Sgt. 1st Class Andrew Lewis

Company A, 3rd Battalion, 20th Special Forces Group, Florida National Guard

On March 5, 2004, Lewis and fellow unit member Sgt. 1st Class Joshua D. Betten, departed their fire base on the border of Afghanistan for a planned six-day, two-man sniper/observer mission to provide early-warning to the base and interdict enemy infiltration. The two men prepared a night position about 1,600 meters from the base. Soon they were engaged by a large force of the enemy moving on their position. Lewis fired a claymore mine set to cover their position, eliminating one attacker and then shot a second one with his pistol.

Simultaneously, Betten opened fire on other enemy soldiers, putting three down. The team was quickly under fire from two sides and they were forced to cover each other as one reloaded and the other one fired. At one point enemy soldiers were so close that Lewis threw three grenades, finally breaking up the direct attack, though they remained under constant rifle fire. Lewis was in constant communication with their base. They were told it would be 10 minutes before a relief force could arrive.

When the two Soldiers tried to move to a less exposed position, they came under machine gun fire from two directions. After expending all their rifle ammunition and with only their pistols, the two men slid about 500 meters down a canyon cliff where they found cover while waiting for the relief force composed of other Special Forces members and Afghan soldiers.

Once rescued, their report made it obvious that a large (at least 30-man) enemy force was massing to attack the base. But the quick and determined actions of these two Soldiers gave enough advanced warning that the base was spared an attack. Both men defended not only each other, but all of the men in the base by their quick and effective actions, and each was awarded the Silver Star for their bravery and quick response in the face of an overwhelming enemy assault.

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