4 Army Rangers honored for valor
Published: October 27, 2012
HUNTER ARMY AIRFIELD, Ga. — On a day when the Army’s top general was on hand to recognize an entire battalion for gallantry in Afghanistan, four soldiers stood out.
Sgt. Craig Warfle was pinned with the Distinguished Service Cross, marking him as the first Army Ranger in the post-9/11 era to earn the nation’s second highest honor for valor in combat.
Three Silver Stars were awarded to Sgt. Michael Ross, Staff Sgt. Dominic Annecchini and Sgt. Christopher Coray.
They are “exceptional Rangers whose individual gallantry in battle has added to the legend of the esteemed 75th Ranger Regiment and to its 1st Battalion,” Gen. Ray Odierno, Army chief of staff, said at the ceremony on Friday.
Odierno presented the unit with the Presidential Unit Citation for their deployment from May to October 2010 in “the most contested terrain of Afghanistan,” where they “significantly disrupted al-Qaida, Haqqani and Taliban operations during their primary fighting season.” The unit conducted 527 operations of national significance, detained more than 1,400 enemy fighters, including 230 high-value individuals, and killed more than 400, he said.
The battalion’s “feats of valor displayed for 145 straight days,” Odierno said, “is simply unprecedented.”
