Military.com reported SFC Anthony Fuentes was presented the Silver Star at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., by Maj. Gen. H. R. McMaster, Fort Benning’s commanding general.
Fuentes, who is now with the 6th Ranger Training Battalion, was presented the Silver Star while serving as a platoon sergeant for B Co, 2nd Bn, 27th In Reg’t, 3rd BDE, 25th Infantry Division, in October 2011. Fuentes led the defense of Shal Mountain in Kunar Province Afghanistan during Operation Rugged Sarak. For more than a week, the company was in near-continuous enemy contact as insurgents sought to defeat coalition efforts to build a permanent Afghan base.
Fuentes, under heavy recoilless, rocket-propelled grenade and small arms fire, led the defense of his lightly armed and undermanned section and repelled a nighttime enemy attack intent on overrunning his patrol base. He supervised the casualty collection point and enabled the successful evacuation of nine casualties.
Fuentes said he could only think of the men who fought beside him as he received the medal.