Above & Beyond the Call of Duty: Sergeant First Class Alwyn Cashe | October 2005

is in january 2005 the first battalion of the us 15th regiment deployed to iraq for the second time in two years transitioning from the command of the us third division to that of the 42nd the battalion was dispersed between two ford operating bases with his a company being stationed at fob mackenzie from here a company as recorded in a 15th regimental unit history conducted countless company battalion and brigade level missions over the next 12 months among the missions carried out in this period was that on the 17th of october 2005 when a company's first platoon was tasked with conducting a route clearance operation near the village of aldalia to ensure a supply convoy was safe to pass the following morning the party at 1920 the platoon embarked on a handful of m2 bradley armoured fighting vehicles set off from the fob but soon came to a stop and one of the m2s broke down and had to return to mckenzie once this issue had been resolved the rest of the armored column continued on to their objective with the mission progression without incident for the next 30 or so minutes then at approximately 1950 the lead bradley struck a roadside iud with the blast significantly damaging the underside of the vehicle and igniting the fuel on board [Music] seconds later sporadic enemy gun fire began to hit the american column from a distance as army specialist darren howe drove the stricken m2 a little further down the road before opening his hatch and scrambling out just as flames began to eat away at his uniform at the same time in the turret sergeant first class alwyn cash suffered several burns from the blast but nonetheless he called out of his hatch and down to that of the drivers and helped extract specialist tau assisting him down from the vehicle sergeant cash put out the flames that are on his colleague's uniform prior to returning to the bradley to extract the seven us and iraqi personnel that were trapped inside the rear passenger compartment one of those trapped was squad leader sergeant first class douglas dodge who was knocked unconscious when the ied detonated when he regained his consciousness sergeant dodge after putting out some of the flames that are on his clothing turned to getting himself and his colleagues out of the burning vehicle when to his horror he realized the exit ramp was jammed sharp subsequently sergeant first class dodge forced open the smaller troop door and as he recalls i got out and got myself fully extinguished when sergeant alwyn cash showed up next to me he asked me where everybody else was but i didn't know because i was so dazed he then said we've got to get the boys out [Music] despite already having suffer burns for the initial blast and the fact that his uniform was stretched in fuel sergeant first class allen cash rushed over to the rear of the flaming gulf bradley reached through the troop door and pulled out one of the u.s soldiers getting the soldier to the roadside sergeant cash returned to the bradley all the while with his uniform on fire and proceeded to pull out another soldier repeating the same process he with the assistance of sergeant dodge carried the soldier to safety before once again going back to the burning bradley and pulling free another soldier in all sergeant first class alwyn cash would complete this regard for his own life and with the sole focus on saving his colleagues successfully extracted five u.s soldiers and an iraqi translator from the rear of the afv with sergeant michael robertson a u.s medic being the final soldier cash rescued was found trapped between several objects meanwhile the troops on board the follow-up bradleys disembarked and helped evacuate the wounded to a u.s military hospital in the nearby city of ballard arriving here on the night of the 17th of october the nine wounded personnel would give a medical treatment with the unidentified iraqi translator sadly passing away as a result of his wounds a short while later one of the doctors present in the hospital at the time was dr mark rasnake who remembers sergeant first class cash came to ask for burns over most of his body and was the most severely injured of the group the surgeons worked for hours on his wounds and we worked for hours in the intensive care unit to stabilize him for transport if he stayed in iraq he would have died of wounds we simply couldn't care for such severe burns here only a handful of hospitals back in the us could knowing this our air evacuation team loaded him onto the plane for the six-hour flight to germany and then on to the us alongside sergeant cash army specialist darren howe raymond salerno and gary mills staff sergeant george alexander and sergeant michael robertson were all medically transferred to the brook army medical center in texas here it was assessed that all of them had suffered second and or third degree burns from the blast with a medical report noting that sergeant cash in particular had suffered burns to 72 percent of his body and that parts of his uniform melted onto his skin despite this sergeant owing cash often refused medical treatment preparing the doctors and nurses to focus their attention on saving the lives of his colleagues tragically despite the efforts of many to stabilize their situation five of the six u.s soldiers that were hospitalized at the brook medical center would succumb to their wounds including staff sergeant george alexander of virginia sergeant michael robertson of texas army specialist darren howe of nebraska army specialist raymond salerno of pennsylvania and finally sergeant first class alwyn cash of florida [Music] you

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Keywords: British, Military, History, Education, Army, Air Force, Navy, Soldier, Sailor, Airmen, Liveth For Evermore, LFE, Special Forces, U.S. Army, America, Alwyn Cashe, Sergeant First Class Alwyn Cashe, 3rd Division, Iraq, FOB MacKenzie, M2 Bradley, Above & Beyond the Call of Duty: Sergeant First Class Alwyn Cashe | October 2005, Medal of Honor, Silver Star, Mark Esper, SFC Alwyn Cashe, Brooke Army Medical Centre, Operation Iraqi Freedom, Texas, alwyn c. cashe

Id: ZprGLt77sBA

Length: 8min 2sec (482 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 29 2020