Local soldier awarded two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star

by Peter Jakey– Managing Editor

September?s return to the states for Army Specialist Josh Rose brought an end to a tumultuous period in Iraq for the Posen solider where he survived two deadly attacks and was part of a rescue unit which saved the lives of several of his comrades. Rose was awarded two purple hearts for the injuries he suffered in January and March and a bronze star for helping to rescue a group of trapped soldiers who were in harm?s way in Tarmiya, Iraq. Rose, a 2004 graduate of Posen High School, served as the driver of the heavily armored, but fast moving and mobile, anti-tank unit called a striker. He had already been on patrol for 13 hours when a call came over the radio from an outpost in Tarmiya.

THE SOLDIERS were under attack from rocket-propelled grenade launchers, as well as gunfire. Rose?s group was only 10 minutes away, and while not initially receiving permission to start moving in their direction, they went anyway. When the platoon arrived at the scene they found the outpost and vehicles destroyed and a wounded group of servicemen who were nearly out of ammunition. The arriving soldiers immediately started firing on the enemy and rescuing the wounded. ?We carried them over to the strikers and then to the Blackhawks to evacuated them to be treated,? said Rose, who has been back in northeast Michigan since late November. Two died in the attack and 18 were wounded, but the casuality count would have been substantially higher if the patrol unit had arrived any later. ?We pretty much saved everyone who was there, because nobody else showed up for a long time,? said Rose. His entire platoon was awarded bronze stars. ROSE WAS hospitalized twice during a three-month period after the striker he was in suffered heavy damage. He said the attacks on the vehicles are an unfortunate way of life in the country. ?The roads were bad,? he said. ?No matter what, we always lost a vehicle every time we went out. We lost four vehicles within five days. It was hectic. We hated going out.? On one such patrol January 14, the striker Rose was driving took a blast which punctured a hole right through the vehicle, blew the hatch off, and opened his flack vest. He said the patrol was taking on sniper fire and countering when they drove down a little road. ?They had a trap waiting for us, a triple stack 18-mine,? said Rose. One mine has the potential of destroying a tank. It hit the front right portion of the striker, only a few feet from where Rose was sitting. ?I was dazed and concussed,? he said. ?My buddy was reaching for me from behind the seat. I started tasting blood and started spitting out pieces of my tongue.?

DURING THE blast he had bit down on the edges of his tongue, but also suffered injuries to his leg. Soon after, Rose was taken to the hospital. He had difficulty walking, but physical therapy helped him with the recovery. Back out on patrols a few months later, Rose was, this time, thrown in the air from the loader?s hatch, resulting in a serious arm injury. ?I managed to come back down inside of the striker,? said Rose. He could move his fingers, but not his arm. The striker went only a quarter-of-a-mile before it ran out of gas.

The gas tank and hull were punctured. Rose was air evacuated to another striker and transferred to a medic humvee, which took him the hospital. ?They had to give me two shots of Morphine and some Percocet, and that didn?t even do anything for me,? said Rose. He once again recovered and returned to his comrades from Charlie Company of the 52nd Infantry Unit. He was pleased to report that during his time in Iraq, they didn?t lose a single soldier from their unit.

GETTING BACK to the states has taken some getting used to, even somet

hing as simple as driving. ?When I first got back I was looking on the roads for IEDs, because you are so used to it. It was hard when I first got back. I couldn?t drive for three or four weeks,? he said. After his vacation in the area, he?ll soon return to Ft. Lewis in Tacoma, Washington, where he expects to be promoted to the rank of Sergeant. His next tour of Iraq could come at the end of 2008 or possibly 2009. Rose knows the mission, and why he signed up to be in the armed services, but he is not in any hurry to get back. For a stretch of two weeks, not a day went by that his patrol unit did not find a body.

He hopes the country can find a way to turn things around on their own. ?There?s been little progress. We are not going to be able to change that country not in a million years. As soon as we leave it is going to turn to crap. Iraqi police and army disperse,? said Rose. ?The country needs to grow up and start doing things on their own.?