News & Information - The Mercury - February 2009 Mercury

	Members of Operational Detachment 3336 recon the Shok Valley where they fought a seven-hour battle. (Photo by SGT David N. Gunn)

Special Forces medic SSG Ronald J. Shurer was one of 10 members of Operational Detachment Alpha 3336 who received the Silver Star for actions on April 6, 2008 in the Shok Valley of Afghanistan.

The ceremony at Fort Bragg, N.C., was the largest group to receive the Army's third highest combat decoration during Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. "Alone and unafraid, working with their counterparts, they took on a tenacious and dedicated enemy in his homeland, in his own backyard. Imagine the Taliban commander thinking, 'what the hell do I have to do to defeat these guys?'" said LTG John F. Mulholland, commander of Special Forces Command.

The Special Forces team and the 201st Afghan Commando Battalion were ambushed on a steep slope while approaching a village known to be an insurgent stronghold.

Shurer climbed the mountain under intense fire to reach an advance element that had sustained casualties, and exposed himself to enemy fire to retrieve and treat the wounded. For more than five hours he gave life-saving assistance to four U.S. and 10 Afghan Soldiers. During this time he was shot in the arm and a bullet that passed through another Soldier's arm struck Shurer's helmet.

Despite the enemy fire and shrapnel from close-exploding U.S. bombs, Shurer evacuated the wounded down a nearly vertical 60-foot cliff, using a six-foot length of nylon webbing to lower the casualties.

All the Americans survived the battle, although some sustained serious injuries. Two Afghan Soldiers died, and an estimated 150-200 insurgents were killed by the force's fire and air support.

(Compiled from releases by Special Operations Command, the Army Times and the Washington Post.)

From the February 2009 Mercury, an Army Medical Department publication.