A former United States Army Special Forces medic and current U.S. Secret Service special agent was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions in Afghanistan in 2008. Staff Sgt. Ronald Shurer II received the nation’s highest award for valor from President Donald Trump in a ceremony at the White House on Monday afternoon. He is the third living soldier to receive the Medal of Honor in the last three years. He was awarded a Silver Star for his actions a decade ago but the award was upgraded as part of a military-wide Department of Defense reexamination of thousands of awards given out since 9/11.
Inspired to enlist after the September 11th attacks, he joined the Army in 2002 and became a Green Beret two years later. Shurer was serving with 3rd Special Forces Group in Afghanistan in 2008 when he and his team conducted an operation to kill or capture a high-value target in the Shok Valley. The team was attacked by small-arms fire, machine gun fire, and rocket-propelled grenades.
According to the White House statement, Shurer ran through enemy fire to treat a soldier who had been hit in the neck by shrapnel, then treated and stabilized four more wounded soldiers before evacuating them, carrying and lowering them down the mountainside, using his body to shield them from enemy fire and debris.
His Medal of Honor citation reads:
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 pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Staff Sergeant Ronald J. Shurer, United States Army, for exceptionally valorous conduct in the face of the enemy of the United States as Medical Sergeant, Operational Detachment Alpha 3336 (ODA-3336), 3d Special Forces Group (Airborne), Special Operations Task Force – 33, Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force – Afghanistan, in support of Operation ENDURING FREEDOM on 6 April 2008. Sergeant Shurer heroically and with complete disregard for his own safety fought his way up a mountain in order to render aid and evacuate casualties from his ODA and Afghan Commandos. Sergeant Shurer was initially pinned at the base of a wadi by accurate Insurgent sniper, Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG), small arms, and machine gun fire when he received communications that the forward assault element could not move due to a high volume of Insurgent fire and sustained multiple casualties. With disregard for his own safety, Sergeant Shurer took off through a hail of bullets and began scaling the rock face to get to the casualties. During initial movement to the base of the mountain he treated a teammate wounded by shrapnel to his neck from an RPG blast that blew him off his feet. Once his teammate received aid, he then fought several hundred meters under fire, for over an hour, killing multiple Insurgents, as he made his way to the besieged location. Under intense Insurgent fire, Sergeant Shurer reached the pinned down element of his ODA and immediately rendered aid to four critically wounded US and ten injured Commandos. He treated multiple life threatening gunshot wounds until additional teammates arrived. Sergeant Shurer courageously exposed himself by running 15 meters through heavy Insurgent fire to render aid to his seriously wounded Team Sergeant. Despite being hit in the helmet and wounded in the arm by Insurgent sniper fire, he immediately pulled his Team Sergeant to a covered position, and rendered aid as Insurgent rounds impacted inches from their location. Without hesitation, he moved back through heavy Insurgent fire to treat another teammate that suffered a traumatic amputation of his right leg from Insurgent sniper fire. Sergeant Shurer rendered life-saving aid to four critically wounded casualties for more than five and a half hours. As the lone medic at the besieged location, and almost overrun and fighting against nearly 200 Insurgent fighters, Sergeant Shurer’s bravery and poise under fire saved the lives of all wounded casualties under his care. He evacuated three critically wounded, non-ambulatory, teammates down a near vertical 60-foot cliff, despite being under heavy Insurgent fire, and falling debris from numerous danger-close air strikes. Sergeant Shurer ingeniously used a six foot length of nylon webbing to lower casualties, and physically shielded them from falling debris to ensure their safety. His actions are in keeping with the finest traditions of military heroism and reflect distinct credit upon himself, Special Operations Task Force – 33, the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force – Afghanistan, Special Operations Command Central, and the United States Army.
“Not a single American died in that brutal battle, thanks in great measure to Ron’s heroic actions,” President Trump said at the ceremony.
Eleven soldiers who were on Shurer’s team during the battle attended the ceremony, including Staff Sgt. Dillon Behr, whose life was saved by Shurer.
Staff Sgt. Ronald Shurer II, Medal of Honor recipient, on @foxandfriends https://t.co/zoivKALwH5 pic.twitter.com/pJnZVei6Qa
— Fox News (@FoxNews) October 3, 2018
Shurer, who is married and has two kids, was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer last year. He started chemotherapy treatments in March 2017. To help him and his family, a GoFundMe page was set up shortly after Shurer received his diagnosis.
“He’s done everything he can. He’s been fighting it every single day with courage and with strength,” President Trump said about Shurer’s life-threatening battle with cancer. “He’s a warrior.”
Despite his fight against cancer, Shurer continues to serve his country as a member of the United States Secret Service’s Counter Assault Team and is assigned to its Special Operations Division. Regarding his award upgrade, it was Shurer’s role as a Secret Service agent that allowed him to be notified in-person by the President.
