Roderick C. Anderson

The President of the United States takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star Medal to Roderick C. Anderson, Sergeant Major, U.S. Army, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action while serving with Operational Detachment Alpha 365 (ODA-365), 2d Battalion, 3d Special Forces Group (Airborne) in support of Operation ENDURING FREEDOM, on 3 July 2004, in Afghanistan. On that date, Sergeant Major Anderson was leading a task force of Special Forces soldiers, Marines and Afghan soldiers out of the Korangal Valley in the Konar province of Afghanistan, when his convoy of 15 vehicles was ambushed while heading out of the valley after capturing nine suspected insurgent leaders. Guerrillas were dug in behind a stone wall and peppered the convoy from three sides with rocket-propelled grenades and machine-gun fire. Afghan security forces with the Special Forces team were in the lead vehicle and stopped to find cover, trapping the rest of the convoy in the kill zone. Sergeant Major Anderson jumped out of his truck and fired back with a machine gun. Caught in a crossfire, he continued to fire without losing command of the more than 80 soldiers under his command. He also directed strafing runs by A-10 attack fighter jets, the award citation said. After firing the anti-tank weapon at the guerrillas, Sergeant Major Anderson again exposed himself to machine-gun fire when he placed a wounded soldier in his seat as the convoy escaped the valley. He ran along with the truck for more than 300 meters, carrying a machine gun and ammunition. Before the soldiers could escape, enemy fighters disabled a truck containing sensitive communications equipment. Anderson covered a four-man team as it destroyed the truck so the equipment would not fall into enemy hands.