CAMP HANSEN, Okinawa — Four Explosive Ordnance Disposal Marines received medals Monday for their service in Iraq.

Receiving awards: Sgt. Keith Camardo, Bronze Star with Combat “V”; Staff Sgt. Daniel Cusinato, Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal with Combat “V”; Sgt. Jason Tinnel, Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal with Combat “V”; and Staff Sgt. Bobby Garza, Purple Heart. The Combat “V” device is awarded to those who receive a decoration as a result of direct combat with enemy forces. The Marines, all from 9th Engineer Support Battalion, served in Iraq as individual augmentees.

Camardo served in Mohammadia in Al Anbar province, where, he said, his unit encountered daisy-chained 500-pound bombs, improvised explosive devices, ambushes and firefights. From February to September 2004, he said, his team responded to more than 300 calls; “It was just mayhem every day.”

One tense moment came when a car bomber detonated a vehicle behind an armored vehicle parked close to Camardo’s Humvee. He said the blast knocked him off his seat and knocked him out for a second. “I stepped out of the vehicle, took one breath and then threw up for about a half-hour,” he said, adding that only the car’s driver was killed.

Cusinato and Tinnel received their awards because of their temporary service with I Marine Expeditionary Force in Fallujah from September 2004 to February 2005. Cusinato’s award states he took part in more than 200 EOD missions, disposing of more than 97 IEDs. Tinnel’s certificate states he “played a vital role in recovering and disposing of more than 100 IEDs, personally rendering 14 of them safe.” The award write-up also cited his marksmanship as directly saving Marines’ lives.

“We’re not just always EOD,” Tinnel said. “We have to get up there and get into the fight as well. … Everyone has to watch each other’s back.” He said about half his time in Fallujah was split between EOD and infantry duties.

Garza received his Purple Heart after shrapnel hit his legs, hands and face. On Feb. 19, as he guided Cusinato’s Humvee into a “tank trap” where they planned to destroy the recovered missiles, bombs and ammunition the vehicle carried, one of its tires hit a land mine. The explosion rolled the vehicle into a second mine. Both driver’s-side tires and part of the hood and engine compartment were gone.

Garza, hit with shrapnel, tumbled down a hill — while Cusinato emerged unscathed. “I really thought he was dead,” Garza said of Cusinato. “What kept Cusinato from dying? I don’t know.” Cusinato credits the vehicle’s armor plating with saving his life.

Throughout their time in Fallujah, the two said, they did everything from finding and destroying weapons caches in cemeteries to blowing up a home wired as one giant IED. They said their strangest find, though, was a dead dog packed full of munitions and stitched to look like it had been hit by a car.

And both Marines suggested they’d seen others who deserved awards as well. Tinnel said, “I’ve seen some brave Marines that did their job but didn’t get an award … some of the bravest things I’ve seen in my life. They deserve the medals.”

Medals for mettle

Sgt. Keith Camardo:Bronze Star with Combat “V”

Staff Sgt. Bobby Garza:Purple Heart

Staff Sgt. Daniel Cusinato:Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal with Combat “V”

Sgt. Jason Tinnel:Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal with Combat “V”