5 valor medals to spec ops team - Marine Corps News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Marine Corps Times

5 valor medals to spec ops team

In northern Afghanistan, where U.S. and allied forces are in short supply, you don’t have to go far to find the bad guys. So the members of Marine Special Operations Team 5 were on high alert as they walked along the muddy Afghan roads in Bagdhis province on Oct. 28, 2008.

Although it was a routine patrol, several operators involved said they had expected resistance, and that’s exactly what they got. Less than two miles from their forward operating base, the 17-member patrol was attacked by 40 to 50 insurgents firing rocket propelled grenades and machine guns.

Exposed, heavily outnumbered and surrounded by insurgent-infested houses to the west and south, they decided “to take the fight to the enemy,” said Staff Sgt. Mark Robinson, an element leader and one of five members of Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command to receive valor awards in a March 31 ceremony at Camp Lejeune, N.C.

Robinson received the Silver Star for his actions that day. Three Marines received the Bronze Star with V device: Gunnery Sgt. Jody Wagner, Master Sgt. Richard Wells and Capt. Christian Pfeffer. Chief Hospital Corpsman Joseph Clairmont received the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal with V device.

The Marines and corpsman had deployed in support of 2nd Marine Special Operations Battalion and were serving as part of a combined Afghanistan National Security Force and U.S. Special Operations Force combat reconnaissance patrol when they found themselves in a five-hour firefight against the enemy.

The team would suffer only a few injuries, and everyone would make it out alive.

But as the chaotic attack unfolded, the team members got separated. A handful of U.S. service members and two Afghans, led by Pfeffer, seized a nearby insurgent-held compound. The house offered little protection, though, as its walls began to crumble from repeated RPG attacks and bullets from the enemy’s AK47s and light machine guns ripped through the windows.

Wells tossed hand grenades to “repel numerous attempts by insurgent fighters attempting to gain entry into the compound” as then-Sgt. Robinson used his M249 Squad Automatic Weapon to hold off insurgents. Even when an RPG blast threw Robinson against a wall, he kept firing, according to his Silver Star citation.

About three-quarters of the way through the fight, a bullet tore through Pfeffer’s bicep. As Clairmont treated Pfeffer’s wound, the same insurgent fired again, hitting the corpsman in his helmet and knocking him down.

Robinson braved “enemy fire so that the team corpsman could treat the wound,” according to the citation, but Pfeffer was struck a second time in the wrist. Injured and “suffering from heavy blood loss,” Pfeffer “remained in command of his section throughout the fight, continuing to aid his fellow Marines by utilizing his uninjured arm to prepare hand grenades for them,” according to his citation.

Fought their way out

Realizing they were surrounded, Pfeffer ordered the team members to fight their way out of the compound.

“Sgt. Robinson fought a rear guard action against approximately 50 insurgents while moving over 800 meters, allowing his fellow team members to reach safety,” according to the citation. “His actions saved the lives of those Marines by allowing his isolated section to safely link up with the rest of the patrol.”

Wells and Wagner were also critical to the fight that day.

Wells “calmly” passed situational reports to “supporting friendly forces,” according to his citation.

Then-Staff Sgt. Wagner “crossed several danger areas, advanced on the enemy’s positions and cleared several enemy held compounds,” according to his citation. “He then came to the assistance of another patrol member who fell near him after being wounded,” his citation reads.