Technical Sergeant Clifford Monroe
Structural Craftsman, 319th Civil Engineer Squadron, Grand Forks Air Force Base, North Dakot

Technical Sergeant CLIFFORD MONROE deployed as part of Provincial Reconstruction Team Zabul in Afghanistan from February to November 2010. Sergeant Monroe’s team was the first permanent PRT presence in the Shahjoy District, which is the largest population center in the province and, at the time, the most hotly contested region between the Afghan government and insurgent forces.

On July 31, Sergeant Monroe was leaving a meeting with the Afghan district chief, Afghan security forces, and elders in Lali Kalay village when insurgents attacked his patrol with a remote-controlled improvised explosive device. Two Afghan National Police members were critically wounded in the blast and chaos ensued.

Unable to fight back from his vehicle, Sergeant Monroe selflessly dismounted to lead a team of International Security Assistance Force members and Afghan police to engage the enemy. Dodging rocket-propelled grenades and AK-47 rounds, Sergeant Monroe and his team marked the insurgents’ position for attacking OH-58D helicopters, which then provided suppressive fire.

The team rapidly made its way to a nearby village that had been the source of the insurgent fire, but they discovered the insurgents had fled just as quickly as they had attacked. With a temporary calm prevailing, Sergeant Monroe and his team interviewed villagers and collected evidence for an investigation.

During his deployment, Sergeant Monroe would come under direct and indirect attack more than 35 times, yet he tirelessly continued to mentor local Afghan government and security officials, improving the connection between the population and the government while decreasing the amount of control insurgents had in the area.

For his heroic actions throughout his deployment, Sergeant Monroe was awarded the Bronze Star Medal, Army Combat Action Badge, and was nominated for the Air Force Combat Action Medal.