Every Day Hero

Photo credit Sgt. Ricardo J. Branch, 8th Theater Sustainment Command Public Affairs Office

Meet Sgt. Scott D. Brooks:

Engineer Soldier awarded Silver Star

Mar 11, 2010

By Sgt. Ricardo J. Branch, 8th Theater Sustainment Command Public Affairs Office

Sgt. Scott D. Brooks, Headquarters Company, 130th Engineers Brigade, receives the Silver Star medal from Maj. Gen. Michael J. Terry, commanding general, 8th Theater Sustainment Command, during an award ceremony March 10, at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii.

SCHOFIELD BARRACKS, Hawaii (March 10, 2010) -- Sgt. Scott D. Brooks, 82nd Engineer Support Company, 65th Engineer Battalion, 130th Engineer Brigade, received the Silver Star medal from Maj. Gen. Michael J. Terry, commanding general, 8th Theater Sustainment Command, during an award ceremony here, March 10.

Brooks received the award for his actions on June 25, 2007, where his bravery resulted in saving the lives of five Iraqi policemen and untold American Soldiers following a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device that struck the walls of Forward Operating Base Summerall in Iraq.

Also pictured at right are wife, Kristen, and son.(here)

And from StarBulletin.com comes more details:

A Schofield Barracks soldier has been awarded the Silver Star medal for saving the lives of five Iraqi policemen and other American soldiers during a 48-hour firefight in Iraq three years ago....[...]

Brooks, 25, was a heavy equipment operator with the 618th Engineer Company, 82nd Airborne Division, at Forward Operating Base Summerall, Iraq, on June 25, 2007, when insurgents detonated a homemade car bomb next to a perimeter wall.

His Army citation said Brooks sprinted to the roof of a building and started firing at the insurgents, who were attempting to enter through the breach in the perimeter wall.

Seeing that numerous fellow soldiers and Iraqi police lay wounded and exposed near the blast site, Brooks ran to a bulldozer and began moving debris and scrap metal to fill the hole in the perimeter wall. Ignoring enemy small-arms fire, Brooks filled the breach and kept the enemy from gaining access to the base.

After reinforcements arrived, Brooks remained at the wall for the next 48 hours, helping to treat the wounded, recover the bodies of his fallen comrades and rebuild the perimeter wall. His actions are credited with directly saving the lives of five Iraqi policemen and countless American soldiers, the Army said in a news release.

Brooks is now assigned to the 82nd Engineer Support Company, 65th Engineer Battalion, 130th Engineer Brigade, based at Schofield Barracks. (here)

Thank you for your service, Sgt. Brooks.