Hospital corpsman based at Yokosuka awarded Bronze Star Friddle saved life of Iraqi civilian injured in bomb attack
Hospital Corpsman Chief Petty Officer Joseph Friddle returned from Iraq Nov. 4 after receiving the Bronze Star Medal for his medical service there. (Allison Batdorff / S&S)
By Allison Batdorff - Stars and Stripes Pacific edition
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — It was early morning at the main gate of Camp Habbiniyah in Iraq. Civilian day laborers were lined up outside, waiting to undergo the daily entry search on their way to work, when a bomb went off, killing 14 of them.
Chief Petty Officer Joseph Friddle, a hospital corpsman, treated the 14 who ultimately didn’t make it, and saved the life of another civilian who did. For that, and other combat actions during his sixth-month Iraq deployment, he earned the Bronze Star Medal.
The 38-year-old is a reluctant recipient, though. Friddle refused a big presentation and hadn’t planned on wearing the medal in his job as an independent duty corpsman at U.S. Naval Hospital Yokosuka.
“I’m not really into that stuff; I’m more low-budget,” Friddle said Monday. “I was never alone over there. It was a joint effort. I hope the other guys got the same thing; otherwise it wouldn’t be fair.”
Friddle was tasked to go to Camp Habbiniyah last May. His job was to work with eight Americans and 2,000 Iraqi troops to design and build a medical facility at the forward-deployed base.
Easier said than done. Camp Habbiniyah may be in the “middle of nowhere,” but it was constantly under attack, Friddle said.
“You don’t hear about Habbiniyah on the news, but we got hit all the time,” Friddle said.
Convoys would be lost en route, leaving Friddle without medical supplies he needed to care for the mostly civilian casualties and injuries around the base. But sometimes his Yokosuka command mailed him medical supplies and care packages — both deeply appreciated, he said.
It was Friddle’s first time in a combat zone, but his “unequaled dedication to adaptability” made him a candidate for the Bronze Star Medal, according to the narrative that accompanies the award.
Friddle created, designed and tested a mass casualty plan for the camp. He led a team to create a regional medical center to serve all military personnel in the Al Anbar province, and his use of existing buildings saved hundreds of thousands of dollars, the narrative says. Under his watch, illegal black water dump sites were cleaned up and dining and residential inspection programs were enacted to keep military and civilians healthy.
“[Friddle] established a system that will endure long after his departure,” the narrative reads.
When asked if he wanted to return to Iraq, Friddle declined to answer. He did, however, give some advice to the Yokosuka-based personnel who want to go there.
“You don’t know how good you have it here. Take advantage of everything here, including the education,” Friddle said. “Study up, because once you go over there and it hits the fan, that’s not the time to learn.”
Red Cloud GI gets Bronze Star for Iraq action Tank loader killed 3 insurgents when tank was attacked
2nd Infantry Division Command Sgt. Maj. James A. Benedict pins the Bronze Star with Valor on Spc. Rodney Roby at Camp Red Cloud on Monday. (Seth Robson / S&S)
By Seth Robson, Stars and Stripes Pacific edition
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
CAMP RED CLOUD, South Korea — A U.S. soldier from the tiny Pacific island of Pohnapei was awarded a Bronze Star with Valor here Monday for bravery during combat in Fallujah, Iraq, last year.
Command Sgt. Maj. James A. Benedict pinned the medal on Spc. Rodney Roby, 22, on the Camp Red Cloud parade ground before several hundred soldiers from the 2nd Infantry Division’s Special Troops Battalion.
Roby served as a tank loader in Baqubah, Iraq, with Company A, 2nd Battalion, 63rd Armored Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division from February 2004 until February 2005.
During Operation Phantom Fury in Fallujah in November 2004, four insurgents using rifles and rocket-propelled grenades attacked Roby’s tank, his citation states.
“Under direct fire and without regard for his own personal safety he engaged the insurgents with small arms fire and hand grenades, killing three and wounding the fourth. His actions single-handedly eliminated the threat and ensured the safety of his crew and vehicle,” the citation states.
Iraq’s battlefields are thousands of miles from Roby’s adopted home on Guam and from his home island of Pohnapei in the Federated States of Micronesia.
It was on Pohnapei that Roby’s journey to the U.S. military began when his grandfather told him stories about the bravery of U.S. servicemembers who chased away Japanese occupiers of the island during World War II, he said.
After his family moved to Guam, Roby became a keen sportsman, playing football and volleyball and even paddling a small boat around the island in an epic race that left the crew exhausted, he said.
“I had heard a lot about the Army. That was one of the challenges I wanted to take. I joined up in August 2002,” Roby said.
Eighteen months later he deployed to Forward Operating Base Scunion in Baqubah to relieve 4th Infantry Division soldiers.
“They told us it was going to be pretty hot, especially where we were,” he said, adding that he had lost several buddies in the desert fight.
“On the radio you kept hearing ‘a person got killed, a person got killed, a person got killed’ but we kept our cool,” he said.
When insurgents attacked his tank in Fallujah Roby acted on instinct, he said.
“I was just doing my job as a loader and what I was supposed to do when we came into contact. Everybody in my platoon deserves an award. Everybody did their job and risked their lives,” he said.
The battle and the rest of his time in Iraq taught Roby some valuable lessons, he said.
“Afterwards I prayed a lot. I never realized how life is easily taken. It only took three or four minutes (to kill the three insurgents). You see that person and a minute later he is dead,” he said.
Since arriving in South Korea five months ago Roby, as the 2nd ID surgeon’s driver, has come to grips with dangerous local roads and gained a reputation as a hard-running front-rower with the 2nd ID rugby team. His rugby teammates knew he had been to Iraq, but he never talked about his personal bravery before he got the medal.
“I try to keep a low profile but now this is putting me on the spot,” he said of his Bronze Star.
The young soldier said his goal is to become a noncommissioned officer and pass on lessons he has learned in combat to other soldiers.