OT - Profiles of Valor (08/29/2008)

[Ysabel Kid]

PROFILES OF VALOR: USA 1ST LT. PIXLER

In October 2007, then-First Lieutenant Ross Pixler of the United States Army Company A, 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division was on patrol in al Bawi, Iraq, when his Bradley Fighting Vehicle was hit by an IED. The ensuing explosion killed three fellow soldiers and wounded Pixler, the driver and the gunner. Pixler, acting on his training, immediately checked on the driver and gunner, both of whom were unconscious, and then took up a defensive position. "Everything goes really fast, and I wasn't really stopping to think about what I was doing," he said. "I was doing what I was trained to do." Still reeling from his concussion, Pixler and the rest of his unit had to fight off a small arms attack; Pixler directed
air support as well.

Hours later, as the attack was repelled, Pixler and the other survivors were loaded onto another Bradley and began moving toward base when another IED exploded, crippling that vehicle. The soldiers then fought off a second attack before finally making it back to their base. For his bravery and tenacity while injured and under attack, Pixler was awarded the Silver Star. Now-Captain Pixler considers it "an award for every single one of the soldiers that were out there, and the ones that can't come home."