Shawn Tabankin Receives Bronze Star Medal for Iraq War Service

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New York Army National Guard Col. Geoffrey Slack, commander of the 27th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, presents the Bronze Star Medal to Capt. Shawn Tabankin from the 2nd Battalion, 108th Infantry.

LATHAM, NY (01/09/2012)(readMedia)-- Two New York Army National Guard Soldiers preparing to deploy to Kuwait this winter received their combat awards for service in Iraq in 2004 here in a ceremony seven years overdue.

The Soldiers, Capt. Shawn Tabankin and Command Sgt. Maj. Arnold Stone, Jr. served as platoon leader and platoon sergeant together with 1st Platoon, Company B, 2nd Battalion, 108th Infantry during their combat deployment to Iraq as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

"Seven years ago we were doing our job. We didn't do it to get awards or recognition," Stone said. "We did it because it was what we were asked to do."

Their award submissions, first submitted in the December of 2004, were misplaced during the unit rotations out of Iraq. Returning home to New York, the two led the effort to resubmit awards and decorations for the 43 Soldiers assigned to their platoon.

Tabankin, from Bedford Hills, N.Y., and Stone, from Saranac, N.Y., were committed to seeing their Soldiers' awards corrected before they would seek redress for their own submissions.

"We didn't want to pursue these last two awards until all our guys were taken care of," Tabankin said.

"They don't give out the Bronze Star, you earn it," said Lt. Col. Joseph Biehler, commander of the 108th Infantry and a former operations officer during the unit deployment. "It's been a long time coming, but it's here."

"They led that platoon in combat operations ... and it did good things for the people of Iraq," Biehler said in describing the platoon's role in combat near Samarra, Iraq in what was called Operation Baton Rouge. "Things got better from there. They did not lose a single Soldier -- a great credit."

The long administrative process and four resubmissions to approve the two awards received help from the offices of Congresswoman Nan Hayworth. Hayworth and New York Assemblyman Robert Castelli were on hand to present the awards.

Castelli, himself a Vietnam War veteran, presented the Soldiers with citations from the New York State Assembly for their service.

"It is my honor to honor you," Castelli told the two. "For me, as a Vietnam veteran, it is a very touching thing to be here and honor fellow veterans. As an 18-year-old NCO leading Soldiers in combat, I can appreciate what you do."

Hayworth and Castelli joined Col. Geoffrey Slack, commander of the 27th Infantry Brigade Combat Team for the award presentation. Slack also deployed to Iraq in 2004 as an infantry battalion commander and now leads the brigade in its preparations for deployment to Kuwait this winter as a mobile response force.

"It is fitting that with hundreds of Soldiers right across the street getting ready to go overseas, we complete the record on one combat deployment while we are on the cusp of another," Slack said.

"Awarding the Bronze Star affirms the efforts of all the Soldiers on that battlefield," Slack said. "This is long overdue recognition of these two Soldiers."

"These awards are not about me and Command Sgt. Maj. Stone," Tabankin said, "it is what our platoon did."

"All of the achievement bullets (on the award recommendation) were the things our 43 Soldiers did," he said.

View imagery of the award ceremony at www.flickr.com/photos/nyng/sets/72157628796205261/