Bronze Star Recipient
Robert Nesbit, Jr. |
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In the
military
you
adapt to
the
mission
and the
hours.
For Army
MAJ
Robert
Nesbit
Jr.,
that
meant
performing
about
99% of
his
missions
at
night.
He was
deployed
to Iraq
from
June
2006 to
September
2007, as
a troop
commander.
"Over
the
course
of the
tour
there
were
more
than a
few
tough
nights,”
said
Nesbit.
"But
there
was one
single
night
that
stands
out.”
That
incident
led to
him
being
awarded
both an
Army
Commendation
Medal
with
Valor
device
and a
Purple
Heart.
It also
was part
of the
reason
he
received
the
Bronze
Star.
In
October
2006,
Nesbit
was
stationed
in
Baghdad
with the
1-14th
Cavalry.
His
squadron
was in a
neighborhood
known as
Abu-Dichir,
and his
mission
was to
"create
a ‘safe
neighborhood'
in the
squadron's
battle
space.”
"At the
time
there
was a
lot of
violence
directed
by the
insurgents
against
the
local
population
and we
were
trying
to
protect
them,”
explained
Nesbit.
One of
the
things
Nesbit
and his
team of
about 80
soldiers
did was
place
concrete
barricades
across
streets
to
prevent
vehicle
access.
"Emplacing
concrete
barriers
always
attracted
a lot of
attention
which
was part
of why
we
normally
operated
at
night,”
he
continued."On Oct.
22,
2006, we
[the
Troop
Team
Task
Force]
were
en-route
to start
our
mission
for the
night
when the
Stryker
I was on
was
blown up
in an
ambush.
There
were
four of
us on
board
who were
wounded,
said
Nesbit.
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"Long
story
short, I
got the
other
three
soldiers
medivaced
off of
the
battlefield.
Even
though I
was
hurt, I
chose to
stay in
the
fight.
Not for
any
sense of
heroics,
but
rather,
I felt
as the
commander
as long
as I
physically
could
still
move the
soldiers
deserved
for me
to stay
and
command,”
Nesbit
continued.
"A lot
went
into it,
and it
was a
long
night,
but we
got the
ambush
defeated,”
he said.
All of
the
unit's
equipment
was
recovered,
and they
were
able to
return
to their
Forward
Operating
Base.
"The
next
night I
was back
out
leading
the
mission.
I was
awarded
the
Purple
Heart
for
being
wounded
that
night,
and I
was
awarded
the
ARCOM
w/V for
continuing
to fight
while
wounded,”
he
stated.
"There
were
other
nights
and
other
fights,
but that
one
certainly
stands
out for
me
personally,”
Nesbit
concluded.
He
received
the
Bronze
Star for
his
service,
work
ethic
and
leadership
as the
troop
commander
during
this
deployment. |
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Photo and information courtesy of US
Army /
Dept. of Defense |
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Bronze Star Recipients |
Other Heroes | |
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