After leading
his platoon through a fierce
onslaught with enemy fire
pounding them from every
direction, 1st Lt. Neil
Prakash went back in for
more.
For Prakash, June 24, 2004,
began with he and two of his
soldiers manning an
observation point on Blue
Babe Highway in two shifts
from midnight to 7 a.m.
“When we came in (to Forward
Operating Base Scunion) at
7, we thought we were done,”
Prakash said. “We were
smoked after being out there
all night.”
Instead, Prakash's crew was
sent back out to Blue Babe
Highway after there were
reports of 25 to 30
insurgents on the roadway,
which was a trouble spot for
improvised explosive
devices.
Three hours later, Prakash
returned to FOB Scunion and
learned that his entire
company, Company A, was
going to Baqouba, where the
city was under siege.
With Prakash's 1st Platoon
in the lead, the company
headed into Baqouba with the
mission of securing two
bridges in the city. If
successful, his platoon
would set up a blocking
position to prevent the
enemy from reinforcing.
“When we
learned we were going in, we
were really pumped up,”
Prakash said. At about 11
a.m., the company was
driving south in Baqouba
with Prakash's tank taking
the point. “It was very
quiet, like a ghost town,”
Prakash said. “There was
just nobody there.”Suddenly a call from
the operations center warned that, based on intelligence from
unmanned aerial flights, insurgents were in groups of four; they
were well-trained and they were going to stand and fight, Prakash
said.
It wasn't long thereafter that Prakash heard an explosion behind his
tank. A rocket-propelled grenade fired from a house on the left hit
his tank.
“We fired the main gun at the house and there was just this big
giant blob of a hole in the house,” he said. “They were everywhere,
running up to within 30 meters of the tank shooting RPGs at us.” As
the lead vehicle, Prakash and his gunner and driver were the main
target in the ambush of IEDs and rocket-propelled grenades.
His tank took several hits without much damage, but eventually one
RPG took out the tank's navigation system while another hit the
turret, making it impossible to rotate. The tank was hit by seven
RPGs as well as multiple IED blasts. Prakash maneuvered the entire
vehicle in order to engage the enemy with the main weapon system and
.50-caliber machinegun.
“Someone told me right afterward that we were fighting for an hour,”
Prakash said. “I thought it was more like 15 minutes. Everything
happened so fast.” Prakash's tank returned to FOB Scunion for more
ammo and to have the damaged turret repaired. He volunteered to go
back into battle to secure and hold the two bridges. The insurgents
had fled.
“He was incredible,” said Spc. John Langford, Prakash's loader in
the battle. “He kept us in line and kept us calm. I couldn't have
chosen a better tank commander or platoon leader for what we
experienced that day.”
Prakash, who was born in India and raised in Syracuse, N.Y., earned
a Silver Star for his actions. He was personally credited with the
destruction of eight enemy strong-points, one enemy resupply
vehicle, and multiple dismounted enemy fighters.
From Stars and Stripes article
by Rick Emert, June 14, 2005
Photo and information courtesy of Army / DoD |
