THE SOLDIER WHO HELD BACK A SUICIDE BOMBER
On the morning of August 8, 2012, CPT Florent Groberg was leading a personal security detail in Asadabad, Afghanistan. Together with his soldiers he was to escort 28 people from the military base to the compound of the Afghan governor. Among them were several American and Afghan army commanders as well as US civilian employees.
After a few hundred meters the patrol reached a small bridge, a choke point on the route. When the soldiers halted in front of it, two motorcycles came up from the opposite direction, the riders dismounted in the middle of the bridge and ran back to the far side.
The other civilians near the soldiers were behaving completely normally, so Groberg had no suspicion at first. Then he spotted a lone figure moving toward the patrol from the left, walking backwards. Moments later the figure suddenly turned around and kept coming at the formation, revealing a suspicious bulge under the cloak. Groberg realized this could be a suicide bomber and threw himself at the man. When the struggle confirmed his suspicion of a suicide vest, he and another comrade shoved the insurgent back. The attacker fell onto his back and detonated the vest. The blast killed 4 Americans, threw Groberg about 5 meters backwards and set off the vest of a second bomber who had been nearby.
Groberg lay in the road with a broken leg, severe nerve damage, a ruptured eardrum and a traumatic brain injury. He drew his sidearm and crawled toward cover until a comrade found him and got him to safety. He needed 3 years and 33 operations to recover from his injuries.
For his courage in saving his comrades, Groberg received the Medal of Honor on November 12, 2015. In his own words, that honor belongs to the soldiers who were killed in the attack.
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