It was at this point that the valley came alive with over 200 insurgents pouring fire down on the exposed team. Miller moved forward with an M249 SAW (Squad Automatic Weapon) when an insurgent, breaking free from some rocks rushed Miller. Miller, Cusick, six other Green Berets, and a team of 15 Afghan soldiers crossed the river and climbed up the valley. When the firing ceased, Miller’s team leader, Major Robert Cusick, ordered Miller to take the point of a patrol up to do a battle damage assessment. Miller then grabbed a machine gun and immediately put down suppressive fire. Miller fired on the insurgents with an Mk-19 grenade launcher until it broke down. On January 24, 2008, ODA-3312 was tasked with a combat reconnaissance mission designed to root out insurgent safe havens located in the ridges of the Chen Khar Valley in Afghanistan.Īfter finding an insurgent base empty, the SF team learned that a large group of insurgents was massing on a slope beyond the nearby river and preparing to ambush the combined SF and Afghan troops. Staff Sergeant Robert Miller – Medal of Honor SSG Robert Miller was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. If you saw what you heard today in a movie, you would shake your head and say, ‘That didn’t happen.’ But it does, every day.” And there is no finer American soldier than our Green Berets. “As we have listened to these incredible tales, I am truly at a loss for words to do justice to what we have heard here, where do we get such men? … There is no finer fighting man on the face of the earth than the American soldier. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), said of the troops, In the single largest awarding of troops since Vietnam, Lieutenant General John Mullholland, who led the 5th SFG’s initial deployment into Afghanistan in 2001 and was the commander of U.S. The heroism of the 3rd SFG’s soldiers was exemplary. (DVIDS)Īfter the events of 9/11, like all other Special Forces groups, the 3rd SFG became heavily involved in combat operations in Afghanistan. Global War on Terror 3rd SFG troops in Afghanistan. During the late ’90s, the 3rd Group helped train forces in Senegal, Uganda, Malawi, Mali, Ethiopia, and Trinidad and Tobago, among others. The group also took part in the restoration of democracy in Haiti in 1994. In February 1991, the 3rd Group was tasked with securing and occupying the U.S. Its A-Teams carried out reconnaissance and sabotage missions into denied areas of Iraq and Kuwait. The 2nd Battalion and the 3rd Battalion of the 3rd SFG were reactivated in 19, respectively.ģrd SFG’s new area of operation and responsibility initially consisted of the Caribbean and West Africa.Īt the outbreak of the First Gulf War, the 3rd Group’s 1st Battalion was deployed to Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, for three months. Bragg on July 1, 1990, with the majority of the troops comprising the group coming from the 5th SFG. Read Next: This Year’s Best Combat Diver Competition Was the Toughest Yet The 3rd Special Forces Group Is RebornĪfter nearly 21 years, the 3rd SFG (A) was re-activated at Ft. Petrie - was the first man on the ground in the Son Tay Raid on November 21, 1970, and later helped plan the Saigon evacuation on April 30, 1975, becoming the last SF soldier to leave the country. One 3rd group officer who stayed in South Vietnam - Major George W. With the “Vietnamization” of the conflict, the 3rd SFG(A) was inactivated on December 10, 1969, and its members were transferred back to the other Special Forces Groups. In 1966, 3rd Group transferred assumed control of the 403rd Army Security Agency Special Operations Detachment and the 19th PSYOP Company over to 5th Group. Afterward, the Army changed that and made it a permanent change of station and centralized all of the SF efforts under the 5th SFG. During the early years of the war, SF A-Teams would deploy from all of the groups to Vietnam on TDY status. The unit trained the armed forces of Mali, Iraq, Ethiopia, the Congo, and Jordan, in addition to supporting the Gemini 6 and 7 space launches in 1965.ĭuring the war in Vietnam, the 3rd SFG also worked with and augmented the 5th SFG(A). Likewise, the unit’s original motto was “From the Rest Comes the Best.” In an acknowledgment of its origins, the beret flash colors of the 3rd SFG are yellow (1st SFG (A)), red (7th SFG (A)), black (5th SFG (A)), and white (Special Forces Training Group (A)). The members of the original 3rd SFG(A) were drawn from the existing Special Forces Groups with the exception of the 10th SFG (A).
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |