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Old 21 September 2018, 19:55
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Thumbs up 3rd SFG(A) Medic to be awarded the Medal of Honor

WASHINGTON -- A former medic with the 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne) that heroically fought his way up a mountain to render aid to his Special Forces teammates and their Afghan commando counterparts will receive the Medal of Honor.

The White House announced today that former Staff Sgt. Ronald J. Shurer II went above and beyond the call of duty April 6, 2008, while assigned to Special Operations Task Force -- 33 in Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom. He will receive the highest military award for valor at a White House ceremony, Oct. 1.

In April 2008, Shurer was assigned to support Special Forces operators working to take out high-value targets of the Hezeb Islami al Gulbadin in Shok Valley.

As the team navigated through the valley, a firefight quickly erupted, and a series of insurgent sniper fire, rocket-propelled grenades, and small arms and machine gun fire forced the unit into a defensive fighting position.

Around that time, Shurer received word that their forward assault element was also pinned down at another location, and the forward team had sustained multiple casualties.

With disregard for his safety, Shurer moved quickly through a hail of bullets toward the base of the mountain to reach the pinned-down forward element. While on the move, Shurer stopped to treat a wounded teammate's neck injury caused by shrapnel from a recent RPG blast.

After providing aid, Shurer spent the next hour fighting across several hundred meters and killing multiple insurgents. Eventually, Shurer arrived to support the pinned down element and immediately rendered aid to four critically wounded U.S. units and 10 injured commandos until teammates arrived.

Soon after their arrival, Shurer and his team sergeant were shot at the same time. The medic ran 15 meters through a barrage of gunfire to help his sergeant. Despite a bullet hitting his helmet and a gunshot wound to his arm, Shurer pulled his teammate to cover and rendered care.

Moments later, Shurer moved back through heavy gunfire to help sustain another teammate that suffered a traumatic amputation to his right leg.

For the next several hours, Shurer helped keep the large insurgent force at bay while simultaneously providing care to his wounded teammates. Shurer's actions helped save the lives of all wounded casualties under his care.

Shurer also helped evacuate three critically wounded, non-ambulatory, teammates down a near-vertical 60-foot cliff, all while avoiding rounds of enemy gunfire and falling debris caused by numerous air strikes.

Further, Shurer found a run of nylon webbing and used it to lower casualties while he physically shielded them from falling debris.

Shurer's Medal of Honor was upgraded from a Silver Star upon review.

https://www.army.mil/article/210977
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Old 21 September 2018, 20:26
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Thumbs up

Fantastic!
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Old 21 September 2018, 22:24
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Job well done, Warrior!
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Old 21 September 2018, 22:43
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DOL!
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Old 21 September 2018, 23:42
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Old 23 September 2018, 16:03
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BZ SSG Shurer. Total stud.
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Old 23 September 2018, 16:12
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Well done Brother.....
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Old 23 September 2018, 16:34
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Thumbs up

Nice to see someone smart enough to say "SS?!? Are you F'ing kidding me!?! Let's re-look this man's deeds."

Well done Soldier -
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Old 23 September 2018, 18:22
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Well done, congratulations Doc.
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Old 23 September 2018, 18:45
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Fearless Men...... DOL Brother.
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Old 23 September 2018, 19:14
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BZ!
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Old 23 September 2018, 19:25
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Outstanding!
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Old 1 October 2018, 18:53
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Just saw the extended CBS news segment. Warrior SSG Shurer is fighting another battle.

Fuck cancer.

Link here.
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Old 1 October 2018, 23:35
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That's what bad ass looks like.
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Old 2 October 2018, 12:24
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Well done.
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  #16  
Old 11 October 2018, 12:24
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Bravo Zulu Doc! Best of luck in your newest battle.
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  #17  
Old 11 October 2018, 14:55
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Justaclerk View Post
Just saw the extended CBS news segment. Warrior SSG Shurer is fighting another battle.

Fuck cancer.

Link here.
I didn't realize until I played that video that I actually watched this engagement while it was going down. We had a 2 ship of HH-60s prepo'd to Jbad for PR/CASEVAC support and were watching the pred feed in the TOC.

Talking to a couple of guys after the fact, we agreed the mission planning imagery really did not do a good job of showing just how extreme the terrain was in that valley. The whole village was built on top of these couple hundred foot high vertical cliffs as you can kind of see in the CBS video. How they got the building materials up there I have no idea. I just drive the bus but I remember very distinctly thinking, that does not look a good place to own the low ground.

Definitely a no shitter. Very surprised but relieved when we heard all the guys made it out.
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  #18  
Old 11 October 2018, 15:02
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hawkdrver View Post
...we agreed the mission planning imagery really did not do a good job of showing just how extreme the terrain was in that valley.
Pretty applies to, say, the whole war in AF. I was actually told by JOC monkeys on more than one occasion, after barely getting out alive, that "the Pred feed just didn't seem like it was that bad down there."
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  #19  
Old 11 October 2018, 15:06
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gavin View Post
Pretty applies to, say, the whole war in AF. I was actually told by JOC monkeys on more than one occasion, after barely getting out alive, that "the Pred feed just didn't seem like it was that bad down there."
That is pretty much word for word what the guys said the next day. If I remember right, it was also a daylight infil.
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