The honors keep coming for soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment.
Staff Sgts. Christopher A. Charo and Stephen E. Simmons were presented with the Silver Star on Monday, bringing to 10 the number of such medals presented to the battalion’s soldiers for their efforts during a 14-month deployment in Afghanistan.
Lt. Gen. Kenneth Hunzeker, V Corps commander, pinned the medals on both soldiers for their efforts during attacks about 13 months apart on a vehicle patrol base. Both soldiers were submitted for Bronze Stars with "V" device, but each award was upgraded.
Simmons, who just left the Army this week to attend college in Florida, was honored for his actions during a June 8 attack near the end of the battalion’s rotation. Enemy forces attacked while a CH-47 Chinook helicopter was in the process of lifting a vehicle off the compound.
The noncommissioned officer in charge at the compound for Company C, Simmons helped direct the helicopter out of the combat zone, then assessed the situation, according to a narrative submitted for the award.
Seeing that soldiers in the 120 mm mortar pit were pinned down and unable to fire, he ran to the 81 mm mortar and started returning fire. He was credited with firing 35 rounds by himself, despite being wounded by shrapnel. He then ran between U.S. positions to gather status reports from his men and informed the commander of the situation. He spent the next few hours of the seven-hour battle resupplying U.S. positions with ammunition under a consistent barrage of enemy fire. He later helped guide U.S. air assets to attack enemy positions.
Charo had been involved in a similar attack on July 31, 2007. He is the second soldier to earn the Silver Star for efforts in that battle. Staff Sgt. Christopher Upp received his medal in September.
Charo, who plans to leave the unit and attend college in the spring, said he recalls most of the details of what happened that day, though "there were so many different firefights that the details start to run together."
Assigned as heavy weapons section leader for Company D, Charo recalls an evening attack that interrupted a card game. He went from position to position under a constant enemy attack to establish communications and see if any soldiers were injured. At one point, Charo recalls Upp yelling for everyone to duck and he did: A 107 mm rocket sailed over his head and exploded.
Charo manned a machine gun at a threatened outpost, firing so many rounds that he needed to replace the weapon’s barrel. He had to retrieve a replacement from a nearby truck under heavy fire. He also helped a fellow soldier fix his malfunctioning weapon and re-supplied several positions with ammunition. He also spent hours caring for 1st Lt. Benjamin Hall, who eventually died of his wounds.
The 30-year-old from Saratoga, N.Y., said he’s honored to receive the Army’s third-highest recognition for courage under fire.
"I don’t think it’s right to say if you deserve something or don’t deserve something," he said. "You just do what you think is best and it’s up to other people to decide if you deserve something."
As for all the honors his battalion has thus far received, Charo said they’re well earned.
"For every soldier that gets an award, there are probably 10 others deserving that don’t," he said.
