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Ranger Receives Silver Star For Combat Actions
(December 12, 2009) |
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FORT BENNING, Ga. (USASOC News Service, Dec.
2, 2009) -- A squad leader with the 75th Ranger Regiment
was awarded the Silver Star for risking who his
life to save two fellow Rangers in Afghanistan.
"Any Ranger would have done the same thing,"
said Staff Sgt. Michael E. Norton of Alpha
Company, 3rd Battalion, 75th Rangers. "The
Ranger Creed says, 'I will never leave a fallen
comrade.' There was no moment of thinking about
what to do. I had to get my brothers and the
most important thing in my mind was how hurt
they were."
Norton led his squad on an objective, Aug. 4-5,
to raid an enemy combatant's headquarters camp
in the mountains of northwestern Khowst Province
in Afghanistan.
While moving to the objective, Norton and one of
his team leaders were alerted to possible enemy
combatants along the route and moved forward to
assess the situation. As Norton and his team
leader were attempting to identify the possible
enemy in the valley, a seven to nine man enemy
element initiated a complex, near ambush on
Norton's squad from the high ground with
rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire
from a position of 25 meters to the squad's
front."The fire came from our 12 o'clock and then maybe a couple
of seconds later from our right and left," Norton said. |
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Behind the first enemy rocket-propelled grenade team, a
medium machine gun on elevated ground to the northwest
engaged them with highly effective fire. Two more enemy
combatants were on the slope of the valley to the west,
engaged the Ranger squad with an AK-47 and rocket-propelled
grenades along the long axis of their formation, while
another group of enemy fighters were on elevated terrain to
the east, raked them with small arms fire from the rear of
the Ranger squad formation.
The multiple enemy positions had effectively enveloped
Norton's squad from multiple directions at a distance of 25
to 50 meters, leaving Norton and his element pinned to the
floor of the valley by the intense and accurate small arms
fire.
The valley left no room for maneuver; Norton, his squad and
the machine gun team element behind them immediately
returned fire, but they were unable to gain fire superiority
over the well-established enemy.
After the second rocket-propelled grenades knocked two of
his Rangers temporarily unconscious and blasted the rest of
his squad with shrapnel and debris and realizing his element
could not gain fire superiority, Norton shouted for his
squad to break contact.
When Norton realized that two Rangers had not gotten up and
were still exposed to the heavy volume of enemy fire from
the high ground to the east and west, and with complete
disregard for his own safety, Norton turned around and with
marked distinction, purposefully charged back into the
interlocking fire of the enemy ambush kill zone in order to
recover his downed Rangers.
"The example of personal courage that Staff Sergeant Norton
showed, to get his men out of the kill zone is a testament
to his character," said Maj. Keith Carter, A Company
commander. "NCOs such as Staff Sergeant Norton are the
reason I wanted to serve in the 75th Ranger Regiment, and it
is an honor to lead them."
Without hesitation, Norton dove down into the midst of enemy
fire with his unconscious comrades, uncertain of their
status.
"There was nothing fancy going on in my head besides hoping
they weren't dead," said Norton.
While the rest of the element attempted to suppress the
enemy, and lying next to the Rangers, Norton "started
shaking and yelling as quietly as I could."
After reviving his Rangers, Norton led them back to cover
through the hail of direct fire and rocket-propelled grenade
strikes, saving their lives and bringing his entire squad
out of the enemy onslaught intact.
"I'm proud of the actions of my squad, because we continued
the mission after that," said Norton. "It was just two
minutes out of our overall mission."
As his platoon fought off the enemy ambush with direct fire,
mortars and close air support, Norton quickly assessed his
casualties and reorganized his squad to return to the fight.
Norton continued leading his squad in the follow-on assaults
through two more direct fire contacts, killing two enemy
combatants.
"We receive a lot of great training here at 3rd Ranger
Battalion and I was just acting on instinct," said Norton.
The training conducted by Rangers means everything on the
battlefield.
"The goal of the company and battalion is to create the most
realistic scenarios possible while minimizing risk," Carter
said. We constantly integrate new enemy tactics from
overseas into our training so that we are ready in any
situation."
The overall assault force killed 20 enemy fighters,
destroyed two enemy anti-aircraft guns and several other
weapons, explosives and military supplies on the objective
resulting in the disruption of a major enemy headquarters
and encampment.
Norton joined the Army from his hometown of Pensacola, Fla.,
June 2004, after graduating from West Highland Christian
Academy and has deployed six times in support of operations
Enduring and Iraqi Freedom. He is the son of Jimmy and
Deborah Norton of Holly, Mich. | |
Article and photo by Tracy A. Bailey
75th Ranger Regiment Public Affairs
Copyright 2009
Reprinted from
Army News Service
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