More than just another war story

A former Army sergeant, who earned a Bronze Star for valor for his actions in Afghanistan nearly 14 years ago, had his award upgraded to a Silver Star in 2017.

"I was not thinking about myself," Sgt. Bryan Cyr said after the presentation. "I was just doing my duty."

As a member of the 82nd Airborne Division, Cyr was part of a three-man assault force in 2009 in northwestern Afghanistan. Cyr's team was given the task of recovering the bodies of two soldiers who had drowned while attempting to retrieve supplies that had been dumped into the nearby Murghab River due to an accident.

As they approached the site, they were fired upon by two different machine guns. Cyr then started flanking the machine guns while receiving fire from other enemy fighters. He got up close through the enemy fire that he was facing and killed the two machine gunners. His unit then called in Hellfire missiles to dispatch the other enemy troops.

This may sound like just another war story to many. But can you imagine charging enemy machine guns with bullets whizzing by you? Could you do it?

Roger Gregory is a Vietnam veteran and business owner in Priest River.