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Photo and information courtesy of U.S. Army |
Captain Kent
Solheim, United States Army,
was awarded the Silver Star
for actions during a raid in
Karbala, Iraq where he
courageously saved multiple
American lives by
disregarding his personal
safety.
On July 27, 2007, Captain
Kent Solheim, United States
Army, participated in
Operation VOLCANO II, an
operation designed to
capture a senior leader of
the infamous Shiite militia,
the Mahdi Army in the city
of Karbala, Iraq. Solheim's
team "fast roped" from
helicopters into the area,
and set up their position
near the target building.
Insurgents viciously
attacked the American forces
from three sides with
rocketpropelled grenades (RPGs)
and AK-47s. As the enemy
fire got heavier, combat air
support was called in to
eliminate some of the
aggressors, but a
significant number of
attackers remained to the
north of Solheim and his
unit. These insurgents used
the dust that the assault
force's helicopters had
kicked up to conceal their
movements.
With the
insurgents targeting one of
the American positions,
Solheim aggressively
maneuvered his men to
reinforce the beleaguered
soldiers. It was then that
he noticed an insurgent
armed with an RPG, less than
ten meters away from his
position. Disregarding any
concern for himself, he
bravely charged forward,
shot and killed the
insurgent, saving the
Americans in the nick of
time. Realizing that the US
forces in the building were
in grave danger, Solheim
exposed himself to enemy
fire in order to gain a
better position to cover the
other soldiers in his unit.From this location, he
managed to limit the
insurgent fire on his team.
In the final moments of the
engagement he rounded a
corner and he found himself
face to face with an
AK-47-wielding Mahdi
fighter. Solheim made a
split second decision,
firing at and killing the
insurgent. However, as the
terrorist fell to the ground
fatally wounded, he let
loose one last burst from
his AK-47, which wounded
Solheim in the legs and
back. |
