WHY DANIEL SEIBERT IS A HERO

On June 4, 2009, a German reconnaissance patrol of 3 Fennek scout vehicles was ambushed in Afghanistan. Sergeant First Class Daniel Seibert’s platoon was only a few kilometers away and moved to help immediately with its Dingos.

After 7 minutes Seibert and his men were on the scene: “The firefight was near the village of Basoz, and the scouts were coming out of it toward us. The patrol leader climbed out of the Fennek. I can still see him in front of me: helmet on, rifle and hand grenade in his hands, shouting: ‘They are everywhere!’” Seibert recalled later. Once his vehicles pushed into the village, the soldiers had to dismount, because they could not fight properly in the narrow alleys. Around 10 insurgents ran straight at the vehicles and were engaged by the machine gunners who had stayed on the Dingos. Seibert stood out here from the start with decisive, quick-thinking leadership, never losing the overall picture or his composure while RPGs slammed into the house walls and suicide bombers attacked.The enemy clearly had not counted on that kind of resistance and began recovering their wounded and dead. While Seibert was discussing the next move with the patrol leader, 4 insurgents suddenly shifted position only 25 m away. One of them stopped and opened fire; the rounds tore the sling off the patrol leader’s weapon and took a piece out of his boot sole. Seibert brought his weapon up without hesitating and put down the attacker who had come within a hair of killing both of them.Thanks to Seibert’s outstanding leadership and his instinctive reaction in that one-on-one, the German side took no casualties that day. The enemy, superior in numbers, took a hard beating and had to withdraw. On January 22, 2010, Seibert received the Cross of Honour of the Bundeswehr for Bravery (Ehrenkreuz der Bundeswehr für Tapferkeit) for his actions.