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Michael Wells will let you know he was solely doing his job that day in 2008. Surrounded by gunfire, with unknowable threats ready round any avenue nook, he did nothing greater than attempt his finest to guard the comrades who had been relying on him.
On Friday, Wells was awarded the Bronze Star Medal, the fourth-highest honor a U.S. service member can obtain, in a small ceremony in Moscow attended by household and shut mates. U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, introduced Wells with the medal, awarded in recognition of Wells’ bravery in defending his platoon throughout a navy operation in Sadr Metropolis, Iraq.
“It’s my best honor to work with our navy heroes and to share within the pleasure and pleasure that’s applicable on an event comparable to this,” Crapo advised attendees. “I wish to thank (Wells) for his loyal, courageous and heroic actions, which saved dozens of lives within the service of defending and honoring our Structure.”
A 2004 graduate of Colville Excessive Faculty, Wells enlisted proper after commencement and in 2008 was on his second tour of responsibility in Iraq as a specialist within the U.S. Military. After being wounded by an improvised explosive machine on his first tour, for which he obtained the Purple Coronary heart, he took 4 months to recuperate earlier than redeploying for one more 15 months within the subject.
“I keep in mind at the moment, all I needed to do was to be with my platoon,” Wells stated. “I had this sense of responsibility to be with my comrades. They needed to fly me out of theater after I was wounded, and I stated ‘No, I wish to stick with them.’ ”
Wells was on patrol together with his platoon on April 20, 2008, a fairly atypical day, Wells remembers. His unit’s main responsibility at the moment was to run patrols and supply route clearance for fight engineers and specialist groups taking part in Operation Gold Wall, working to assemble a large wall blocking Iraqi insurgents from working in a key a part of Sadr Metropolis. As a Bradley gunner, Wells’ function was to man an armored automobile and clear the trail of IEDs.
Not lengthy after rolling out on that day’s mission, Wells noticed a number of IEDs lining the platoon’s route. Neutralizing explosives was an on a regular basis a part of his job, however these had been no atypical IEDs; they had been a very deadly selection, able to taking out closely armored autos and whole platoons. His fast pondering allowed him to neutralize the explosives earlier than they’d an opportunity to hurt him or his comrades, and the mission was in a position to proceed as deliberate.
Later that afternoon, Wells’ unit ended up in an surprising and intense gunfight. As enemy gunfire rained down from rooftops throughout them, Wells laid down suppressive machine gun hearth that held attackers at bay lengthy sufficient for medics to deal with wounded members of the platoon.
In a video compiled by Crapo’s workplace to shock Wells on the award ceremony, Wells’ former commanding officers recommended his bravery throughout that mission and emphasised that with out his fast strikes, many extra lives would have been misplaced.
“(Wells’) fast selections, braveness and very good marksmanship ensured mission accomplishment and safety of his comrades throughout fierce and intense combating,” stated Lt. Millard Stewart, chief of Wells’ platoon. “His actions on April 20, 2008, stay as much as the battalion philosophy of ‘Struggle Like Hell’ and is in step with the best traditions of navy achievement upon himself, the Silver Lions Battalion and the US Military.”
Although the combating was intense and the losses heavy – a number of members of Wells’ platoon had been killed or wounded through the mission – Wells returned to extra of the identical the very subsequent day. He remained within the subject for seven months earlier than returning dwelling and ending his enlistment.
“I’m not going to lie, I used to be scared. However I didn’t have time to be scared,” Wells stated. “And the one factor that I may take into consideration was my fellow comrades and to behave in the most effective capacity for myself and for them. Afterwards, I didn’t have time to grieve as a result of the subsequent day we had been below the subsequent mission. And the guilt of my fallen comrades didn’t actually come to me till I returned dwelling from Iraq.”
When he returned from Iraq, Wells enrolled in faculty, incomes a legislation diploma from the College of Idaho. The extreme schoolwork stored his thoughts busy as he started to heal from what he’d seen and finished within the subject.
Wells now practices legislation in Moscow, specializing in Veterans Affairs instances. Nearly all of his shoppers are Vietnam-era vets coping with the repercussions of Agent Orange many years after their service, and Wells stated having the ability to use his personal experiences to narrate together with his shoppers and dealing to redress the wrongs of the previous has helped him to really feel a way of accomplishment and repair since coming dwelling.
Wells and his spouse, Allison, have two younger daughters, who Wells stated hold him going, the brightest spot in every of his days. The very best half about receiving the Bronze Star, Wells stated, is having the ability to present his children that he’s finished proper by them. He’s grateful for the consideration and slightly relieved on the small sense of closure the award brings.
“On the finish of the day, in my thoughts, they’re simply medals,” Wells stated. “I used to be doing my job, and anybody in my footwear would have finished the identical factor.
“I stored my head down and regarded out for my fellow comrades,” he continued. “I’m glad I made it dwelling protected, I’m nonetheless alive and life strikes on. The world is at all times turning.”
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