KFOR soldier performs life-saving actions, receives NATO MSM
Story by U.S. Army Sgt. Samantha Parks
4th Public Affairs Detachment
A
Kosovo Forces soldier
received
the
NATO
Meritorious Service Medal
for life-saving actions performed July
7, 2013 in Kosovo.
U.S. Army Sgt. Paul Flores, a soldier
with 1st Squadron, 38th Cavalry
Regiment, from Fort Bragg, N.C., and
a native of Los Angeles, received the
NATO MSM from Naples Commander
Admiral Bruce W. Clingan, Allied
Forces commander, in a presentation at
KFOR Headquarters in Pristina on Jan.
13.
“I was just doing my job,” Flores
said. “That is what I told them, I don’t
deserve this. You wouldn’t thank a chef
or a cook for doing their job. I just
don’t think that I deserved it, and I still
feel that way.”
At the time, Flores was a member
of the personal security detail for
the Multinational Battle Group-East
commander. The command and escort
vehicle were on mission to Prizren.
Flores said the convoy was heading
westbound when they encountered the
accident.
“We saw that there was a car and a
bus that collided [head-on],” Flores
said. “The car was destroyed. It was
a miracle that no one was seriously
injured and everyone walked off the
bus.”
According to U.S. Army Sgt. 1st
Class Derreck Fischer, the command
team’s personal security detachment
noncommissioned
officer-in-charge
and a native of Houston, Texas, he
and others in their two vehicle convoy
stopped to assist.
“[We] contained the engine fire from
the sedan that hit the bus head on,
after the fire was out [another soldier]
controlled traffic, while I cleared the
bus to make sure there were no more
injured personnel on the bus,” said
Fischer describing the scene.
Fischer said during that time, Flores
was providing first aid to the fee
collector from the bus. According to
the accident report, the individual had
sustained a deep laceration to the head,
approximately five cm. long, which
was bleeding heavily.
“It was a team effort for the most part,”
Flores said. “I couldn’t have done this
without everybody. Col. Woods was
the one who decided to stop and help,
and Sgt. 1st Class Fisher was the one
directing traffic. I was just doing what I
was supposed to be doing.”
U.S. Army Sgt. Paul Flores, a Senior Scout Observer with 1st Squadron, 38th Cavalry Regiment, from Fort Bragg, N.C., and a native of
Los Angeles, received the NATO Meritorious
Service Medal from Naples Commander Admiral Bruce W. Clingan, Allied Forces commander, in a presentation at KFOR Headquarters in
Pristina on Jan. 13. (Photo courtesy of Kosovo
Forces Public Affairs)
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