Clinton Romesha

Next, Romesha was assigned as section leader with Troop B, 3d Squadron, 61st Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division at Fort Carson, Colorado.

There, he completed the Long Range Reconnaissance Course, the Advanced Leader Course, and Air Assault Training.

Trained as a Cavalry Scout, Romesha saw his second deployment to Iraq in this unit.

Trained to be an armor crewman for the M1 Abrams tank, Romesha was first assigned as a tank Gunner in Company B, 1st Battalion, 63d Armor Regiment, 2d Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, and posted at Rose Barracks, Germany.

During this posting he deployed to Kosovo as part of the Kosovo Force.

His next assignment was as a Gunner/assistant tank commander with Company A, 2nd Battalion, 72d Armor Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division at Camp Casey, South Korea.

After a former mentor was killed in Iraq, Romesha volunteered for a tour supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom when parts of his unit received redeployment orders.

Clinton LaVor Romesha (//; born August 17, 1981) is a retired United States Army soldier who received the Medal of Honor for his actions during the Battle of Kamdesh in 2009 during the War in Afghanistan.

Romesha was born on August 17, 1981 in Lake City, Modoc County, California, to a family with a strong military background.

His maternal grandfather, Aury Smith, is a World War II veteran who fought in the Battle of Normandy.

Romesha grew up in Lake City, where he developed an avid love of ice hockey.

His father, Gary, is a Vietnam War veteran who later became a church leader in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Romesha is the fourth of five siblings, including two brothers who also joined the military.

He is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and attended seminary for four years during high school but ultimately decided not to become a missionary for the church as his family had hoped he would.

Born into a family with a strong military background, Romesha joined the United States Army in 1999, and was posted at various times in Germany, South Korea and Colorado.

Serving as an M1 Abrams tank crewman and a Cavalry Scout, Romesha had seen four deployments, including to Kosovo, Iraq twice, and Afghanistan.

In 1999, Romesha graduated from Surprise Valley High School in Cedarville, California.

Romesha enlisted in the United States Army in September 1999 and underwent Basic Combat Training and later Advanced Individual Training at Fort Knox, Kentucky.

On October 3, 2009, he was assigned to the 3rd Squadron, 61st Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, deployed to Combat Outpost Keating in eastern Afghanistan.

When a force of 300 Taliban insurgents attacked the base, Romesha was credited with rallying his comrades and leading the counterattack, directing close air support and providing suppressive fire to help the wounded to an aid station.

Despite being wounded, Romesha continued to fight through the 12-hour battle.

In May 2009, Romesha's unit deployed to Afghanistan for Operation Enduring Freedom.

His unit was assigned to Combat Outpost Keating in the Kamdesh District, Nuristan Province in Eastern Afghanistan.

It replaced the outgoing Blackfoot Troop, 6th Squadron 4th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division (Task Force Duke) at the remote outpost in the mountains of a semiautonomous area of the country.

Keating was located in a valley surrounded by steep mountains, and over the course of the deployment, it came under attack regularly.

United States commanders opted to close the outpost by October 2009, considering it indefensible.

During deployment, Romesha was given the nickname "Ro" by his comrades.

He was noted for his sense of humor and calm temperament in the difficult deployment.

On October 3, 2009, according to a report published by United States Army historian Richard S. Lowry, Taliban fighters launched a coordinated attack on the outpost from three sides at about 06:00, capturing its ammunition depot.

Some 300 fighters participated in the attack armed with a recoilless rifle, rocket-propelled grenades, mortars, machine guns, and small arms, heavily outnumbering the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) presence of about 85 United States Army, Afghan National Army and Latvian Army soldiers, of which the 35 Afghan soldiers later abandoned their positions.

It would later be known as the Battle of Kamdesh.

During the first three hours of the fight, the United States troops remained under intense mortar and small arms fire, before the Taliban fighters breached the compound and set fire to it.

Romesha moved under heavy fire to reconnoiter the area and seek reinforcements from a nearby barracks, helping the ISAF troops to regroup and fight despite being targeted by a Taliban sniper.

Romesha led the firefight to reclaim the depot, organizing a five-man team to counterattack while still under fire.

He then neutralized one of the Taliban fighters' machine gun teams.

While engaging a second, he took cover behind a generator which was struck by a rocket propelled grenade, and Romesha was wounded in the neck, shoulder and arms by shrapnel.

Despite being wounded, Romesha directed air support that killed an estimated 30 Taliban and then took out several more Taliban positions himself.

Romesha left the army in 2011 to spend more time with his family.

He later took a job in the oil industry in North Dakota.

On February 11, 2013, he received the Medal of Honor from President Barack Obama.