Corpsman, MARSOC sergeant receive Silver Stars

By Gidget Fuentes - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Jul 6, 2011 9:41:22 EDT

With just a week left in their combat tour in Afghanistan, the joint special operations team left base on a critical mission to recover two fallen soldiers who drowned several days earlier.

But 10 minutes after heading out for that Nov. 6, 2009, mission, Hospital Corpsman 1st Class Amilcar Rodriguez and the rest of the unit — made up of members of Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command, Army Special Forces and Afghan army commandos — came under heavy machine-gun and small-arms fire. The risky daytime mission had quickly changed to one of survival as they battled Taliban fighters in Bala Murghab, a village in Badghis province known for its heavy insurgent activity. Rodriguez, an experienced combat corpsman with several war deployments, played a critical role, joining in the heavy fighting and saving lives.

Two years later, during a June 24 ceremony at Camp Lejeune, N.C., the Navy and Marine Corps honored the heroics of Rodriguez and Sgt. Eric Walker, a member of MARSOC, in that battle by bestowing each with the Silver Star. Rodriguez is credited for his “decisive, aggressive action,” states the award citation, approved in March by Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Jim Amos.

http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2011/07/marine-silver-star-marsoc-corpsman- 070611/