Another Solider shows why we have the best fighting force in the world...
CAMP LIBERTY, Iraq — Spc. Shane Courville, combat medic, 210th Forward Support Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, was awarded the Army Commendation Medal with valor device Mar. 8 for his courageous efforts in providing medical aid to his fellow Soldiers and civilians while engaged by enemy fire. On the morning of Nov. 9, 2004, Courville prepared for the day’s mission by loading his combat lifesaver pack into his humvee and inspecting his equipment before heading to the hospitals in western Baghdad to inspect ongoing improvement projects. Once they made the rounds to the hospitals, the patrol members drove toward Abu Ghraib to hand out blankets to a local school before the cold of winter hit. Capt. Jennifer Knowlden, patrol leader, 2nd BCT, said while the patrol was coming down the overpass into the city of Abu Ghraib, she noticed something seemed odd. “The streets were empty and nobody was around,” she said. “That’s when the first improvised explosive device went off.” “I couldn’t see anything, it was like I was wearing nylons over my eyes,” she recalled. “The windows looked like they were all sandblasted.” Then Lt. Col. Michael Infanti, 2nd BCT deputy commanding officer dismounted the vehicle and began directing fire toward the enemy. The rest of the patrol followed their leader. “We got out and noticed rocket-propelled grenade gunners against a wall and began shooting in their direction,” Knowlden said. “Then I noticed the deputy commanding officer go down.” After watching the lieutenant colonel fall to the ground, Knowlden immediately called for a medic over her radio. She looked over her shoulder and saw Courville running through the smoke toward Infanti. “It was just like out of a movie,” she remembered. “Bullets were flying everywhere.” “When I got out I couldn’t see because of the smoke,” Courville said. “I got to Lt. Col. Infanti as quick as I could and started treating him.” Courville examined Infanti and noticed he had lacerations to the back of his head and was disoriented from a concussion he received from the blast. While he was applying bandages to Infanti’s head, three RPGs were fired at the convoy. One exploded under a vehicle. Another hit the tires of a vehicle and one hit the back of a vehicle, but did not detonate. It lodged between blankets that the patrol was delivering. Despite the enemy fire directed at his position, Courville continued to treat his commander’s wounds. Knowlden, who was also wounded by the IED, helped Courville load Infanti into the damaged vehicle where the medic continued to administer first aid while the convoy departed the area. Moments later, a second IED detonated underneath Knowlden’s humvee, sending the back hatch of their truck flying end-over-end into the air. The Soldiers in the patrol dismounted once again and performed a security perimeter around the vehicles. Staff Sgt. Christopher Carollo, security patrol sergeant, 2nd BCT, HHC, was part of the dismounted team and said they noticed a group of wounded civilians who had been injured in the crossfire from the attack. Courville immediately began treating them. “Courville began lining up the wounded in a triage and was non-stop treating them,” Carollo said. “He went through the supplies in his combat lifesaver bag and had to grab another one for more supplies.” While Courville was treating the wounded civilians, a platoon of Bradley Fighting Vehicles came in to reinforce the area. Once the civilians were treated, Carollo and his team began loading the wounded into the Bradleys to take them to a hospital for further treatment. Courville stayed with the wounded until they arrived at the hospital. “This is not the first, second, third or even fourth time Spc. Courville has performed like this under fire,” Carollo said. “Six members of his platoon have received Purple Hearts for wounds he treated while under fire.” “The Soldiers who perform under pressure like Spc. Courville are the ones who demonstrate their true inner heroism,” he said. Carollo said he considers every deployed Soldier a hero because of the sacrifices they make. He said the true heroes are the Soldiers who carry out their duties, no matter how dangerous the situation may be. Courville modestly said he does not consider himself a hero, that he was doing his job just like any Soldier should do. “The happiest thing of all is that my guys are still alive,” he said. “That is probably the best award I could have received.”