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Marine gets Bronze Star with ‘V’

Cpl. Andrew Conte was given a job that is easy for no Marine.

A squad leader with 3rd Battalion, 8th Marines, based at Camp Lejeune, N.C., Conte deployed to Afghanistan from November 2008 to June 2009, pushing his Marines in 1st Platoon, Lima Company, as they handled the company’s Quick Reaction Force operations, in which Marines are frequently required to respond to a request for assistance within 15 minutes.

Conte’s squad responded to four urgent casualty evacuation requests during the deployment, including a mission for a friend, Lance Cpl. Blaise Oleski, who died April 8, 2008.

“If you’d have asked me four months ago, I was dead-set on getting out of the Marine Corps,” said Conte, who is now considering re-upping and an embassy security guard. “As time dwindles down, I’m just going to take it four years at a time now.”

On Oct. 30, Conte was awarded the Bronze Star with “V” device at Camp Lejeune for his work in Afghanistan. He earned the medal for “untiring efforts to lead and train his Marines” during the deployment, and for leading to Lima Company’s casualty evacuation needs, two of which came under heavy enemy fire, according to his award citation.

“Corporal Conte … led more than 40 combat patrols in an area with a high concentration of Improvised Explosive Devices and directed his squad in four additional engagements with enemy forces,” the citation said. “Corporal Conte put himself at the main point of friction in every squad task and pushed his squad hard in training in order to ensure the combat readiness of his Marines.”

A summary of action for the award specifically cites another of the casualty evacuation missions, saying that on Jan. 27, Conte helped recover two mortally wounded Marines from Forward Operating Base Cafferata in Helmand province while under a barrage of enemy fire.

“Corporal Conte remained calm, giving effective fire commands to repel the enemy assault while simultaneously [coordinating] with the dismounted patrol leader and ensuring his vehicles were prepared to move,” the summary said. “His courage and composure under fire allowed the mounted extract to be made with no further injury to personnel or damage to equipment.”

Conte said he plans to wear the medal to his unit’s Marine Corps Birthday Ball in November — the first birthday celebration for which he won’t be downrange.

“It’s kind of a big deal, I guess, but I really don’t want to get a big head over it,” he said of the award. “My family’s really proud of me, and that just makes me grin on the inside.”