http://clipmarks.com/clipper/Rustee/date/2008/5/5/http://rss.clipmarks.com/clipper/Rustee/date/2008/5/5/15Clip, tag and save information that's important to you. Bookmarks save entire pages...Clipmarks save the specific content that matters to you!en-ushttp://clipmarks.com/clipmark/45457256-ACFE-4D1E-A2EC-9C5B797D6634/<b>clipped by:</b> <a href="http://clipmarks.com/clipper/Rustee/">Rustee</a><br><b>clipper's remarks:</b> <blockquote>O’Connor, 47, said he doesn’t believe he is a hero. He said that police officers and firefighters are courageous every day and that he was only completing his mission.<br/><br/>“I am being recognized for a moment of courage,” said O’Connor, whose wife and four children attended the ceremony. “I firmly believe other soldiers in my place would have done the same thing.”</blockquote> <br><div border="2" style="margin-top: 10px; border:#000000 1px solid;" width="90%"><div style="background-color:"><div align="center" width="100%" style="padding:4px;margin-bottom:4px;background-color:#666666;overflow:hidden;"><span style="color:#FFFFFF;font-weight:bold;">Clip Source: <a style="color:#FFFFFF;" href="http://www.militarytimes.com/news/2008/05/ap_bragg_dsc_050108/" title="http://www.militarytimes.com/news/2008/05/ap_bragg_dsc_050108/">www.militarytimes.com</a></span></div><div style="padding: 10px;"><div style="text-align:left;"><P>FORT BRAGG, N.C. — A Special Forces soldier who crawled 200 feet while being fired upon to save a wounded colleague, then led a group of besieged soldiers to safety, received the Army’s second-highest award for valor Wednesday.</P></div></div><hr size="2" color="#666666" /><div style="padding: 10px;"><div style="text-align:left;"><P>Master Sgt. Brendan O’Connor, assigned to the 7th Special Forces Group, received the Distinguished Service Cross in a ceremony Wednesday at Fort Bragg for his actions in Afghanistan.</P></div></div><hr size="2" color="#666666" /><div style="padding: 10px;"><div style="text-align:left;"><P>With his Special Forces team surrounded by Taliban fighters, O’Connor volunteered to lead a relief force to rescue two wounded colleagues. He got to the edge of a field, but intense Taliban machine-gun fire made him turn back. After shedding his body armor so he could press himself flat in a ditch, he crawled the last 200 feet to the wounded soldiers.</P></div></div><hr size="2" color="#666666" /><div style="padding: 10px;"><div style="text-align:left;"><P>Taliban fire was so close that it sheared off the blades of tall grass around the ditch as he crawled.</P></div></div><hr size="2" color="#666666" /><div style="padding: 10px;"><div style="text-align:left;"><P>Finally reaching the two wounded soldiers, he stabilized them and led the relief force back to safety.</P></div></div></div></div><br><div style="margin-bottom: 40px;">Tags: <a href="http://clipmarks.com/tags/afghanistan/" rel="tag">afghanistan</a>, <a href="http://clipmarks.com/tags/military/" rel="tag">military</a></div>http://www.militarytimes.com/news/2008/05/ap_bragg_dsc_050108/Tue, 06 May 2008 04:02:04 GMT