[Vulture6]

Sgt Edinger Bronze Star with V summary of action -



This Posthumous Award recommendation bears witness to the indomitable fighting spirit of ALL our Marines everywhere; each one of us, regardless of MOS, is a Rifleman (and Machine Gunner, too!)

This young Devil Dog worked with us in the G-6 Shop, H&S Bn, 3d FSSG, as a computer programmer and technician. He left about the time I got here in 2002, but only last month I heard Marines talking about him and his great attitude.

(Then) Corporal Edinger volunteered to serve with Force Reconnaissance when he left here. He died following his dreams and fighting the Good Fight.

His Legacy endures...




Service member was in receipt of IDP. Combat distinguishing device is authorized.

Sergeant Benjamin C. Edinger is enthusiastically recommended for the Bronze Star Medal with combat distinguishing device, POSTHOUMOUSLY for his heroic actions as Force Recon team communicator and machine gunner, Team 2, 2d Platoon from 15 July 2004 to 14 November 2004. During this period, Sergeant Edinger conducted 21 combat patrols and 47 direct action raids in Northern Babil and South Baghdad Provinces as part of 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (24th MEU) Maritime Special Purpose Force during Operation IRAQI FREEDOM II (OIF II). Throughout an exceptionally difficult combat tour; his personal discipline and stalwart performance were an example to both senior and subordinate. He ably performed his duties, putting himself in danger countless times. The following is a record of excerpts of his service:

Although a computer technician by trade, Sergeant Edinger was recruited to come to 2d platoon as a radio operator after his noteworthy service with 2d Force Reconnaissance Company, Task Force Tarawa during Operation Iraqi Freedom. He immediately made an impact on his team by mastering the difficult communication systems required of his job and applying this mastery during a shortened unit training phase and MEU Pre-Deployment Training Phase. His mastery of the Marine Air-Ground Task Force SIDS (MSIDS) data system allowed his team to provide Reconnaissance and Surveillance to 2d Bn, 5th Special Forces Group during their pre-deployment training for OIF II, thus marking a new relationship between these two units.

Upon deployment to Iraq for OIF II, Sergeant Edinger was designated a heavy machine gunner for his team due to the expertise he displayed on the weapon system during pre-deployment training. In 11 engagements with the enemy, Sergeant Edinger demonstrated his acumen with the machine gun by providing accurate, suppressive fires when warranted. His personal discipline was on display most in this capacity, as he never failed to cover his sectors of fire and provide security for his team. During a combined direct action raid with Hillah SWAT in the town of Lutafiyah, Northern Babil province, on 11 October, Sergeant Edinger's team was attacked with an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) along Alternate Supply Route (ASR) Jackson, and then immediately engaged with small arms fire from an adjacent palm grove. Sergeant Edinger provided accurate suppressive fires on the enemy, allowing the platoon corpsman to render medical attention to a wounded Marine, and the rest of the platoon to sweep through in the direction of the enemy. As a result of these suppressive fires, the platoon was able to close with and destroy the trigger man and an enemy observer and thus disable the threat and exfiltrate the contact area.

During a combined direct action raid with Hillah SWAT in Haswah, Northern Babil province, Sergeant Edinger's team was again the subject of a complex enemy attack. While providing security for the raid force, Sergeant Edinger's stack was attacked with an IED mixed with homemade napalm, and small arms fire from two men in a truck in the area. Sergeant Edinger along with his team returned fire, destroying the truck and the two terrorists inside. His immediate action, and the actions of the Marines around him, allowed the platoon to continue their raid unabated. During the same raid, Sergeant Edinger again showed significant physical courage, when his position was probed by a white Bongo truck forced into the area by the local terrorists. A red Opal followed the truck as it charged through Bravo Stack's trigger lines, and gained speed even after warned. Suspecting the truck to be a Vehicle Borne IED, Sergeant Edinger and his team engaged the truck, halting its advance. Due in large parts to his diligence, seven enemy detainees were captured.

On 14 November, during a mission to extract from an Observation Post (OP), Sergeant Edinger's team was again engaged by an IED ambush. Although mortally wounded, Sergeant Edinger continued to man his gun, fighting for air, until he was relieved of it in order to receive medical attention. Sergeant Edinger was an inspiration to those around him with his physical courage, buoyant fighting spirit, and "never quit" attitude. He will be sorely missed by his platoon, and the Reconnaissance Brotherhood.

EYEWITNESS STATEMENTS
Above summary of action reflects eyewitness account of Capt. T.A. Douglas
XXX-XX-XXXX/0302

The above statement is true to the best of my recollection. Sgt. Edinger
was an outstanding young Marine who's toughness and physical courage will be sorely missed. GySgt. BR Reid xxx-xx-xxxx/0321


Recommended Citation:

Heroic achievement in connection with combat operations against the enemy as Radio Operator and Machine Gunner, Force Reconnaissance Platoon, Maritime Special Purpose Force, 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, 1st Marine Division in support of Operation IRAQI FREEDOM II from 15 July to 14 November 2004. During this period, Sergeant Edinger demonstrated exceptional personal courage over the course of 61 combat missions, which included 41 direct action precision raids. He aquitted himself with coolness and clarity under fire in each engagement. On 11 October, during a combined direct action raid with Hillah SWAT in Lutifiyah located in the Northern Babil Province, Sergeant Edinger's team was attacked with an improvised explosive device along alternate supply route Jackson, and then immediately engaged with small arms fire from an adjacent palm grove. He provided accurate suppressive fires on the enemy, allowing the wounded to receive medical care, and a sweep conducted which fatally wounded the triggerman and observer. This is just one example of his overall performance throughout this period as he served as an example for seniors and subordinates to emulate from. By his zealous initiative, courageous actions and exceptional dedication to duty Sergeant Edinger reflected great credit upon himself and were in keeping with the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the United States Naval Service.

Combat distinguishing device is authorized.


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Marine died ‘doing what he wanted to do’
Friends, family pay tribute to former UW-Oshkosh student
By Nathan Phelps
Gannett Wisconsin Newspapers
Nov. 26, 2004

GREEN BAY — Benjamin Edinger liked to take on challenges.

After attending a year of classes at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, the Green Bay man decided to join the Marines.

“He chose the Marines, I think, because that was the branch of the service he was going to get the most challenge from,” said Jim Downey, Benjamin’s uncle. “When he set his mind to something, he did it,”

Edinger, 24, died Tuesday from shrapnel wounds he received in the blast of a roadside bomb in Iraq on Nov. 14.

It was his second tour in Iraq.

The challenge of the Marines took Sgt. Benjamin Edinger into 2nd Force Reconnaissance Company — a highly trained and specialized combat unit.

“He was originally a computer operator and he volunteered for recon,” Downey said. “Sitting behind a desk wasn’t a challenge for him. He wanted to get out there.”

Downey said Ben had several months left in the Marine Corps and then planned on attending the University of Wisconsin-Madison with the hope of becoming a veterinarian.

The former high school rugby player also said he had another goal in his sights at Madison.

“He wanted to play football at the University of Wisconsin,” Downey said. “I kind of kidded him about that because of his age but he was a driven man and I have no doubt that he would have been in the cardinal and white — or at least a red shirt — if he’d gone and done it.”

Randy and Rose Scannell, Ben’s mother and step-father, both live in Green Bay while his father, Mont Edinger, lives in Plano, Ill.

He is also survived by his older brother, Jim.

Downey said the family has not been told where Edinger was operating when he was wounded, other than it was not in, or around, Fallujah.

After he was hit, Edinger was moved to a hospital in Germany and late last week was sent to the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.

After showing some improvement, he died there Tuesday.

“He died doing what it was he wanted to do,” Downey said.

Nicole Neuville, 23, of Green Bay, attended West High School with Edinger.
She remembers him as a guy that made class fun.

“He was a really funny guy that was always laughing,” she said Wednesday. “I still see him in school cracking his jokes and laughing at other people’s jokes.

“He just made class enjoyable,” Neuville said.

They both graduated from West High School in 1999.

Downey said his nephew was subtle.

“Ben was not the life of the party, but he was certainly at the party and part of it,” he said. “He was not a flashy person.

“Ben did what Ben did and he did it because it’s what he wanted to do,” Downey said.

That included serving in the Marines.

Edinger is the fifth person from the Green Bay area to die in Iraq.

Nathan Phelps writes for the Green Bay Press-Gazette.

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Here's a glimpse of this young Marine from 3 years ago... notice the date in the byline

Marines working at Army post
find conditions there 'real nice'
Stars & Stripes
Monday, 10 September 2001
By Franklin Fisher, Taegu bureau chief

TAEGU, South Korea — If the U.S. Marines aren’t careful, the U.S. Army may turn them soft.

At least that’s how life at an Army post in South Korea struck some Marines recently.

They spent two weeks enjoying indoor showers and air-conditioned tents of the Army’s Camp Carroll, a sprawling logistics base at Waegwan in South Korea.

The hundred or so Marines were from Okinawa’s 3rd Force Service Support Group [FSSG]. They went home last week after participating in the annual Ulchi Focus Lens exercise. While at Carroll they practiced logistics: working closely with the Army and others in the military supply chain to ensure U.S. Marines fighting in Korea would get the supplies they need.

Their stint at Camp Carroll also gave a glimpse at basic differences between the nation’s two ground combat branches.

“As far as training, I didn’t expect anything like this,” said Lance Cpl. Benjamin Edinger, 20, of Green Bay, Wis. Edinger is a small-computer systems specialist with the 3rd FSSG’s Headquarters and Service Battalion.

“I didn’t expect to have air-conditioned bivouac tents,” said Edinger. “I didn’t expect to have hot showers. I didn’t expect anything like that. I expected to be taking a field shower with a canteen cup. Real nice. It was real nice what they had here.”

Lance Cpl. Andrew Truesdell, 22, of Edwards, N.Y., liked Camp Carroll, too. He works in the G-3 plans section of Headquarters and Service Battalion.

“I liked it a lot,” Truesdell said. “Nobody got into any interservice fights or anything like that. I thought that was pretty cool.”

“It was a little bit luxurious having a chow hall and a gym and a real bathroom. There’s a gym on the base too. It’s a decent gym. The chow hall is nice. Real bathrooms, real showers. We were livin’ it up,” Truesdell said.

“The food quality was a little bit better than the Marines — I don’t want to downplay the Marines,” Truesdell said. “They do their best. So yeah, it was real cushy out here. Wooden floors, cots. It was nice.”

Lance Cpl. Jacob Freeby, 19, of Nocona, Texas, said he liked Camp Carroll, too. He’s an S-3 clerk with the 3rd FSSG’s 3rd Transportation Battalion.

“Well, I enjoyed it because the facilities are better, though I’m not putting down the Marine Corps facilities. The people, the Army personnel, they were nice. Cooperative with questions we’d ask them, where things were and how things worked.

“Yeah, I could see they probably do live better,” Freeby said. “But that’s how it is. I don’t want to sound like I’m whining or anything.”

Edinger had a good time talking with Army people, too.

“I got to talk to some of the people in the Army about what they do, their sorts of training,” Edinger said. “I got to talk to a few military personnel a little higher ranking, some sergeant majors. It was very interesting.”

Being among the few Marines on an Army post actually made Edinger and some others feel even more proud than usual of being in the Corps, he said.

“One thing I did notice is the Marines tended to walk around with a little bit more pride, it seemed like,” Edinger said. “I’m not sure. It’s something more within myself, but I just feel real proud wearing the nametape ‘U.S. Marines’ than just anywhere in general.”

It’s no accident the Army at times can keep its troops in conditions less spartan than what Marines are used to, said Marine Lt. Col. Bob Weinkle, G-3 Plans officer for the 3rd FSSG.

“We tend to rough it a bit more, because we do have to get in and get out very quickly,” Weinkle said of the Marines. “It’s a very expeditionary force and an expeditionary mind-set, and that’s ingrained in the Marines from boot camp to their time in what we call the Fleet, the operating forces.

“So, it really goes to that expeditionary mind-set from Day One,” Weinkle said. "We have to be ready to move on a moment’s notice. Very quick, highly mobile, less-stuff kind of a mindset. And that’s across the board for all Marines, including logistics, which tend to be the heaviest things that we have to bring in. We definitely have a different perspective than the Army. We definitely have to go lighter.”

Truesdell was somewhat worried the taste of the good life might spoil some of the younger Marines.

“I’m afraid that some of the newer people wouldn’t know what to do in a real situation,” Truesdell said. “They’d be complaining and whining and saying, ‘Well, it wasn’t like this when I was at Camp Carroll.’”

But he thought about it another moment and felt reassured.

“I don’t think it’s going to turn any Marine soft,” said Truesdell. “Marines are always going to be Marines.”



Rest in peace, Marine