Russellville native commended for battlefield heroics
Members of the 3rd Battalion, 509th Infantry Regiment (Airborne) honored a Franklin County man on March 3 during a ceremony at their battalion headquarters for actions on the battlefield during the unit’s most recent deployment to Afghanistan.
Army Staff Sgt. Jacob Bobo, a 25-year-old Russellville native, currently serving as the weapons squad leader for 3rd Platoon, A Company, 3-509th, was awarded the Army Commendation Medal with V Device for Valor by his battalion commander, Lt. Col. Shawn Daniel.
Bobo’s wife, Kerri, was present at the ceremony as well as Army Col. Morris T. Goins, 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division commander and Command Sgt. Maj. Terry D. Gardner, 4-25th ABCT.
While pinning Bobo, Daniel noted that the award recognized the NCO’s selfless actions of making sure his team was moved into safety before himself.
“I personally feel that most awards represent actions of the men under you that make you look good, but an award with valor is all about you and what you have done for those men,” Daniel said.
While manning a tactical check point in Afghanistan last August, Bobo held a position watching over his fellow paratroopers when an enemy rocket-propelled-grenade and small-arms attack came to the south of his position.
“The enemy was solely focused on the TCP itself. They hadn’t seen me or my men yet since we were up in the ridge,” Bobo said. “I got maybe one or two rounds off with the 60-mm mortar tube I had with us before they shifted their fire and were targeting us, too.”
Exposed on the side of the ridge facing the enemy as they were, Bobo was in an excellent position to attack the enemy, but not to defend against their attacks.
Bobo then led his team back to the opposite side of the ridge so they could use its terrain as cover.
“I got my mortar team and moved them back first. My forward observer and I were the last to fall back behind the ridge on the opposing military crest after the other guys had been moved,” Bobo said.
He added the movement to cover wasn’t without its own hazards as enemy RPG rounds were getting closer to hitting their targets.
“Just before we fell back there was this one RPG that hit so close to me and my [forward observer] that I thought we were dead,” Bobo said, recalling the magnitude of the concussive blast. “When I looked up and saw that we were both still alive, I knew that it was time for us to move.”
Shortly after the entire team was behind cover and able to safely engage the enemy with well-aimed shots, Bobo’s forward observer was able to fire 120-mm rounds on the enemy location, effectively ending the attack.
“When the 120s landed, they hit both the enemy location itself as well as the most likely path an enemy retreat would take,” Bobo said. “We weren’t being shot at anymore after that.”
Bobo and the rest of the 3-509th are currently conducting training for another deployment to Afghanistan later this year.
Bobo is the son of Darren Bobo of Russellville and Teresa Warmkessel of Allentown, Pa.
