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Old 05-01-2009, 05:10 PM
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Lightbulb 6-year-old boy accepts dad’s Silver Star

The Associated Press

Posted : Thursday Apr 30, 2009 15 23 10 EDT
WEST HAVEN, Utah —

A 6-year-old Plain City boy has been presented with the Silver Star awarded posthumously to his father, who died in a firefight in Afghanistan.

The medal for valor was presented to Jase Spargur on Wednesday during an assembly at Kanesville Elementary School in West Haven. Utah National Guard Maj. Gen. Brian Tarbet gave the medal to Jase. His father, 1st Lt Jonathan Brostrom was killed July 13 in Afghanistan.

Brostrom was one of nine soldiers killed when Taliban guerrillas ambushed an Army outpost. Brostrom died carrying medical supplies and ammunition to other soldiers.
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Old 05-01-2009, 05:14 PM
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My apology for the soldier icon in the date above. That sometimes happens for reasons above my pay grade. I will ask David to remove it for me.
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Old 05-01-2009, 05:17 PM
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HONOLULU — The Pentagon said Wednesday a soldier from Aiea was killed in Afghanistan along with eight other Americans when their outpost was attacked by small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades.

Army 1st Lt. Jonathan P. Brostrom, 24, was among those attacked Sunday in the town of Wanat. It was the deadliest incident for U.S. forces in three years.

Brostrom was a 2002 graduate of Damien Memorial School. He received a four-year ROTC scholarship at the University of Hawaii, graduating in 2006.

Brostrom’s father, David Brostrom, a retired Army colonel, praised his son and fellow soldiers for the work they are doing in Afghanistan but said they are not getting the resources they need.

“My son is very well trained. His leadership at the brigade and below were probably the best you’ll ever find, the best in the world,” David Brostrom told The Honolulu Advertiser. “(But) they were put in a situation where they were under-resourced.”

He said the U.S. has put Afghanistan on hold while it fights the war in Iraq. He said the enemy has been slowly gaining a foothold.

“It took something like this, nine soldiers killed, to be a wake-up call. I just hope my son’s death drives some policy to do what we need to do right in Afghanistan in order to protect our soldiers,” Brostrom said.

The nine soldiers belonged to the Army’s 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment (Airborne), 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, Vicenza, Italy.

Their newly built outpost in Wanat was attacked before dawn Sunday by small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades.

Moving in darkness before dawn Sunday, about 200 fighters surrounded the newly built base in a remote area near the Pakistan border without being spotted by the troops inside.

A NATO official said they used houses, shops and a mosque for cover during the hours-long battle before American soldiers managed to drive out the attackers and call in air support from attack helicopters. The official said dozens were killed and about 40 were wounded.

The provincial police chief said people in the adjacent village aided the assault. He said about 20 local families left their homes in anticipation of the raid, while other tribesmen stayed behind to help the insurgents during the fight.

It was the deadliest incident for U.S. forces since June 2005, when 16 American soldiers were killed as a rocket-propelled grenade shot down their helicopter.

Violence has been increasing in Afghanistan, and many people are questioning whether the Taliban-led insurgency is gaining, not losing, momentum seven years after the hard-line Islamic regime was ousted by a U.S.-led invasion.
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Old 05-01-2009, 05:20 PM
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Lightbulb First Lieutenant Jonathan P. Brostrom

Jonathan Brostrom
Home of record: , HI

A 2002 graduate of Damien Memorial School, Brostrom received a four-year ROTC scholarship at the University of Hawaii, graduating in 2006. His father, David Brostrom, is a retired Army colonel.
 
Silver Star

Awarded for actions during the Global War on Terror

The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress July 9, 1918 (amended by an act of July 25, 1963), takes pride in presenting the Silver Star (Posthumously) to First Lieutenant Jonathan P. Brostrom, , for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action against the enemy on 13 July 2008, while serving as a Platoon Leader in Company C, 2d Battalion (Airborne), 503d Infantry Regiment, in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, in Afghanistan. First Lieutenant Brostrom's incredible valor, competence, and unstoppable drive to aid his men in need took the highest level of bravery and courage. First Lieutenant Brostrom's efforts kept the enemy from overwhelming the outpost position in time for additional reinforcements, eventually repelling the enemy attack. His actions, at the cost of his own life, saved the lives of his men and held the ground from enemy forces. First Lieutenant Brostrom's actions are in keeping with the finest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, the 173d Airborne Brigade Combat Team, and the United States Army.

Service: Army

Rank: First Lieutenant
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Old 05-01-2009, 05:32 PM
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Lightbulb Hard-hit C Company suffers another agonizing blow

Army 1st Lt. Jonathan P. Brostrom,

Hard-hit C Company suffers another agonizing blow

By Michelle Tan
Staff writer


It was the single deadliest attack since the beginning of the war in Afghanistan.

More than 200 enemy fighters swarmed a small, remote combat outpost near the village of Wanat, near the country’s porous border with Pakistan.


They brought with them machine guns, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades. The U.S. and coalition soldiers were outnumbered by at least 2 to 1.


The battle was fierce. Enemy fighters fought their way onto the newly established base known as Combat Outpost Kahler. The Americans and Afghans, numbering fewer than 100, fought back, defending their post and calling in airstrikes.

When the fighting stopped, the enemy had suffered heavy casualties, with reports of more than 100 killed or wounded.

But the Americans had suffered, too.


Nine U.S. soldiers were killed and 15 others were wounded. Apart from helicopter crashes, the bloody July 13 battle inflicted the deepest wound on a single U.S. battalion of any attack since the beginning of the war in Afghanistan almost seven years ago.


The soldiers, from 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, of Vicenza, Italy, were supposed to be coming home soon. The brigade deployed to Afghanistan in June 2007 and about 680 soldiers are already home in Vicenza, with the last of the soldiers expected home by the first week of August.

But this final attack on the battalion’s C Company soldiers would make it the hardest-hit company to have served in Operation Enduring Freedom. The company has lost 15 men since deploying to Afghanistan, the most for one Army company in both operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. In total, 24 men from the battalion have been killed during this deployment.


After the fierce combat that 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry endured in the past 15 months, several of its soldiers earned valor awards including the Silver Star, the third highest award for valor, and the Bronze Star with V device, said Maj. Nicholas Sternberg, spokesman for the 173rd.


Specific information on the awards was not available at press time.


The nine soldiers killed July 13 brought to 42 the number of soldiers from the 173rd killed during this deployment. Since the beginning of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through July 16, nine soldiers from the 173rd have been killed in Iraq, 58 in Afghanistan.


The men killed July 13, all of them from C Company, are:


• 1st Lt. Jonathan P. Brostrom, 24, of Hawaii.

Brostrom, who led the company’s 2nd Platoon, was a ROTC graduate from the University of Hawaii. He received his commission in June 2006 and arrived at the 173rd in June 2007.


• Sgt. Israel Garcia, 24, of Long Beach, Calif.

Garcia had been in the Army since October 2002. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment at Fort Bragg, N.C., before reporting to the 173rd in July 2006.


• Cpl. Jonathan R. Ayers, 24, of Snellville, Ga.

Ayers joined the Army in April 2006 and went straight from basic and advanced individual training at Fort Benning, Ga., to the 173rd, where he had been assigned since September 2006.


• Cpl. Jason M. Bogar, 25, of Seattle.

Bogar deployed twice with the National Guard before coming into the active Army in October 2007, and he had been with the 173rd since November 2007.


• Cpl. Jason D. Hovater, 24, of Clinton, Tenn.

Hovater joined the Army in February 2006. His first assignment after initial entry training at Fort Benning was the 173rd. He had been with the unit since July 2006.


• Cpl. Matthew B. Phillips, 27, of Jasper, Ga.

Phillips joined the Army in November 2005. The 173rd was his first assignment; he arrived at the unit in May 2006.


• Cpl. Pruitt A. Rainey, 22, of Haw River, N.C.

Rainey joined the Army in August 2005. He arrived at the 173rd, his first assignment, in February 2006.


• Cpl. Gunnar W. Zwilling, 20, of Florissant, Mo.

Zwilling had been in the Army since February 2006. After basic training, AIT and airborne training at Fort Benning, he reported to the 173rd in July 2006.


• Spc. Sergio S. Abad, 21, of Morganfield, Ky.

Abad joined the Army in January 2006. His first unit of assignment was the 173rd, where he had been since August 2006.


Previously, the single deadliest incident to claim multiple U.S. lives in Afghanistan, excluding helicopter crashes, was Jan. 29, 2004, when a weapons cache explosion in Ghazni killed eight soldiers.

A memorial service for the nine C Company soldiers on July 18 in Vicenza drew an overflow crowd that included many of the 680 soldiers who had just returned from Afghanistan, said Sgt. Maj. Kimberly Williams, a spokeswoman for Southern European Task Force. Officials estimate about 900 people participated, including about 500 who crowded into the theater on post because the chapel was full.
“This was an especially emotional ceremony,” she said, “because [in attendance were soldiers who had just returned.”



http://www.militarycity.com/valor/3630767.html
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