Navy awards Bronze Star Medal to 6 Virginia Beach-based sailors
By Brock Vergakis
http://www.stripes.com/news/us/navy-awards-bronze-star-medal-to-6-virginia-beach-based-sailors-1.405297The Virginian-Pilot (Tribune News Service)
Published: April 20, 2016
Maj. James A. Blair, an orthopedic trauma surgeon at Beaumont, and Capt. Peter Frye, a nurse anesthetist, were both recently awarded a Bronze Star for their service in Afghanistan during a deployment last year.The awards weren’t for one particular incident but were in recognition for all their actions during the deployment with the 745th Forward Surgical Team from Fort Bliss.
VIRGINIA BEACH — Six sailors assigned to a Virginia Beach-based unit have received the Bronze Star Medal for work they did in Iraq while assigned to a special operations task force that is opposing the Islamic State group, the Navy said Tuesday.
The sailors belong to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit 2, based at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story. The unit identifies, recovers and disposes of homemade and other explosives, including chemical and nuclear weapons.
The Bronze Star, one of the military’s top awards, is for “heroic or meritorious achievement” while conducting operations involving conflict with an opposing force.
The EOD technicians conducted a series of operations in support of Operation Inherent Resolve while assigned to Special Operations Task Force-Iraq and the U.S. Central Command, according to the Navy.
“The Bronze Star is a level of award that makes you feel as though you still have work to do to be worthy of it,” said Lt. Daniel Glenn, the Special Operations Task Force-Iraq EOD platoon commander, in a statement. “Although I know what my team and I did, it’s the kind of honor you remain feeling unworthy of. I couldn’t be more proud of my team; they put their lives at risk for the sake of the mission.”
The Navy did not specify when the service that resulted in the awards occurred or provide other details.
“I’m incredibly proud of these sailors,” Capt. John Moulton, commander of EOD Group 2, which oversees the unit, said in a statement. “What they were able to accomplish helped our senior leaders better understand the changing nature of the fight in Iraq.”
