Senator Mike Crapo presented Mike Wells, a University of Idaho Law alumni, the Bronze Star Award for his actions in Iraq.
Wells, from Spokane, Washington, joined the military after high school through the Military Entrance Processing Station, later being deployed through 2005-2009.
“The biggest thing was to serve my country,” Wells said. “I wanted to enlist and do time and I love my country.”
Wells went through training in Colorado Springs at Fort Carson. There, Wells would qualify to be a part of the Bradley crew and be deployed to Iraq.
During his first deployment, as a crew member for the Bradley, Wells was injured in Baqubah, Iraq. He later received a Purple Heart for his service there, though Wells said that his first thoughts were to get back to his crew.
“I just wanted to be with my platoon at the time and just not leave my comrades behind,” Wells said.
It wouldn’t be till his second deployment where Wells would receive the Bronze Star Medal for his actions.
Wells was involved in the Sadr City Siege, a district in Baghdad, during Operation Gold Wall. Well said that the operation was to build a wall to separate the two Islamic sects from one another.
“A lot of the Jaysh Al-Mahdi and the HDI Mahdi…they were launching rockets into the green zone,” Wells said. “Which was the purpose of the wall, to try to stop and separate the Shia from the Sunni.”
The day of the Sadr City Siege, Wells said that his job was to eliminate improvised explosive devices on the side of the road to clear a way for SEAL team snipers.
“The purpose of the SEAL team was to provide overwatch for some of the engineers that were building the wall among a lot of this intense combat that was going on,” Wells said.
Wells was able to identify an EFP, explosively formed penetrator, and the team operating the device. He was able to both eliminate the operator of the EFP and another enemy combatant, then defuse the device.
That same day, Well’s platoon was involved in an IED attack, where more than a dozen Jaysh Al-Mahdi fighters engaged the platoon. Wells provided cover fire, which allowed the platoon medic to treat the wounded members of the platoon.
“I’m not gonna lie, I was scared, but I didn’t have time to be scared,” Wells said. “The only thing I could think about was my fellow comrades, and act in my best ability for myself and for them.”
Wells said that he is appreciative of the award and for his lieutenant nominating him, but they’re just metals.
“I was doing what anyone would have done in my shoes, and I was just doing my job at the end of the day,” Wells said.
Colonel Mike Pavel commanded the battalion that Wells was a member of during his second tour He described how Wells’s actions displayed the battalion’s motto.
“Keeping that attack under wraps, while those soldiers, buddies of his that were wounded, were being taken care of and evacuated,” Pavel said. “For those things, Mike earned this award today and lived up to our battalion motto of ‘fight like hell.’”
Looking forward, Wells said that his next focus is his daughters.
“I think they’re definitely my priority in life,” Wells said. “No matter how challenging the hard things can get, I always put my daughters first and to be a good husband.”
Daniel V. Ramirez can be reached at [email protected] or Twitter @DVR_Tweets