Six soldiers are being honored for rendering aid after five services members were injured when Army Sgt. Quornelius Radford opened fire on coworkers at Fort Stewart before being subdued.
Army Secretary Dan Driscoll traveled to the Savannah installation to honor the service members who subdued the attacker.
First Sgt. Joshua Arnold, Master Sgt. Justin Thomas, Staff Sgt. Melissa Taylor, Staff Sgt. Robert Pacheco, Sgt. Aaron Turner and Sgt. Eve Rodarte were awarded the Meritorious Service Medal for their actions which brought a quick end the violence.
The medal is awarded to servicemembers for “outstanding non-combat meritorious achievement or service.”
“We’re going to take a moment and thank these six soldiers,” Driscoll said. “Under duress and fire, they ran into battle to the sound of the gunfire, took down the assailant, and then took care of their comrades, and that made all the difference.”
“It was an incredibly fast response,” said Brigadier General John Lubas, “and I do attribute that to the incredible training this installation has done.”
The six soldiers honored included combat medics who aided wounded soldiers.
Radford, the alleged shooter, is a logistics sergeant who recently reenlisted. Unconfirmed police reports indicate he had a confrontation with coworkers the day before the incident. Radford was assigned to the 2nd Brigade Combat Team and has never deployed.
Sgt. Radford is currently held in pre-trial detention.
Fort Stewart-Hunter Army Airfield is home to over 21,000 full-time soldiers and airmen along with 4,350 civilians and contractors and 19,000 military retirees. It is one of the country’s largest army bases. The base was on lockdown for over an hour while military police assessed the situation and rendered aid to victims.Most military installations do not allow troops to carry weapons on base.
