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BAGRAM
AIRFIELD, Afghanistan – U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Daniel Allyn, Regional
Command East and 1st Cavalry Division commander, awards the Silver Star
Medal to Capt. Ivan Torres, an infantry commander from Killeen, Texas,
assigned to the 1st Cavalry Division’s Headquarters Services Company at
Combat Outpost Red Hill in Parwan Province, March 18. Torres was awarded
for his actions during Operation Thunderdome, a combat operation
conducted in the Qowl-e Her Valley Sept. 21, 2011. (U.S. Navy photo by
Petty Officer 1st Class Bill Steele, Regional Command East Public
Affairs)
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rc-east.com
BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan—U.S. Army Capt. Ivan Torres, a soldier who finds calm in the chaos of combat, was awarded the Silver Star for placing himself in the line of fire to try to save his squad members and protect wounded Afghan Soldiers.
Torres, a native of Killeen, Texas, and commander of the 1st Cavalry Division Headquarters Services Company at Combat Outpost Red Hill, was involved in a fire fight last fall, while leading a company of U.S. and Afghan Soldiers during Operation Thunderdome, a mission to clear Taliban insurgents from the Qowl-e Her Valley in western Parwan Province. Before the operation, the area was known as a Taliban stronghold.
U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Daniel Allyn, Regional Command East and 1st Cavalry Division commander presented the award March 18, and praised Torres’ quick thinking and ability to maintain composure in a situation that could have ended very badly for coalition forces.
“At the end of the day, he lived up to the legacy that is the 1st Cavalry Division,” Allyn said.
Torres and his company of about 85 Soldiers ran into trouble as they were making their way south on the main road through the village of Khoshkak. Khoshkak is considered the most forested and steeply-sloped village in Qowl-e Her, and this is where a large Taliban force ambushed them.
Information gathered before the start of the operation led Torres and his planners to believe that if the Taliban were to strike, they would most likely wait until night time, and that enemy strength would be anywhere from 50 to 80 at most. Instead, they met a force that was twice that size and dug into several defensive strongpoints on three dominating mountain ridgelines. They were armed to the teeth. When the Taliban opened fire, at about 7:30 a.m., there was total chaos.
“After maybe 15 seconds of the first shot being fired, the tree line essentially evaporated,” Torres recalled. “We had obviously walked into a kill zone.”
Within minutes, one Afghan National Army soldier lay dead. Several Taliban were also killed.
Pinned down by withering Taliban machine gun and sniper fire, punctuated with rocket-propelled grenades and mortars, Torres’ lead platoon became isolated south of the main element.
What happened over the next eight hours earned Torres the U.S. military's third highest combat decoration for valor, and four of his fellow Soldiers Bronze Stars.
As Taliban fighters maneuvered into hand grenade range, Torres ran to the front and organized the first of three counterattacks. Pulling together five of his men—three Army specialists, a medic and a linguist—he made his way toward the cut off platoon.
Running into the open, with bullets and rounds coming from three different directions, they reached the isolated platoon of 20 U.S. and Afghan National Army Soldiers about 500 yards away. Their only protection was a clump of trees and a fast-moving stream between themselves and the Taliban. Here they set up a defensive position and began the first counterattack.
Using close-air support, they took out a mortar and RPG team, killing eight insurgents and driving them back onto the mountainside. Another Taliban squad maneuvered on their position and was repelled. Three more fighters were killed.
Torres initially wanted to pull his platoon back to the main element, but realized that by drawing so much Taliban fire they were acting as an effective decoy. Running back through the kill zone to reach his main element, he worked with his ANSF commander to organize the second counterattack, this time planning to cross the stream with a small force to surprise the enemy. Instead, they got pinned down out in the open.
Risking his life, Torres ordered his men to run back 100 meters to join some Afghan Soldiers while he went in the opposite direction with only his M4 rifle to attack a Taliban machine gun nest. He was immediately hit by RPG fire and knocked down, though he says he has no recollection of it. Meanwhile, two ANA Soldiers were wounded. Torres ran to their aid and put himself in the direct line of enemy fire to protect them while they were dragged out of the kill zone. He then again ran to get medical supplies that saved the wounded soldiers’ lives.
“Rounds literally whizzed by the head,” Torres said. “We had so many close or near misses that I’m actually surprised that we walked out with the casualties that we did.”
Aside from the two ANA Soldiers, only one U.S Soldier was seriously wounded in the battle.
Torres led the final counterattack that drove Taliban forces from a casualty collection point, eventually allowing a helicopter to land and medevac the wounded. When the dust settled, 45 insurgents had been killed in the operation, including a senior Taliban commander and two team leaders.
“We ended up chasing them all out the valley,” Torres said. “[The battle] was the turning tide.”
The Taliban have since tried to re-seed themselves back into the community, he says, but have so far been unsuccessful.
“Our hope was that if the village elders saw a large commitment from coalition forces it would encourage the fence sitters to stand up to the Taliban,” Torres said. “Evidently, it worked.”
After receiving the Silver Star, Torres was asked why he would risk his own life, even after his platoon sergeant at one point begged him to stay behind. He replied, “I’d been in combat actions before. Most of my guys hadn’t. I figured it was the right thing to do.”
Torres, a 13-year Army veteran who has deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan twice, admits that combat has become ingrained in his DNA to the point where it feels completely natural to him.
“It’s kind of like I’m in the moment,” he says. “For many people it’s chaotic, but for me it makes sense. I’m able to focus.”
His executive officer, U.S. Army 1st Lt. Mark Mayor, of Kenosha, Wis., agrees.
“His leadership is very direct, very clear,” Mayor said. “He doesn’t freak out under fire.”
Torres’ deployment ends in April, and he will move on to his next assignment in January. But no matter what happens for the rest of his Army career, Sept. 21, 2011 will be a day he’ll never forget.
“That day for us that were on the ground, it will be burned in our memory forever,” he said.
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