1-15 Infantry Soldiers Receive Purple Hearts

Command Sgt. Major Mark Moore, the command sergeant major for the 1-15 Inf. Reg., pins the Purple Heart medal on Sgt. Jason Silva, a tanker with Company A, during an awards ceremony at Forward Operating Base Hammer Oct. 1. Silva was injured Aug.1, when the tank he was riding in was hit by an improvised explosive device during a combat patrol near the Al Bawi pump station.

SPC. BEN HUTTO
3RD HBCT, 3RD INF. DIV.
FOB HAMMER — Two Soldiers from Company A, 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment were awarded Purple Hearts in a ceremony held at FOB Hammer Oct. 1.

Sgt. Jason Silva from Ridgecrest, Calif., and Spc. Jayt Massiet from Palm Dale, Calif., tankers with Company A, 1-15 Inf. Reg., 3rd Infantry Division both received the awards for injuries sustained from improvised explosive device attacks while on separate combat patrols.

Silva was a gunner in a M1A1 Abrams tank when it ran over an IED on a combat patrol near the Al Bawi pump station Aug. 1. He received a concussion from the blast.
He does not remember much about the incident, but said his parents and fiancé were happy that it wasn’t worse. “They were relieved that I was fine and I still have all my limbs,” Silva said. “It could have been worse.”

Massiet was injured when the Abrams tank he was driving was struck by a buried IED on a combat patrol near the Tigris River June 7. He received a shrapnel wound in his right elbow and several lacerations on his right side. “Basically, the blast knocked out both Massiet and my gunner,” said 1st Lt. Justin Patton, the executive officer for Company A, 1-15 Inf. Regt., Waynesville, Mo., and the tank commander at
the time of the attack. “We rolled about 70 meters and they both came to. I was
yelling down to him because the coms(radios) were out. I asked, ‘Are you ok?’ and he yelled back ‘Yeah, I’m bleeding.’ At that point, the fact that he said anything was a relief. The tank was destroyed. He was very lucky. Really, the whole tank was.”
Massiet was happy to receive the award.

“It’s not something I ever wanted, but I’ll take it,” he said. Massiet was thankful that Patton and Sgt. Robert Lady, the gunner during the mission, were there to help him. “They both got me out of the hatch and got me to the medic really quick,” Massiet said. “Those guys were great.” The 1-15 Inf. Reg. is part of the 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Benning, Ga., and has been deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom since March.