Army Captain to Receive Medal of Honor for TACKLING Afghani Suicide Bomber

An American hero will be awarded the Medal of Honor in November for playing a major role in disrupting a deadly terror attack.

Army Capt. Florent Groberg was traveling in a personal security detachment in the morning of Aug. 8, 2012. The small group was responsible for getting a number of high-ranking personnel to a meeting at the provincial governor’s residence. 

During the journey, the group was pincered into a chokepoint at a bridge. Groberg then noticed a man approaching his unit wearing a suicide vest and holding a bomb switch in his hand.

“The only thing I could think of was, ‘I have to get him away. I have to get him away from the boss. I have to get him away from everybody,’” Groberg said, according the Army Times.

With the help of a fellow soldier, Groberg immediately charged and shoved the man to the ground. The would-be assassin landed on his chest, causing his finger to slip free of the detonator and setting off his suicide vest.

As the situation fell into disarray, a second bomber detonated himself prematurely and wasted most of his arsenal -- and himself -- on the wall of a nearby building. 

Unfortunately, four Americans were killed in the attack, including two soldiers, an airman and a USAID worker. Groberg was left with a broken fibula that tore through his left leg, extensive burns, a blown eardrum and a mild traumatic brain injury. He spent three years at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Washington, D.C. recovering from his injuries, which required more than 30 surgeries.

“I took an injury that cost about 45 to 50 percent of my calf, it made my leg below my knee numb, I can’t feel my toes, they tied all my ligaments together, fused my foot,” Groberg explained. “I am lucky to be standing and be able to do this today because of the incredible care that I received at Walter Reed.”

Groberg was credited with saving an indeterminable amount of lives and, on Nov. 12, he will be honored for his brave and distinctive service. He will be the 10th living recipient of the Medal of Honor in Iraq and Afghanistan, but says he feels unsure about accepting the award.

“It’s a weird feeling that’s almost too hard to explain,” he said. “It just reminds me of my guys that I lost.”

“It was the worst day of my life because even though we defeated the enemy, I lost four of my brothers,” Groberg said. "This medal is not about me; it’s about the four individuals that I lost. It’s about them, it’s about their families, it’s about true heroes that sacrificed everything for their country.”