male speaker: almighty god, we hear yourwords in the psalmist "how can we the lord forhis goodness to me?" today, we rememberyour goodness, in the sacrifice ofall our soldiers. heal our hearts from thetears of their grieving families. be with us as we honorthe actions of our heroes. we give thanks for theirsacred calling to serve. to protect.
to defend our nation and ourway of life without counting the cost. may this heroic and virtuoussoldier be an example for future generations. may his life serve as abeacon for our young men and women who run to the soundof the guns for the sake of humanity. for the sake of the nationthey have come to love. in your holy name, we pray.
amen. the president:please be seated. good morning,and welcome to the white house. a little more than three years ago, as captain florent grobergwas recovering from his wounds as a consequence ofthe actions that we honor today, he woke upon a hospital bed, in a little bit of a haze. he wasn't sure, but hethought he was in germany,
and someone was at hisbedside talking to him. he thought it was the leadsinger from the heavy metal band korn. (laughter) flo thought,"what's going on? am i hallucinating?" but he wasn't. it was all real. and so today, flo, iwant to assure you,
you are not hallucinating. you are actuallyin the white house. those cameras are on. i am not the leadsinger from korn. we are here to award you ournation's highest military honor -- distinction,the medal of honor. now, flo and i haveactually met before. three years ago, i was onone of my regular visits to walter reed to spend sometime with our wounded
warriors -- and flowas one of them. we talked. it turns out he liked thechicago bears -- so i liked him right away. and i had a chance to meethis parents who could not be more gracious and charming,and you get a sense of where flo gets his character from. it is wonderful tosee both of you again. i also want to welcomeflo's girlfriend carsen,
who apparently,flo tells me, he had to help paint anapartment with just the other day. so there's somehoneydew lists going on. his many friends, fellowsoldiers and family, all of ourdistinguished guests. a day after veterans day, wehonor this american veteran, whose story -- like so manyof our vets and wounded warriors -- speaks notonly of gallantry on the
battlefield, butresilience here at home. as a teenager just upthe road in bethesda, flo discovered he had anincredible gift -- he could run. fast. half-mile, mile, two mile --he'd leave his competition in the dust. he was among thebest in the state. and he went on to run trackand cross country at the university of maryland.
flo's college coachcalled him "the consummate teammate." as good as he was inindividual events, somehow he always found alittle extra something when he was running on arelay, with a team. distance running is reallyall about guts -- and as one teammate said, flo could"suffer a little more than everyone else could." so day after day,month after month,
he pushed himselfto his limit. he knew that everylong run, every sprint, every interval could helpshave off a second or two off his times. and as he'd find out later,a few seconds can make all the difference. training. guts. teamwork.
what made flo a greatrunner also made him a great soldier. in the army, flo again tookhis training seriously -- hitting the booksin the classroom, paying attention to everydetail in field exercises -- because he knew that hehad to be prepared for any scenario. he deployed toafghanistan twice; first as a platoon leader,and then a couple of years
later when he washand-picked to head up a security detail. and so it was on an augustday three years ago that flo found himself leading agroup of american and afghan soldiers as they escortedtheir commanders to a meeting with local afghans. it was a journey that theteam had done many times before -- a shortwalk on foot, including passageover a narrow bridge.
at first, theypassed pedestrians, a few cars and bicycles,even some children. but then they began toapproach the bridge, and a pair of motorcyclessped toward them from the other side. the afghan troops shoutedat the bikers to stop -- and they did, ditching theirbikes in the middle of the bridge and running away. and that's when flo noticedsomething to his left -- a
man, dressed in darkclothing, walking backwards, just some 10 feet away. the man spun aroundand turned toward them, and that's when flosprinted toward him. he pushed him away from theformation, and as he did, he noticed an object underthe man's clothing -- a bomb. the motorcycles hadbeen a diversion. and at that moment, flo didsomething extraordinary -- he grabbed the bomber by hisvest and kept pushing him away.
and all those years oftraining on the track, in the classroom, out inthe field -- all of it came together. in those few seconds, hehad the instincts and the courage to dowhat was needed. one of flo's comrades,sergeant andrew mahoney, had joined in, too, andtogether they shoved the bomber again and again. and they pushed him so hardhe fell to the ground
onto his chest. and then the bomb detonated. ball bearings, debris,dust exploded everywhere. flo was thrown some 15 or20 feet and was knocked unconscious. and moments later, he wokeup in the middle of the road in shock. his eardrum was blown out. his leg was brokenand bleeding badly.
still, he realized thatif the enemy launched a secondary attack, he'dbe a sitting duck. when a comrade foundhim in the smoke, flo had his pistol out,dragging his wounded body from the road. that blast by the bridgeclaimed four american heroes -- four heroes flo wantsus to remember today. one of his mentors, a24-year army vet who always found time for flo and anyother soldier who wanted to
talk -- command sergeantmajor kevin griffin. a west pointer who lovedhockey and became a role model to cadets and troopsbecause he always "cared more about other peoplethan himself" -- major tom kennedy. a popular air force leaderknown for smiling with his "whole face," someone whoalways seemed to run into a friend wherever he went-- major david gray. and finally, a usaid foreignservice officer who had just
volunteered for a secondtour in afghanistan; a man who moved to theunited states from egypt and reveled ineverything american, whether it was disneylandor chain restaurants or roadside pie -- ragaei abdelfattah. these four menbelieved in america. they dedicated theirlives to our country. they died serving it. their families -- lovingwives and children,
parents and siblings -- bearthat sacrifice most of all. so while ragaei's familycould not be with us today, i'd ask three gold starfamilies to please stand and accept our deepest thanks. (applause) today, we honor flo becausehis actions prevented an even greater catastrophe. you see, by pushing thebomber away from the formation, the explosionoccurred farther from our
forces, and on the groundinstead of in the open air. and while flo didn'tknow it at the time, that explosion alsocaused a second, unseen bomb to detonatebefore it was in place. had both bombs goneoff as planned, who knows how manycould have been killed. those are the livesflo helped to save. and we are honored thatmany of them are here today. brigadier generaljames mingus.
sergeant andrew mahoney, whowas awarded a silver star for joining flo inconfronting the attacker. sergeant firstclass brian brink, who was awarded a bronzestar with valor for pulling flo from the road. specialist danielbalderrama, the medic who helpedto save flo's leg. private first class benjaminsecor and sergeant eric ochart, who also served withdistinction on that day.
gentlemen, i'd ask you toplease stand and accept the thanks of a gratefulnation, as well. at walter reed, flo beganhis next mission -- the mission to recover. he suffered significantnerve damage, and almost half of the calfmuscle in his left leg had been blown off. so the leg that had poweredhim around that track, the leg that moved soswiftly to counter the
bomber -- that leg hadbeen through hell and back. thanks to 33 surgeries andsome of the finest medical treatment a person can askfor, flo kept that leg. he's not running, but he'sdoing a lot of crossfit. i would not challengehim to crossfit. he's putting some hurt onsome rowing machines and some stair climbers. i think it is fairto say he is fit. today, flo ismedically retired.
but like so many of hisfellow veterans of our 9/11 generation, flocontinues to serve. as i said yesterdayat arlington, that's what our veteransdo -- they are incredibly highly skilled, dynamicleaders always looking to write that next chapterof service to america. for flo, that means acivilian job with the department of defense tohelp take care of our troops and keep ourmilitary strong.
and every day thathe is serving, he will be wearing abracelet on his wrist -- as he is today -- a braceletthat bears the names of his brothers in arms who gavetheir lives that day. the truth is, flo says thatday was the worst day of his life. and that is the starkreality behind these medal of honor ceremonies --that for all the valor we celebrate, and all thecourage that inspires us,
these actions were demandedamid some of the most dreadful moments of war. that's precisely why wehonor heroes like flo -- because on hisvery worst day, he managed to summonhis very best. that's the nature of courage-- not being unafraid, but confronting fear anddanger and performing in a selfless fashion. he showed his guts, heshowed his training;
how he would put it all onthe line for his teammates. that's an american wecan all be grateful for. it's why we honor captainflorent groberg today. may god bless all who serveand all who have given their lives to our country. we are free because of them. may god bless their familiesand may god continue to bless the united states ofamerica with heroes such as these.
military aide: the presidentof the united states of america, authorized by actof congress, march 3rd, 1863, has awarded in thename of congress the medal of honor tocaptain florent a. groberg, united states army. captain florent a. groberg distinguishedhimself by acts of gallantry and intrepidity at the riskof his life above and beyond the call of duty whileserving as a personal
security detachmentcommander for task force mountain warrior, fourthinfantry brigade combat team, fourth infantrydivision during combat operations against anarmed enemy in asadabad, kunar province, afghanistan,on august 8, 2012. on that day, captain grobergwas leading a dismounted movement consisting ofseveral senior leaders to include twobrigade commanders, two battalion commanders,two command sergeants major,
and an afghanistan nationalarmy brigade commander. as they approached theprovincial governor's compound, captain grobergobserved an individual walking close tothe formation. while the individual madean abrupt turn towards the formation, he noticed anabnormal bulge underneath the individual's clothing. selflessly placing himselfin front of one of the brigade commanders, captaingroberg rushed forward using
his body to push the suspectaway from the formation. simultaneously, he orderedanother member of the security detail to assistwith removing the suspect. at this time, captaingroberg confirmed the bulge was a suicide vest. and with completedisregard for this life, captain groberg, again, withthe assistance of the other member of thesecurity detail, physically pushed thesuicide bomber
away from the formation. upon falling, the suicidebomber detonated his explosive vest outsideof the perimeter of the formation, killing fourmembers of the formation and wounding numerous others. the blast from the firstsuicide bomb caused the suicide vest of a previouslyunnoticed second suicide bomber to detonateprematurely with minimal impact on the formation.
captain groberg's immediateactions to push the first suicide bomber away fromthe formation significantly minimized the impact of thecoordinated suicide bombers' attack on the formation,saving the lives of his comrades and severalsenior leaders. captain groberg'sextraordinary heroism and selflessness above andbeyond the call of duty at the risk of his life onkeeping with the highest traditions of themilitary service,
and reflect greatcredit upon himself, fourth infantrybrigade combat team, fourth infantry division,and the united states army. the president: thaconcludes the formal portion of this ceremony. i need to take some pictureswith the outstanding team members, as well as the goldstart families who are here today, as flo reminds usthis medal, in his words, honors them as much as any honors
that are bestowed upon him. and on veterans day week, that is particularly appropriate. i want to thank all of ourservicemembers who are here today, all whocould not attend. and i hope you enjoy anoutstanding reception. i hear the food ispretty good here. thank you verymuch, everybody. give captain groberg a biground of applause again.
thank you.
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