Dec 08, 2008
BY 2nd Lt. Zack Moss 
Lt. Col. James Markert, commander of 6th Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment, receives a Bronze Star Medal for Valor and a Purple Heart Nov. 27, 2008, for his actions during an attack on their convoy in northeastern Afghanistan.
Lt. Col. James Markert, commander of 6th Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment, receives a Bronze Star Medal for Valor and a Purple Heart Nov. 27, 2008, for his actions during an attack on their convoy in northeastern Afghanistan.
Lt. Col. James Markert, commander of 6th Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment, and Sgt. 1st. Class Jody Thompson, 6-4 CAV, stand ready to receive their awards from Col. John Spiszer, commander of 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division. They both received awards for acts of heroism in times of combat.
4 comments:
Yeah, he got a bronze star with v-device for calling for fire and talking to the birds. The fisters at lowell and keating were doing that several times a week, but all they got was maybe an arcom for the deployment. Way to put yourself in for an award, Sir.
He didn't put himself in for the award, duh. Were you in the ambush with those guys? Do you know the challenges they were facing? He wasn't the only one awarded, either. Heros. Yes, more guys SHOULD be put in for awards.
There is more to the story. "Randall, Markert and Pfc. Kirk Goff, from Swansea, S.C., engaged the enemy from approximately 400 meters away, suppressing the RPG team that was still firing at the ETT, ANA and Ward's truck." http://www.army.mil/-news/2008/12/08/14872-servicemembers-prove-themselves-in-ambush/
The story doesn't read that all this officer did was "call in fire and talk to the birds". And if you are in the military, you know that there is more to getting an award than just putting yourself in for one. To say that would downplay the other awards that were given, too.
All of our young men deserve the recognition of a job well done. What these soldiers go through on a day-to-day basis is overwhelming. I retired after my 20 years of service, saw a bit of action, but nothing like the stories I read about now.
God bless our troops, and pray they all come home sooner rather than later.
Anonymous commenters who leave negative comments are chickens.
I wasn't there but I do know that LTC Markert didn’t put himself in for that award, didn’t even know he was getting one at all for that ambush or was even being considered until he was notified he was getting it. AND he put more of his guys in for awards than any other BN CDR in the BDE. Actually, his BN probably got about half of all the awards given w/in the BDE at that time.
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