173rd, 2-503 - Awards Demonstrate Valor of “The Rock”

Soldiers from “The Rock” have been awarded six Silver Stars. Forty-eight have earned Bronze Stars with valor. More than 140 Army Commendation Medals with valor have been approved. Ninety-eight Purple Hearts have been awarded. More than 150 other awards for valor have been submitted for approval — including two for the Medal of Honor, three of for the Distinguished Service Cross and three more for Silver Stars.

The numbers are a testament to the fierce fighting the battalion has seen in Afghanistan, where insurgent attacks have become both more numerous and more brazen over the past year.

The battalion has been involved in about 950 engagements with the enemy during its stint in Afghanistan. Fifteen soldiers from the unit and two Marines working in the province have died during the rotation. About two dozen members of the Afghan National Army, Afghan National Police and Afghan Border Police have also been killed in the line of duty.

Meyers, who joined the battalion during its last tour in Afghanistan, said 2-503 has aggressively interacted with the local population during both of its stints in country.

“Get out in the battle space, hook up with the local population and maintain relations with the locals,” he said. “When you do that, you’re going to end up running into the enemy.”

“We’re both fighting for the human terrain,” Lt. Col. Bill Ostlund, the battalion commander, said. “We go about it in different ways and for much different reasons. But we and the enemy both need the support of the local population.”

The unit operates in the low hills and mountains near this outpost in the Pech River Valley in eastern Afghanistan. The rugged border with Pakistan has long been a hideout and transit route for Taliban and other fighters in Afghanistan.

And while the fight has intensified in southern Afghanistan, the combat has been steady and thick here.

Staff Sgt. Brandon Thomas, a member of Company A, has received three Purple Hearts during the rotation. He’s been wounded in the shin, head and inner thigh. He received the Army Commendation Medal with valor recently, but said he wasn’t any different from any other soldier in the battalion.

“In my opinion, a valor award is just an act of stupidity viewed by others as heroism,” he said with a half-smile. “I guess I never learned to find cover in basic training.”

A group of soldiers standing around him when he said that all laughed and shook their heads. Several of them had also earned medals with valor during the tour.

“Unfortunately, we don’t get the respect and attention that soldiers fighting in Iraq do,” Thomas said, turning more serious. “But we’ve been fighting every day.”

“We have a pretty humble group of guys,” Ostlund said. “They don’t talk about themselves much. Some of them have seen as much combat as anyone in the Army.”