Bronze Stars for 3 of Alpha Troop’s youngest soldiers

Bronze Stars for 3 who downed rogue Iraqi
By Michael Hoffman - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Feb 23, 2011 16:33:30 EST

THE FALLEN

The U.S. soldiers killed when an Iraqi soldier opened fire at a training center Jan. 15:

• Sgt. Michael Bartley

• Sgt. Martin “Mick” LaMar

THE VALOROUS

Three young soldiers were honored for stopping the shooter:

• Pfc. Kevin Gardner

• Pfc. Raymond Gomez

• Sgt. Martin Gaymon

GHUZLANI WARRIOR TRAINING CENTER, Iraq — Before Marwan Nadir Abdulaziz al-Jabouri sprinted down a hill here Jan. 15 firing an M16 from his hip, the U.S. soldiers he targeted thought of him as a model Iraqi soldier.

He joined in 2008, passed a screening test and was recently promoted to squad leader. No one thought twice when he asked to fall out of formation to fill up his canteen shortly after 8 a.m.

The soldiers with 1st Cavalry Division’s Alpha Troop, 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry, 4th Advise and Assist Brigade didn’t know U.S. forces had killed his uncle and cousin, or that his father, a lieutenant colonel in Saddam Hussein’s army, had recently kicked him out of his house.

Capt. Thomas Herman’s 22 soldiers waiting to start training with Jabouri’s company had no warning that morning of a shootout that killed Sgts. Michael Bartley and Martin “Mick” LaMar and critically injured Sgt. Robert Fierro.

No one could predict either that three of Alpha Troop’s youngest soldiers would react quickly enough to maneuver and kill Jabouri, preventing a tragedy from spiraling into something much worse. Pfcs. Kevin Gardner and Raymond Gomez and Sgt. Martin Gaymon each earned the Bronze Star with Valor device Feb. 17, one week after Fort Hood, Texas, held a memorial for Bartley and LaMar.
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Bronze Stars for 3 who downed rogue Iraqi