Camp Phoenix, Kabul, Afghanistan – 1st Sgt. James Meltz, of Cropseyville, a New York Army National Guard Soldier, has been awarded the Bronze Star for Valor in Combat in a Veterans Day Ceremony in Afghanistan. Sgt. Meltz was recognized for his actions in combat on the night of May 25 and 26, 2008.
Meltz’s unit, Company D of the 2nd Battalion, 108th Infantry, was conducting a long range convoy from Kabul to Kandahar when it was ambushed by enemy fighters. Meltz and the company commander, Capt. Joseph Merrill of Binghamton, are credited with “direct actions that led to the repulsion of enemy forces without injury or death to US forces.”
1st Sgt. Meltz, the top-ranking non-commissioned officer in the company, has served in Iraq on a previous deployment. The three-hour battle was “a touch fight,” Meltz said. In civilian life Meltz is a member of the New York State Police.
“The enemy showed up and stuck around,” Meltz said. “They wanted to play.”
The New York soldiers soundly defeated the enemy forces in this fight, said Merrill, who also served previously in Iraq.
“As a company we will complete over 1,100 missions before we finish,” said Merrill. “We figured that after those incidents the enemy took note and for the most part then left us alone,” he said.
The awards to Merrill and Meltz marked Veterans Day for the New York Army National Guard Soldiers of the 27th Brigade Combat Team who are approaching the end of their 10 month tour in Afghanistan.
The brigade is providing the command structure for Combined Joint Task Force Phoenix, an 8,700 member international force that is training the Afghan Army and police.
“Veterans are people who know the true meaning of courage and what it really takes to keep a nation free and strong,” said Col. Brian K. Balfe, commander of CJTF-Phoenix VII and NY’s 27th Infantry Brigade Combat Team during his remarks. “And yet compassion is also a part of their legacy,” he added.
CJTF-Phoenix is part of Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan with the mission to mentor and train the Afghan National Army and Police, and provide assistance to the Government of Afghanistan and its people. The task force is comprised of service men and women from all U.S. branches, coalition partners and civilian professionals distributed at almost 260 Forward Operating Bases and Combat Outposts throughout Afghanistan.
Nearly 1,700 members of New York’s 27th IBCT were mobilized for the mission from communities across New York.