Bravery? Nope, 'just doing his job'
STAFF WRITER
November 12, 2006
Jarred Adams was wide awake that winter night in the desert near the border between Iraq and Syria.
It was Jan. 5, 2005, and the Marine from Palmer,
Alaska, was in a Humvee, providing cover for a reconnaissance team
sweeping through Husaybah, the infamous gateway for guns, money and
insurgent fighters making their way into Iraq.
Adams' unit was heading for the “intersection of death,” so named by Camp Pendleton Marines and others for the frequency of sniper fire, roadside bombs and all measures of attack.
Shots rang out, followed quickly by rocket-propelled grenades. The Humvee exploded in a mass of fire and twisted wreckage before crashing.
Adams fought his way out, alive but seriously injured. He shucked aside the shrapnel wounds to his hands and left forearm, ignored the pain from his broken right arm and a sprained ankle, and set about helping his buddies.
Armed with an M40 sniper rifle and a 9mm handgun, Adams charged back to a Humvee where some of his friends had not been so lucky. With bullets whizzing by, he retrieved the body of Lance Cpl. Julio Carneros Alvaraz, a young son of Texas who died in the explosion.
Adams' bravery earned him the Silver Star, one of the highest honors that military leaders bestow. Adams, who recuperated in Germany and recently returned from his third deployment to Iraq, downplayed his role in the drama.
“I did something that any other Marine would do,” he said. “It's no big deal.”
