[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 100 (Tuesday, July 7, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7163-S7164]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       HONORING OUR ARMED FORCES


                    Master Sergeant Brendan O'connor

  Mr. BURR. Madam President, one of the privileges of being a Senator 
is that we have the opportunity to meet extraordinary people every day. 
Whether you are the Senator from Illinois or the Senator from Nebraska, 
extraordinary people walk through your door every day of the week. But 
sometimes we get to meet amazing individuals whom we can honestly call 
heroes, who lay their lives on the line for their country and sacrifice 
themselves for our freedom.
  MSG Brendan O'Connor, a medic in the 7th Special Forces Group, is one 
of those very special people. In June of 2006, Master Sergeant O'Connor 
was deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. 
His group was stationed near Kandahar and charged with a variety of 
things, including security, training of the Afghan Army, and 
counterterrorism operations against a ruthless enemy.
  We have all heard news reports and heard of suicide bombers driving 
cars loaded with explosives into markets and crowded areas killing 
innocent men, women, and children. We have all heard accounts of 
suicide bombers strapping explosives to their waists and walking 
through a market, intentionally killing individuals. All of these 
individuals have been branded as religious zealots willing to die for 
their cause. However, that is not always the case. Oftentimes, these 
Taliban warlords recruit suicide bombers in other ways. They go into 
small villages and they hold whole families hostage. They instruct the 
young men in the family that if they do not carry out a suicide 
mission, they are going to kill the rest of the family, or if they do, 
they will let them live.
  Brendan's team was tracking one of these Taliban warlords, one of 
these thugs, outside of Kandahar, who was notorious for this type of 
``recruitment.'' They tracked the terrorist to a small farming village 
surrounded by vineyards and orchards. Once in the area, Brendan's team 
set up a perimeter and defensive position to root out these warlords. 
They arrived late one evening and, working under the cloak of darkness, 
proceeded to sweep the village, hoping to surprise the local Taliban 
leader. However, their arrival was tipped off to the Taliban, and they 
had fled just minutes before U.S. soldiers arrived.
  Having found evidence of the Taliban's existence, the soldiers knew 
it was only a matter of time before they engaged the enemy. That first 
skirmish started the next day at dusk. Brendan's team, about 70 
soldiers comprised of 8 U.S. special ops and 60 Afghan soldiers, took 
some small arms and rocket propelled grenade fire, but it didn't last 
long. The Taliban attacked the U.S.-led forces several more times over 
the next day and night but never amounting to much. U.S.-led forces 
didn't even sustain a single injury during those firefights.
  After having arrived on Wednesday evening and sporadically fighting 
the Taliban for 2 days, Brendan's team decided it was time to take the 
fight to the enemy. On that Saturday, MSG Tom Maholluck led a small 
recon group to a Taliban stronghold, which was just outside the village 
in a cluster of farm buildings. The team was comprised of four special 
forces operators and a dozen Afghan Army. Sergeant Maholluck was able 
to get in close enough to the compound without being detected. Once he 
assessed the situation, Sergeant Maholluck thought he could take the 
compound with a simple recon team. He ordered two of his soldiers--SSG 
Matt Binnie and SSG Joe Feurst--to take a fire suppression position and 
cover Sergeant Maholluck and the remaining Afghan Army contingency 
while they stormed the compound.
  When the U.S.-led recon team launched its first attack on the Taliban 
compound, they were quickly greeted with heavy machine gunfire. The 
first fire expression team returned fire; however, the machine gun nest 
had a tactical advantage over the fire team--they had the higher 
ground. Matt was struck first by a bullet that grazed his neck and 
stunned him for a moment. Matt regained his senses, and he and Joe 
returned fire, as much as they could, but the Taliban had them pinned 
down. Then an RPG round came and struck Staff Sergeant Feurst directly 
in the leg. It didn't explode, thankfully, but badly wounded SSG Joe 
Feurst. As Staff Sergeant Binnie was tending to Joe's leg, he was shot 
through the shoulder. The only thing left of the fire suppression team 
was a young Afghan interpreter who had stayed with them. Master 
Sergeant

[[Page S7164]]

Maholluck was cut off from Staff Sergeant Binnie and Staff Sergeant 
Feurst, so he radioed for help.
  Back at the main perimeter, Brendan O'Connor got the call and put a 
team together to go get his wounded soldiers. When Brendan's team got 
to the area, the Taliban had taken positions along the route to the 
wounded soldiers, leaving Brendan only one path--an exposed field. 
Brendan instructed his team to take up positions to support the wounded 
and started on his mission to save the lives of these soldiers.
  At first, Brendan started crawling through an open field with his 
gear on. He quickly realized this wasn't going to work. So under a hail 
of small arms, RPG, and machine gun fire, Brendan removed all his armor 
and crawled through an open field to get to the two wounded. Brendan 
couldn't locate the two soldiers by sight, only by calling out. And as 
he heard them, he would get closer and closer.
  When he arrived at the two wounded, he had to make a quick decision 
about Joe's injuries, which were life threatening. Brendan quickly got 
Staff Sergeant Binnie taken care of and instructed him to crawl through 
a culvert to get to safety. Staff Sergeant Feurst wasn't so easy. He 
was unconscious and unable to move. Brendan pulled him down as far as 
he could into the culvert. He started to drag him, but he realized he 
couldn't drag him the entire way.
  As if the actions of Brendan and his team weren't heroic enough at 
this point, the next part of this account will send chills down your 
spine.
  At this time during the fight, it was estimated that nearly 300 
Taliban fighters had engaged the approximately 15-member U.S. force. I 
say approximately because several Afghan Army members who originally 
accompanied Brendan's team had fled by this point. As Brendan's natural 
cover was coming to an end, he pulled Joe on to his shoulder, and he 
ran across an area while 300 Taliban fighters were shooting at him. God 
was watching Brendan that day. God saw one man risk his life to save 
another, and he saw fit to keep Brendan from harm as he carried a 
wounded U.S. soldier to safety. Unfortunately, Joe Feurst died soon 
after Brendan got him back due to massive blood loss. SSG Matt Binnie 
survived because of Brendan's leadership and courage under fire.
  The battle that had gone on for nearly 3 days was coming to an end at 
this point. U.S. forces had air support, which escorted them out of the 
area. All told, the U.S.-led force killed 125 Taliban fighters and only 
lost 2 of their own, with 1 wounded. They weren't able to capture or 
kill the warlord that time; however, due to the losses to the Taliban 
that day in that strike, U.S. forces got him several weeks later.
  For their heroics in combat, MSG Tom Maholluck and SSG Matt Binnie 
were awarded the Silver Star. SSG Joe Feurst was awarded the Bronze 
Star. Brendan O'Connor was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for 
his valor. It was the first time a member of the 7th Special Forces 
Group had been awarded the medal since 1964.
  It is an honor to have Brendan and his family in Washington today. He 
is joined by his beautiful wife Meg and their children, Ryan, Colin, 
Darby, and Dillon.
  It is this type of story that we rarely hear about on the nightly 
news, but this story was so amazing that ``60 Minutes'' felt compelled 
to do a piece on it after the soldiers arrived back home. MSG Brendan 
O'Connor is a person held in the highest regard by other warriors who 
have proudly served this country. He is a soldier who truly understands 
the price of freedom. The Senate salutes MSG Brendan O'Connor today.
  I thank the Chair, and I yield the floor.

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