Posted on 12/18/2004 11:47:43 PM PST by nickcarraway
W.Va. soldier awarded Bronze Star for actions in clash near Iraqi-Syrian border
FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. -- An Army trumpet player turned Green Beret was awarded Thursday with a Silver Star, the Army's third highest award for combat valor.
Staff Sgt. Charles Good was credited with exposing himself to enemy fire on the Syrian/Iraqi border to assist in getting a critically wounded comrade into a Humvee, then negotiating in Arabic a ride from an Iraqi man for them when the Humvee became crippled by enemy fire.
"Something took over me," said Good, 34, of Altoona, Pa., after the brief ceremony. "That's pretty much how it was."
Five other members of his 5th Special Forces unit, based at Fort Campbell, received Bronze Star medals with valor Thursday for their actions in the same clash that ended 24 hours after it started with more than 35 insurgents killed, the Army said.
One of those men honored was a West Virginian, Sgt. 1st Class Raymond Cook, 40, of Oak Hill.
The injured soldier, Sgt. First Class Joseph Briscoe, 37, of Liberty, Texas, whose right arm was blown off by a rocket-propelled grenade during the incident, also was among those receiving a Bronze Star. Briscoe, a father of four, said there's no way to appropriately convey his thanks to Good.
"I don't know what you say to someone who's responsible for saving your life," said Briscoe, who is now fit with a prosthetic arm. "I hope he can understand how grateful I am to him . . . I thank him every time I see him."
The ceremony on Thursday was dedicated to Staff Sgt. Aaron Holleyman, 26, the 5th Group Army medic who treated Briscoe at the base camp. Holleyman was killed Aug. 30 in Iraq when his vehicle was hit by a land mine.
Good joined the Army in 1989 as a trumpet player, and participated in the 1991 Gulf War. He made the switch to Special Forces 10 years into his career.
"I really enjoyed my time in the band . . . I just kind of tired of it. I just wanted to challenge myself," said Good, who is engaged and has a 10-year-old son.
"I thought I could do this job. Or else I'd be asking myself the rest of my life if I could."
The 11 men who originally came under fire were members of the Special Operational Detachment Alpha 531.
Their mission was to curtail foreign fighters who were infiltrating Iraq along the border in their assigned territory, and clear the area of insurgents.
The Army provided the following account of what happened when their two-vehicle convoy drove into the hostile village of Sadah on Oct. 31, 2003:
The clash started when one vehicle was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade that ricocheted off the roof of the vehicle.
Eight members went after the assailants. At the same time, Good, Briscoe and a third soldier in a second vehicle provided security. It was then that Briscoe was hit.
As Briscoe was loaded into the vehicle, Good provided cover fire. Because they had no radio communication, Good then drove the vehicle through small arms fire to tell the others they were going to the base camp.
But before they could get there, the vehicle was disabled by small arms and machine gun fire. Good then negotiated with an Iraqi man in a dilapidated Toyota to drive them to the base camp. Good said he had been taught some Arabic during his training.
Good said he was never worried that the Iraqi would hurt them.
"We were still armed," Good said.
After dropping Briscoe off, Good returned to the fight with other comrades to assist those left behind. Those left, "fought in a street-by-street battle" and at times were outnumbered four to one, according to an Army chronology of events that day.
The unit regrouped that night, then returned the next day to kill five more insurgents and capture 18 others, the Army said.
Others receiving the Bronze Star for their role in the incident were Capt. David Diamond, 30, of Geneva, Ohio; Sgt. 1st Class Alan Knox, 44, of Reno, Nev.; and Staff Sgt. Jason Bacon, 29, of Luther, Mich.
The Army said the unit's "swift and violent response crippled the enemy's ability to effectively operate for months to come . . . which saved American and Iraqi lives."
Good said, "At points . . . I really thought probably everybody there was going to die. I was just kind of waiting for it. I just kept doing what I had to do. . . . I just looked for that goal, and I achieved it."
"I thought I could do this job. Or else I'd be asking myself the rest of my life if I could."
Makes me damn proud to be an American. Thank you (and the others), Sergeant Good.
After such a great display of courage under fire, I think he has the right to toot his own horn for a while.
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