Trapped with his unit in an exposed position, Ruske returned fire so most of the platoon could move to protective cover. Ruske then moved to a rooftop and continued laying fire even after taking a bullet to the hip.
At that point, Ruske realized that two Afghan National Police officers were still pinned down in the open, taking fire from their Taliban attackers. One ran for cover, but the other officer – one Ruske had worked with at vehicle checkpoints and chatted with through an interpreter – had been shot and was trying to crawl to safety through a hail of bullets.
“Seeing that dirt kick up no more than six inches from his head, I said, “Man, this is jacked up,” Ruske said later. “They are still shooting at this guy. He is still bleeding and shot. We have to go get him.” Disregarding his own safety, Ruske “simply reacted to the training” the Army had used to prepare him for combat, he said.
Ruske
ordered his squad automatic weapon gunner, Army Spc. Walter Reed, to
spray the enemy in a Z-shaped pattern, expending a whole box of 200
rounds to give Ruske and his buddy, Army Spc. Eric Seagraves, time to
run out to retrieve the officer. The two dodged bullets as they grabbed
the Afghan police officer’s arms and dragged him toward a wall that
provided protective covering. Only when Ruske and Seagraves went to
lift the man behind the wall did they realize that Ruske’s leg had been
shattered.
Later that day, after Ruske was taken to Bagram Airfield
to receive treatment for his gunshot wound, he checked on the Afghan
officer and was relieved to see that he had survived and would keep
both legs.
Now back at his civilian job as a juvenile corrections officer in Denver, Ruske is awaiting his reassignment to a new Army Reserve unit, because his former unit was deactivated.
