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FORWARD OPERATING BASE FENTY, Afghanistan (March 10, 2008) -
Army Sgt. 1st Class Michael Loetz recently received a Bronze Star
Medal for Valor for saving the life of an Afghan truck driver in
2007.
The story behind the rescue is both harrowing and
heartwarming.
The Distribution Platoon of Company F, 2nd Battalion, 503rd
Infantry Regiment, had just taken over combat logistics patrol
operations and were taking a load of ammunition to troops in the
Korengal Valley on May 30, 2007.
"I took over a platoon with a lot of brand-new privates with no
experience," said Loetz, a 37-year-old native of Charleston, S.C.
"The roads hadn't been improved at all. We were almost tearing the
doors off the trucks because it was cliff on one side, rocks on the
other."
Distro platoon's mission is to take vital supplies to locations
where supply helicopters can't get to. It will often use the
services of area Afghan drivers and their rugged vehicles nicknamed
"jingle trucks." Loetz's platoon delivers ammunition, mail and
everything in between to warfighters in these hard-to-reach
locations. It's a dangerous drive into the Korengal Valley.
"We got hit going up the road. It was just small-arms fire, but
the jingle truck in front of me got hit," Loetz said. A firefight
ensued, and the Afghan driver of the truck in front of Loetz got
out and crawled underneath the truck for safety. "We talked the
driver out from under the vehicle (after suppressing enemy fire),
got him back in the truck and continued on," Loetz said.
At the top of the hill where the load of ammunition was to be
dropped, Loetz talked with the Afghan driver and told him that as
long as he stayed with the platoon on the way back down, he would
make sure that the driver got to the bottom in one piece.
Then the worst happened.
"We got hit by an (improvised explosive device) on the way back
down," Loetz said. "At least three (rocket-propelled grenades) hit
the side of the cliff below my truck, and at least two hit the rock
wall above it."
The jingle truck in front of him took some small-arms fire,
tearing up its front end. "At that point, we were separated from
our lead element, and we couldn't drive around the jingle truck on
that narrow road," Loetz said.
Loetz's gunner was laying suppressive fire with a .50 caliber
machine gun. "I said, 'the hell with it,' and I got out of the
truck and went and grabbed the jingle truck driver," Loetz
explained. "He was hiding under the rear axle of his truck trying
to avoid getting hit again."
Despite the hail of gunfire, Loetz put his own life in jeopardy,
snatched the Afghan driver and threw him in the backseat of the
Humvee.
"He had no way to protect himself and no way to defend himself.
I had already promised him that we would take care of him," Loetz
said. "You just don't go back on a word like that. I knew that if I
didn't get him, he would stay right there and die."
The next step was to get the platoon back together and move down
the hill. "I was thinking that I needed to move the jingle truck
just enough to get my vehicle around it," Loetz said. "There was
just no room. So, I pushed it off the cliff."
Trying to push the truck off the cliff with a Humvee was not
feasible because of the possibility of damaging their ride out of
the valley. Loetz pushed the truck so that it would roll off the
side of the cliff. The jingle truck tumbled more than 100 feet to
the valley bottom.
Army Lt. Col. William Ostlund, commander of 2nd Battalion, 503rd
Infantry Regiment, talked about seeing the event unfold from the
battalion operations center on Camp Blessing. "I remember very
well, watching the video feed and watching as the truck rolled over
the cliff, thinking that it was one of our trucks and it took the
breath out of me," Ostlund said.
On the road, Loetz was getting his convoy back together. "We
were still taking small-arms fire, and I got back in my vehicle and
we were assessing the situation. By that time, Company A had moved
into an over-watch position and locked on the opposite side of the
valley," Loetz said.
The coordinated suppressing-fire effort gave the distribution
platoon the chance to get out of the kill zone and down the hill to
safety.
Ostlund recounted getting the good news that Loetz's convoy had
gotten out of the valley safely. "We got word that not only did we
not lose any soldiers from (Company F), but we didn't lose an
(Afghan) either. The local population is our center of gravity. We
need to maintain the love and affections of the population and
protect them. And if we put them at risk and don't do everything to
protect them, we're really not doing what we're supposed to be
doing here," Ostlund said.
The lanky platoon sergeant from whom those brand-new privates
had learned a valuable lesson said only: "It's what you train
for."
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