If you ask Staff Sgt. Chad Malmberg what he did right the night terrorists ambushed his convoy escort team in the desert near Baghdad, he doesn't miss a beat.
It boiled down to keeping a level head, he says, so that the 15 soldiers he was leading would hang in there during a fierce firefight.
Malmberg kept his cool while barking orders through a vehicle radio communications system.
"Everybody in our group could hear everything on the radio," he said of January's battle. "If I sounded like I was freaking out -- the guy in charge -- then everybody knows Sgt. Malmberg is freaking out."
The second thing the Minnesota native did right was set an example.
Malmberg realized terrorists were trying to surround and capture a gun truck with the three soldiers inside. He left his armored vehicle, fired a shoulder-mounted rocket and hurled a few hand grenades, killing many of the enemy.
"That set a tone for the other guys," said Malmberg, who served in the 1st Brigade Combat Team of the 34th Infantry Division.
"The gunners, they're exposed to the enemy the whole time sitting on top of their trucks," he said. "When my guys saw me and realized I was out there, it gave everybody spirit -- like, hey, we're going to do whatever we have to do to win this thing."
Malmberg's heroic action and calm leadership ended the attack. Despite an hourlong clash, the convoy and escort team lost no lives.
For his valor, Malmberg in September received the Silver Star, one of the military's highest honors. He's the first Minnesota National Guard member to land the medal since World War II.
What prepared Malmberg for the January battle?
Malmberg, 28, points to his upbringing and grueling Army training in what it calls combatives -- hand-to-hand fighting that combines elements of the martial arts, wrestling and boxing.
Malmberg says he learned a strong work ethic from his father and uncle, both of whom were policemen in St. Paul, Minn. As a teenager, Malmberg was already cooking for himself and doing his own laundry.
"My parents gave me responsibilities at a young age," he said. "My mom was there for me, but didn't clean up after me. We didn't have a lot of money.
"I wanted to work so I could buy my own clothes. They gave me what I needed and not a whole lot more. They wanted me to know what's important and not worry about superficial things maybe."
At 14, Malmberg began working as a car mechanic after school. He did mostly basic tasks, like oil changes. Later on, he cooked at some local restaurants, serving up burgers.
After graduating from high school in 1998, Malmberg joined the Army, training as a paratrooper at Fort Bragg, N.C.
He served three years in the regular service, then joined the Minnesota National Guard in July 2001. He was 21 and soon enrolled at Minnesota's Mankato State University, aiming for a career in law enforcement like his father and uncle.
Malmberg remembers being at home on Sept. 11 when terrorists attacked New York and Washington.
"My mom called hysterically, crying, telling me to turn on the TV," he said. "Seeing those planes crash into the towers -- I thought I was going to get a call sending me right back to Fort Bragg. It seemed such an imminent threat at that point, sort of an all-hands-on-deck sort of thing."
Malmberg knew his time would come. When one of Minnesota's National Guard units was mobilized for the Iraq War in October 2005, Malmberg volunteered.
Back during his first Army stint at Fort Bragg, Malmberg had joined the battalion boxing team. Now it was 2005, the venue was Camp Shelby, Miss., and he was going through combatives training, with an eye on overseas action.
The hand-to-hand training, says Malmberg, taught him to persevere in a tough fight, to take a hit and keep on going. It helped him prepare for real engagements.
"Boxing, mixed martial arts, and combat sports are huge," he said. "That competitive mind-set, the discipline and competitive spirit I learned, was something that really prepared me for a hostile environment."
Malmberg became so proficient at Army combatives, he became an instructor.
So colleagues weren't surprised Malmberg stood tall when their convoy was attacked on Jan. 27. In combatives training, he proved his mettle in clench drills against much bigger opponents, says Tony Padilla, a sergeant major in Malmberg's Guard unit.
"He doesn't quit," said Padilla. "The guy weighs about 155, maybe 160 pounds. He's a skinny guy, maybe 5 feet 9 inches. He's a smaller man. And in combatives class, he's rolling with guys 225, 250 pounds. He gave up a lot of weight and held his own."
Malmberg landed in Iraq in late March 2006. He landed at a radio relay station that mostly did humanitarian work.
"We were champing at the bit to go on missions, to feel like we were doing more," he recalled.
By the summer, Malmberg began leading convoy escorts. His combat team protected flatbed trucks loaded with food, fuel and supplies on 600- to 800-mile round-trip missions, stretching from southwestern Iraq to Baghdad.
Malmberg says the main dangers were roadside bombs and snipers.
Then came the night of Jan. 27.
What began with a routine roadside bomb turned out to be a well-coordinated terrorist attack. The enemy's goal: stall the convoy and create a killing zone.
Malmberg and his combat team had five Humvees armed with mounted machine guns. They faced an enemy with rocket-propelled grenades and other small arms.
Malmberg radioed for air support. But he had trouble pinpointing where the terrorists were in the desert's darkness. Worse, the 20-vehicle convoy was pinned down and running out of ammunition.
With the convoy's rear in distress and the road blocked, Malmberg knew he had to hit the bigger force.
"They (the terrorists) were getting up the nerve to storm a vehicle," Malmberg said.
So he dismounted and charged into the darkness, firing the rocket launcher and leading the way toward victory.
His whole combat team acted bravely, says Malmberg.
"I think many of us, during that firefight, thought that maybe we could die doing this," he said. "But it's for the greater good. If nobody stands up and assumes the risk, then you all might die."
Malmberg recently returned from Iraq and is attending Mankato State, with his sights on a career in law enforcement. Still a member of Minnesota's Guard, he's assigned to A Company, 2nd Battalion, 135th Infantry in West St. Paul.
Source: Investor's Business Daily
