Sgt White to be awarded Medal of Honor

[agonyea]

No date set on the award of the MOH to Sgt White,I am humbled by this report:



http://thisainthell.us/blog/?p=43559

SGT (r) Kyle White to Receive Medal of Honor at White House Ceremony on 13 May 2014




On Tuesday May 13th, 2014 SGT (r) Kyle White will be awarded the Medal of Honor at a ceremony held at the White House. SGT White will receive the award for his actions on 9 November 2007 during an ambush near the village of Aranus in Nuristan Province of eastern Afghanistan. It's been such a long time coming.

I find it disheartening that if one searches the internet for information about that fateful day one basically comes up empty. In anticipation of the announcement of Kyle's award I asked one of his closest friends, Kain Schilling, who was with him that day to write something for me to share so that folks could know about Kyle's actions. Kain was a SPC and a Forward Observer at the time. He has since been medically retired from the Army due to his wounds from that day. The Pentagon will soon release both the Battle Scape and the Citation but for now here is a little bit about the battle from Kain Schilling.

Our mission of 9 November 2007 was supposed to be just another shura (meeting) with the local elders of the village of Aranus in Nuristan Province of eastern Afghanistan. My unit, Chosen Company, 1st Platoon fo the 173rd ABCT, 2-503rd, started to move from Outpost Bella to the village of Aranus during the night of Nove 8th. The hump was close to 4 kilometers straight line but there is no straight line in the mountains of Nuristan Province. The plan was to make it to the school in Aranus that night and spend the rest of the night there. Then in the morning of Nov 9th we would meet with the elders and return back to Bella.

Everything seemed to go as planned on Nov 9th up until the meeting. The meeting took a couple of hours more than what was originally planned. Also there were more fighting age males in the village and the ICOM chatter that our interpreter and ETT (SGT Bocks) picked up was a different language than was normally used in the area. This threw up red flags to us. As I stated before we had noticed that there were a lot of younger men in the village. I remember thinking, at the time, that at least they are here and not set up in the mountains. Oh how I wish that had been true. After Marine SGT Bocks picked up the ICOM chatter he told our LT (Lieutenant Ferrara) that we should be leaving now.

As we started back to Bella we noticed some of the men from the village following us and then they split off and headed up to a high trail. Our patrol order was LT Ferrara, SPC White, Me, SGT Bocks, and then the ANA. White was the RTO, so both of us had a radio. We didn’t imagine there was any way we would lose communication (COMS) since we had 4 radios between LT Ferrara, SPC White, SGT Bocks, and I right? We were about half way back to Outpost Bella when all hell broke loose. I remember hearing a couple of cracks and instantly knowing what was happening but I couldn’t tell where it was coming from. The enemy launched a 3 pronged attack. From my knowledge they attacked from above, in front and across the valley.
Before getting into the meat of what I remember happening, let me paint a picture of the area where this took place in. The trail we were on was very narrow. On the right was a cliff going straight up. To the left was a cliff going straight down. The terrain was rocky shale, rough as shit, nowhere to go. As soon as I thought about where those shots are coming from, an instant barrage of AK, PKM and RPG fire came raining in on us. SPC White and I turned to head to a rock we had previously passed. SPC White was laying down as much suppressive fire as a full auto M4 will. Just as SPC White emptied his first magazine we both were hit by an RPG blast. I was dazed. SPC White was knocked out and had received shrapnel to his face. After regaining consciousness we both made it behind cover and tried to orient ourselves and find out where all the incoming fire is coming from. The first thing I wanted to do was get some kind of fire support out to try to gain fire superiority. I discovered that I had NO COMS. Neither did SPC White.

Without having time to dwell on why COMS were down I started to get a burning sensation in my lungs. SPC White and I were having difficulty breathing. While we were trying to figure out what exactly was happening we were extremely pinned down and we were both thinking that we were actually getting gassed. The burning was so intense and it was so hard to breath that I figured it had to be gas, I could not believe it.
I didn’t notice this at the time, but our radios had been shot out. The bullets must have hit the lithium batteries stored in the radios which explained the immense amount of gas that White and I were breathing in. At this point our plan for communication with Bella Outpost was shot. After I realized they had disabled our radios by the blasts from the incoming rounds, I realized I couldn’t feel my arm. I thought it had been blown off. I moved down the trail a bit and went into a prone position behind the smallest tree on earth. Just as I got there SPC White came to my aid. He had left his relative, well, “ok” cover to come and help me. SPC White ran through some of the most intense fire I had seen to come and help me. It wasn’t a huge shock to see him coming to me because that is just the kind of guy he is. Ever since the Ranch House I knew no matter what, SPC White would be there for me and I would be there for him. He reached my position and applied a tourniquet to my arm as my humorous bone was shattered. To me the most amazing thing about this sequence is the fact that SPC White applied first aid while the tiny tree we were using as cover was being shredded by incoming rounds.

I’m not sure when SGT Bocks was hit but it was during the time that SPC White was giving me first aid that he noticed that SGT Bocks, who was about 10 meters from our position in the open, had been hit and was too wounded to make it to us. I continued to try to get COMS with one arm (still not knowing my radio has been shot out) as SPC White was running out to get SGT Bocks. SPC White attempted to get to SGT Bocks multiple times but was unsuccessful because the amount of fire he would attract towards SGT Bocks. As SPC White was still trying to get SGT Bocks, the rounds were impacting around his feet. I could see the impacts when those rounds would hit the shiny shale rock. Each impact would make terrifying sparks to say the least. After several attempts to cross the 10 meters between SPC White and SGT Bocks, he was finally able to reach Bocks and pull him to a relatively safe position. SPC White did everything he could to stop the bleeding but, despite his efforts, Marine SGT Allen Bocks succumbed to his wounds. SPC White was willing to sacrifice his life to get a fellow service member no matter branch, no matter how well he knew him. He was going to help in any way he could.
At one point SPC White looked over and saw the impact of a round to my leg as it shot a puff of ACU out. He then moved to me and took his belt off and used it as a tourniquet and slowed the bleeding. SPC White eventually got a working radio from SGT Bocks and made COMS. As he was heading back to me a massive impact hit and knocked SPC White down. The blast felt like someone just punched you in the nose. At first I thought it was an RPG but later found it to be a friendly 120mm mortar. I heard the radio keying up and I yelled to Kyle to get the radio after thinking he might not get up. But he did.

In addition to the above account SPC White helped call in Close Air Support (CAS), and fire support. He took control of SGT Bocks and directed an ANA element to secure our position and all sensitive items. Amazingly he guided in the medevac to our location, which seemed impossible with the terrain. Kyle saved my life and many others as well as putting himself in harms way for myself and Bocks multiple times.
6 Americans were Killed in Action that day. Out of all of the Americans alive I think all but one was wounded.