the area, training up the Iraqi Security Forces, as well as conducting Counter Insurgency operations, Bursac said, taking a positive spin on a challenging job.

The battalion’s mission, said Bursac, “was to provide a secure environment within the Hawijah area, while simultaneously developing the capabilities of the local Iraqi Security Forces [Army and Police] so that the ISF could assume full responsibility for the securing their own area of operations.”

Daily operations, said Bursac, included dealing with IEDs, daily enemy contact, securing check points, helping the Iraqi Security Forces, and targeting insurgent forces in the area.

When he wasn’t supervising Iraqi police on patrol in the field, Bursac focused on headquarters activities, such as training Iraqi Army Soldiers, and Iraqi Army Police on the forward operating base (FOB).

It was a job which was a “combination of frustrating at times, and rewarding at times,” he said.

“It was certainly a challenging task,” he said, but it was ultimately satisfying “to see the progress we made in building up the Iraqi Security forces, and knowing we helped the Iraqis.”

Another one of the smaller challenges of the position, Bursac said, came from the language barrier between the American and Iraqi Soldiers, he said. While there were many interpreters on hand to translate and communicate, it got complicated when a third language was introduced: military terminology.

Working with and getting to know the Iraqi Army Soldiers and Police was interesting, said Bursac, who was commissioned in 1999.

“It was interesting considering that it was a diverse cross section of Iraq,” he said. “Some of them had been enlisted in the former army in the former regime. Some were the same forces that we were fighting 2003. But some were just regular guys looking to feed their families and make their country better.”

At the end of the day, Bursac said, he found they were alike in many more ways than he had thought.

“Once we were able to put the Iraqi Soldiers and Police in the lead and empower them with more responsibility, they were able to take that and go from there. That was the key overall. “Holding them accountable for securing their own country gave them a sense of ownership in the job they were doing,” he said.

“Being away from home,” said Bursac, was the biggest challenge of the deployment.

“The hardest thing about any deployment is the separation from family and friends,” he said, but cited how improved internet access, telephones and other Army support systems helped to mitigate that hardship.

“Overall, keeping everyone focused on the mission and not letting feelings of being separated get in the way of staying focused, is what’s important,” he said.

“The most important thing,” he said, “is to get the job done.”

Bursac earned a Bronze Star for his service during the deployment.

Article Source:  http://ourmilitaryheroes.defense.gov/profiles/bursacD.html

Master Gunnery Sergeant Peter Proietto of the U.S. Marine Corps was faced with a tough decision on March 12, 2003. He could leave his position and seek cover from the enemy ambush, or he could stay in position. Though it would risk his own life, if he stayed he could continue to provide suppressive fire to protect the other Marines in the forward element of the patrol.

Proietto chose to stay in position.

The patrol had been traveling outside of the village of Bara Waze, Afghanistan that afternoon when the Taliban fighters, well armed with an array of weaponry, ambushed.

Proietto had immediately manned the machine gun on his vehicle to lay down suppressive fire on the enemy and to  provide supporting fire to the lead element of the patrol, which had been pinned down by the heavy enemy fire.

As the firefight progressed, a heavy crossfire from the enemy mounted against Proietto “to a point of intensity that was amazing” states the narrative the accompanies his award citation. Proietto earned a  Bronze Star with ‘Valor’ for his actions that day.

That’s when the Team Sergeant, Master Sergeant Clopp advised him to abandon his position and seek cover, since he was firing from a non-armored vehicle on an open road, and the enemy was concentrating their fire on him.

Proietto knew that if he abandoned his position the forward element would be left on their own with no supporting fire. So he ignored his own safety and refused to leave his position even though everything around him, including his vehicle, was being shot up in the enemy crossfire.  He could continue to lay down a steady stream of suppressive fire on the enemy, which he did for almost an hour, and silenced two enemy machine gun positions.

Proietto held his position for almost an hour through intense fire and silenced two enemy machineguns.  When his machinegun ran out of ammunition, he grabbed his M4 carbine and began to engage the enemy and spot enemy positions for the gunner.

Eventually the enemy was pushed out of their positions. A running firefight through the mountains ensued until after dark at which time the patrol broke contact and reconsolidated.

“Throughout this engagement…Proietto displayed himself in a courageous professional manner and his heroic and immediate response to enemy fire and willingness to jeopardize his own safety to provide supporting fire for the rest of the team demonstrated a level of dedication to the mission and his fellow soldiers, which is rarely surpassed,” the award citation states. “His actions and selfless courage under fire was instrumental in the success of the operation and the safe return of all U.S. and Afghan militia forces.”

Article Source:  “Our Military Hereos” and to hear his interviews”

Posted by Bacon on February 4th, 2010 filed in Hero of the week

Where were you in 1970? I was in junior high school.

Sergeant Major Caffie was in Vietnam. When he first flew in, “It was 10 p.m. at night. You would see the tracers coming in, you could see the tracers going out. It makes you think ‘this is the real deal.” (From DefenseLink)

He survived Vietnam. eventually left active duty and went to school on the G.I. Bill while staying on the rolls in the inactive reserves. But he soon discovered that he missed the camaraderie of military service and joined the active reserves – officially the U.S. Army Reserves – in 1974.

Thus continued a career that spanned four decades of service, including a recent deployment to Iraq where, as Command Sergeant Major for the 377th Theater Support Command, he was responsible for 43,500 Soldiers.

He retired last month, bringing a long and distinguished Army career to an end.

Thank you, Sergeant Major, for your service. Others have the watch now, many of whom were touched by your inspirational leadership. Sergeant Major Caffie is our hero of the week.

(There is a great interview on the DefenseLink website, during which he describes his affection for the Soldiers he served with, as well as the respect he has for the U.S. military.)