Patriotic Photos
July 13, 2008 | |
 |
Although Army Capt. Greg
Ambrosia's tour at a
secluded combat outpost in
Afghanistan was somewhat
primitive, with few luxuries
and the bare essentials, his
mission of counterinsurgency
was quite complex. Ambrosia,
executive officer of Company
A, and his troops often
found themselves patrolling
the rugged Pech Valley and
surrounding areas for days
at a time with little
contact with the rest of the
world. However, on Sept. 25,
2007, they encountered a
Taliban force that not only
outnumbered but surrounded
them.
Ambrosia and his men set up
a makeshift outpost after a
nighttime air assault into
the valley. The troopers
made contact with the enemy
early the next morning,
receiving a hail of
rocket-propelled grenades
and gunfire. But they
couldn't spot where exactly
the attack was coming from,
he said.
“We spotted an enemy scout
and eventually made contact,
but he was able to
[disengage and communicate]
our location to other
fighters in the valley,”
Ambrosia explained.
Ambrosia's element had a
translator monitoring the
enemy communication with a
basic one-way radio. After
the initial contact, it was
quiet for about 45 minutes.
The interpreter continued to
monitor the radio, and
Ambrosia learned that the
scout was coordinating with
other enemy fighters in the
area to launch an attack, he
explained.
Soon there were at least
three enemy elements with
three to five fighters each
closing in on the platoon.
So close, in fact, they were
in |
|
hand grenade range of his
troops, he said. |
| |
“At one point, I
started calling the vehicles in the valley to start shooting on our
position, because the enemy was too close to call in artillery or
mortar fire,” Ambrosia continued. “So we ended up having our guys
shooting on our own position.”
Even though Ambrosia and his men maintained some safety behind a
mound of rocks, the smoke from the mounted vehicle engulfed their
position. He began call for aerial support from AH-64 Apache
helicopters, he said.
Enemy radio traffic intercepted by Ambrosia's interpreter let the
paratroopers know the insurgents planned to overrun their position
and take them hostage, but they were able to repel the attack, he
said.
However, Ambrosia's radio requests for Apaches to provide aerial
support wouldn't arrive for another 45 minutes, he added.
“That's when it began to get really hairy,” he said. “The enemy was
getting really close and using hand grenades.”
Ambrosia's actions and direction of his men repelled the enemy
fighters long enough for the helicopters to arrive. The modest
captain said he doesn't know exactly how many enemies were killed,
but knows that two of his men were wounded. None were killed.
“I'm very thankful for that,” Ambrosia said.
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen
personally awarded Ambrosia the Silver Star in Korengal Outpost for
his valor under fire after running into a hail of enemy gunfire to
help save fallen comrades.
Excerpts from article by Army
Staff Sgt. Michael J. Carden
American Forces Press Service - July 12, 2008 | | |
|
|
