Tom Vanden Brook

USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — The Silver Stars awarded to Army special operators since the Sept. 11 terror attacks offer a rare glimpse of soldiers on secret missions risking their lives again and again to rescue comrades in battles against militants in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Until now, their heroism has been known only to a small circle. The awards, due to their sensitive, secretive nature of their missions, were bestowed without public notice. The Army released to USA TODAY 12 of 41 the narratives associated with the Silver Stars, the third-highest medal granted for heroism. U.S. Special Operations Command refused to divulge the remainder “to protect military plans, weapons systems or operations.” The Army blacked out the names of the soldiers, citing concerns that such information could endanger their lives.

Since Sept. 11, 2001, more than 1,000 medals for the highest valor, including Silver Stars and service crosses, have been awarded to troops, mostly for combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. Navy SEALs and Army special operators, including members of the ultra-elite, counter-terror unit Delta Force, have been the recipients of nearly one in five of those awards. All of the awards are being reviewed, under a Pentagon edict last year, to determine if they should be upgraded.

“Over the course of their entire history, Army Special Operations Forces have created a legacy of exceptional commitment and valor,” said Lt. Col. Robert Bockholt, a spokesman for the Army’s Special Operations Command. “The past 15 years of war since the events of 9/11 are no exception.”

A few threads hold together the narratives for the 12 Silver Stars awarded to Army commandos: lots of bullets, many aimed at the soldiers, some striking them, but many, many more outgoing, killing insurgents and protecting fellow troops. And death, mostly, for insurgents. The Pentagon has been loath to acknowledge body counts in the counterinsurgency wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as top commanders, such as Gen. David Petraeus, insisted that killing is not the path to ultimate victory. The Silver Stars were not won in hearts-and-minds battles, but in life-and-death struggles. Eighteen al-Qaeda fighters were killed in a battle in Baghdad, while more than 20 Taliban militants died in Helmand Province.

The awards appear to have been made to soldiers from a variety of units, said Dwight Mears, a former West Point History professor who has studied military medals. Although the narratives black out most identifying information, the nature of the fighting indicates that helicopter pilots from the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, the 75th Ranger Regiment and likely Delta Force were involved, Mears said. All but three of the awards went to soldiers for heroism in Afghanistan.

Forward Operating Base Ghazni, Afghanistan, Aug. 28, 2013

Taliban insurgents blew a hole in the eastern wall of the fort in east central Afghanistan with a car bomb. The base housed a Provincial Reconstruction Team, a military-civilian unit tasked with helping Afghans rebuild their country. After the blast, 10 insurgents dressed in Afghan army uniforms flowed through the breach with rifles, grenades and suicide vests.

The Army special operator, identified only as “the Medical sergeant” raced to the “sound of gunfire and explosions.” He killed the insurgent closest to him, while two of his fellow commandos gunned down two more. Turning a corner with another commando, they confronted six more insurgents and faced a hail storm of gunfire and grenades. One bullet struck the sergeant’s helmet, knocking him to the dirt where he continued to fight to blunt the attack.

Sped to a surgery team, the medical sergeant refused treatment, insisting on guarding the medical personnel until more troops arrived.

“His efforts directly supported containing the enemy to the edge of the airfield, and saved the lives of (1,400) personnel,” the narrative states.

Musa Qala, Helmand Province, Afghanistan, Dec. 8, 2007

The platoon sergeant and his unit infiltrated the Taliban stronghold by air early the previous night, navigating across mountain and desert terrain to set up their position. By dawn, the militants attacked with machine gun and small arms fire.

That was just the start of a harrowing, bloody day that saw him kill more than 20 trained Taliban fighters.

The sergeant popped up, exposing himself to gunfire, and located the Taliban fighters. He then led the counter attack, blasting open the door to the enemy compound that his soldiers cleared. Before entering another building, the sergeant gunned down a fighter, saving the lives of other soldiers. Gunfire then struck the walls and ground around his unit. He heaved grenades at those Taliban fighters, killing them and saving the lives of more comrades.

He then moved with his men down a narrow corridor toward an open field. When they reached the opening in the wall, gunfire erupted at them from a building about 200 yards away. The sergeant stood in the open, fully exposed to Taliban fire, and pinpointed their location. He jumped over a wall and headed toward them, killing two fighters armed with a machine gun and an AK-47 rifle. The sergeant seized their weapons, 300 rounds of ammunition and grenades, caching it so that he could return to blow it up.

He led another assault on the compound, firing through a hole in its wall to kill two more militants. At that point, a “hailstorm of enemy fire” poured from the enemy compound as he stood in the open protecting other soldiers seeking cover. He was struck in the right arm by machine gun fire but continued to fight until medics forced him to accept treatment.

Basra, Iraq, April 4, 2008

The Iraqi government launched an offensive to dislodge Shiite militia fighters from the southern port city of Basra. Army commandos embedded with the Iraqi units to advise them in tough, urban combat.

The communications sergeant, the lead adviser to an Iraqi Special Operations Force, rode in a convoy into the lair of Jaish al-Mahdi, the Arabic term for the Mahdi Army. The insurgents ambushed them with rifle fire, rocket-propelled grenades and improvised explosive devices, IEDs.

In Iraq, the most feared and lethal type of IED, the explosively formed penetrator, which punctures armor, struck his vehicle. The blast wounded everybody inside, knocking them unconscious. The attack destroyed the soldier’s night-vision goggles and helmet.

Wounded, he roused himself and realized his radio had also been disabled. He jumped from the vehicle and darted more than 100 yards, “completely exposed to enemy fire,” to the lead truck in the convoy. He returned — “still exposed and receiving heavy small arms fire” — with another American commando to treat the wounded Iraqi soldiers.

The sergeant would run the gantlet repeatedly, refusing medical treatment and gunning down two militants who tried to flank the convoy.

Only when he “knew that the other wounded soldiers were removed from the ambush site, did he allow the medic to assess his own wounds.” His actions were “that of a true here to the Regiment.”

The Army has until Sept. 30 to determine if any of its medals will be upgraded, said Cynthia Smith, a spokeswoman.

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