Mark Howard

The President of the United States takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star Medal to Mark Howard, Sergeant First Class, U.S. Army, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action while serving as a Medical Sergeant in 3d Battalion, 3d Special Forces Group (Airborne), during combat operations in support of Operation ENDURING FREEDOM, in Afghanistan. Sergeant First Class Howard was serving in Khowst, Afghanistan, in December 2006 when insurgents began firing at Afghan border police and 52 Afghan security guards. Sergeant First Class Howard fired back from his truck to draw fire away from the others. When his .50-caliber machine gun jammed, he tried to fix it. When he couldn’t, he jumped out and got an M240 machine gun from the back of the truck. During the fight, Sergeant First Class Howard was shot in the left side of his neck but continued to stay on for four hours.