PERSONAL AWARD RECOMMENDATION

PRIVACY ACT STATEMENTThe Privacy Act Statement for information on this form is contained in NAVMC

Form 11000, Privacy Act Statement for Marine Corps Personnel and Pay Records.FROM: (Title and Address)ADJUTANTHQ CO 7THMAR1STMARDIV BOX 788260TWENTYNINE PALMS CA92278 8260

TO: (Awarding Authority)COMUSMARCENT MARCENT (HQ MARFOR CENTCOM)14. EXP. OF ACTIVE DUTY: IF RETIREMENT, NUMBER OF YEARS:

1. SOCIAL SECURITY #: 2. DESIG/NEC/MOS:1802

15. EST. DETACHMENT DATE: 09/15/2013Retirement Terminal LeaveTransfer X Impact Award

3. NAME (Last,first,MI):ASHINHURST, CHRISTOPHE A

4. COMPONENT(USN,USMC,etc.):USMC

16. NEW DUTY STATION (Home address if separation anticipated):N/A

5. GRADE/RANK:CAPT

17. UNIT AT TIME OF ACTION/SERVICE:1ST TANK BATTALION 1STMARDIV

18. DUTY ASSIGNMENT:CO

6. WARFARE DESIGNATOR (Navy Only): 7. RUC:21410

8. RECOMMENDED AWARD:BV - BRONZE STAR W/ V

9. SPECIFIC ACHIEVEMENT:X Yes No

10. TYPE:X Heroic Heroic Posthumous MIA

Meritorious Meritorious Posthumous

19. PREVIOUS PERSONAL DECORATIONS AND PERIODRECOGNIZED:

CR - 02/13/2013 NC - 05/01/2012 AA - 10/21/2011NC - 04/15/2011 NC - 10/31/2008 NA - 04/21/2008

11. NUMBER OF AWARD OF RECOMMENDED MEDAL:1

20. PERSONAL AWARDS RECOMMENDED-NOT YET APPROVED:N/A

12. ACTION DATE/MERITORIOUS PERIOD:01/02/2013 - 07/20/201313. GEOGRAPHIC AREA OF ACTION/SERVICE:OCONUS - OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM

21. OTHER PERSONNEL BEING RECOMMENDED FOR SAME ACTION:

22. I certify that the facts contained in the summary of action are known to me X a matter of record

NAME, GRADE, TITLE OF ORIGINATORRANKIN, CHRISTIAN, LTCOLExecutive Officer

SIGNATURE

Christian RankinExecutive Officer

DATE07/17/2013

23. FORWARDING ENDORSEMENTS BY VIA ADDRESSEE(S).VIA COMMAND RECOMMENDED

AWARDCOMBAT "V" SIGNATURE & GRADE DATE FWD

Commanding Officer7TH MAR REGT 1ST MARDIV(R/U)

BV - BRONZESTAR W/ V

X Yes No Austin Eugene RenforthAustin Eugene RenforthCOL

07/29/2013

CG, II MEF (FWD)II MEF (FORWARD) CE

BV - BRONZESTAR W/ V

X Yes No Rachael PittsRachael PittsMAJForWalter Miller JRMAJGEN, CG, II MEF (FWD)

08/17/2013

24. TO BE COMPLETED BY AWARDING AUTHORITYDISPOSITION OF BASICRECOMMENDATION

COMBAT "V" EXTRAORDINARYHEROISM

SIGNATURE,GRADE,TITLE DATE APPROVED

BV - BRONZE STAR W/ V X Yes No Yes X No Amanda CiszewskiAmanda CiszewskiSSGT/Awards ClerkForRobert B NellerLTGEN, COMUSMARCENT

10/24/2013

NAVMC 11533 (EF)

CitationBV approved as BV by LTGEN ROBERT B NELLER on 10/24/2013

For heroic service in connection with combat operations against the enemy while serving as CommandingOfficer, Company D, 1st Tank Battalion, Regimental Combat Team 7, II Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward),from 2 January 2013 to 20 July 2013 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. During this period, CaptainAshinhurst displayed extraordinary leadership and courageously led his company in direct combat against enemyforces. During Operation DYNAMIC PARTNER, Captain Ashinhurst bravely commanded his company over fivedays of intense fighting against a large enemy force that had surrounded and cut off a Marine Special OperationsTeam at Village Stability Platform Shurakay. His decisive leadership under enemy fire and personal violence ofaction in directing fires of his force resulted in the death of 60 insurgents and broke the enemys ability to continueorganized resistance. In the aftermath of a suicide Vehicle-Borne Improvised Explosive Device attack onCombat Outpost Shir Ghazay, Captain Ashinhurst boldly led his company to assault the blast site where fourheavily armed fighters had breached the outer wall. He immediately rendered lifesaving aid to a severelywounded Georgian Soldier and organized care and transport of casualties to the forward aid station. Heunhesitatingly deployed his tanks in defensive positions around the outpost to prevent further attacks untilintegrity of the perimeter could be restored. By his zealous initiative, courageous actions, and exceptionaldedication to duty, Captain Ashinhurst reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the highest traditions of theMarine Corps and the United States Naval Service.

NAVMC 11533 (EF)

Summary of ActionSNO was in receipt of imminent danger pay during this period.

Captain Ashinhurst is enthusiastically recommended for the Bronze Star Medal with Combat DistinguishingDevice for his heroic achievement while serving as Commanding Officer, Company D, 1st Tank Battalion,Regimental Combat Team 7, II Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward) from 2 January 2013 to 20 July 2013 insupport of Operation ENDURING FREEDOM. During this period, Captain Ashinhurst led his company withunparalleled success through a litany of combat operations against the enemy. Always placing himself at theforefront of the fighting, he led his tank section and the company on 46 combat patrols and 2,400 km of travelthrough four districts (Now Zad, Musa Qaleh, Sangin, and Nahr-e Saraj) in northern Helmand withunprecedented success.

During the relief-in-place (RIP) with 2d Tank Battalion, it became apparent that Company D, 1st Tank Battalionwould be sent into a major operation immediately upon assuming control. In late January, after the RIP, CaptainAshinhurst traveled to Camp Leatherneck to conduct planning with Regimental Combat Team 7 and 3d Battalion,9th Marines for Operation DYNAMIC PARTNER. The operation combined all elements of the MEF in asignificant undertaking to extract Village Stability Platform (VSP) Shurakay from their position for retrograde.Captain Ashinhurst led the tank companys planning, provided recommendations on employment, and arrangedfor the logistics to support 10 tanks, 15 trucks, and 78 Marines for two weeks of continuous operations.Furthermore, Captain Ashinhurst personally led the companys rehearsals and combined rehearsals with Lima 3/9to ensure the plan was understood at every level. Quickly put into a demanding mission set, Captain Ashinhurstdisplayed resiliency and skill by completely taking charge of his responsibilities as the Regiments tank expert,coordinating every aspect of the mammoth plan to the finest details.

From 13 to 17 February 2013, Company D occupied battle positions overlooking VSP Shurakay to defend thedemilitarization of the VSP and the transport of several million dollars worth of equipment out of the VSP oncombat logistic patrols. On seven different occasions, extensive gun battles broke out between enemy positionssurrounding the VSP and Marines in battle positions overlooking the area. Captain Ashinhursts rapid andeffective command of these engagements while subjecting himself to enemy fire ensured the timely destructionof enemy forces and preserved the lives of Marines involved in the operation. Ignoring enemy fire, he boldlypositioned his tank in the most forward position along the shelf overlooking VSP Shurakay so he could be in thebest position to control fires and engage the enemy. On many occasions, Captain Ashinhursts tank was thetarget of enemy fire. At one point a grenade detonated off of his tanks front slope, shattering the driversperiscope and on another occasion a rocket fired from a nearby compound detonated meters from his tank.

Early in the operation it became clear that tanks were the most responsive asset on the battlefield and the liaisonofficer at the VSP soon resorted to contacting Captain Ashinhurst directly for all defensive fires in support of thedemilitarization. Day and night, Captain Ashinhurst and liaison officer coordinated the defense of the positionover the radio. Aircraft overhead and thermal imagery from the VSP were able to confirm over 60 enemy KIAover the five days of fighting. Throughout the operation there was no loss of coalition forces or collateral civiliancasualties. That is a testament to the well-trained and disciplined Marines in the tank company and CaptainAshinhursts leadership as their commander.

On 15 May 2013, a Suicide Vehicle-Borne Improvised Explosive Device (SVBIED) detonated in the entry controlpoint (ECP) at Combat Outpost (COP) Shir Ghazay. Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) estimated the car wascarrying 200lbs of bulk explosive. The effect of the blast wave on the interior of the COP was tremendous.Captain Ashinhurst and his company staff were in their office, approximately 100 yards from the blast. The blastwave immediately destroyed the company office. Interior walls, air conditioning units, and pieces of the ceilingwere thrown through the air. Captain Ashinhurst was struck in the side of the head by a wooden divider in theofficer, but immediately ordered his Marines to get to the Indirect-fire (IDF) bunker and then after clearing thedebris off himself, pushed his men out the door of the office. As Captain Ashinhurst left the office building, hechecked each of the rooms in the buildings for casualties left behind and recovered a Georgian rifle left behind inone of the offices. As he came outside and into the IDF bunker, he took a quick head count of his staff and thenmoved past the Georgian living areas directly to the site of the explosion.

The SVBIED blew a gap in the perimeter wall several meters across. Approximately two minutes after the blast,four enemy fighters armed with AK-47s, UGLs and RPGs dressed in military uniforms, stormed the COP throughthe hold made by the SVBIED. Firing through the gap in the wall and over the COP with their AK-47s the enemyforces shot at Georgian casualties lying in the rubble and soldiers running to assist.

At the same time, Captain Ashinhurst, Georgian Liaison Team Officer-in-Charge, and the Georgian battalioncommander, already heading for the site, accelerated their movement, bounding between MRAPS parked in a lotbetween them and the blast site. Without Personal Protective Equipment, and using a rifle he had found in oneof the offices, Captain Ashinhurst unhesitatingly assaulted towards the enemy forces breaching the COP.

When Captain Ashinhurst reached the blast site, he identified casualties among the rubble and after ensuringthat the enemy forces were dead, and soldiers were covering the breach point, he began treating one Georgiansoldier with open fractures to his legs, a mangled hand, and a penetrating chest wound. Capt Ashinhurst applieda tourniquet to the soldier and directed other Marines to get a stretcher to transport the casualty to the FAS.Captain Ashinhurst, recognizing a stretcher was unavailable, prepared the soldier to be lifted on to his shouldersand taken the 200 yards in a firemans carry. As Captain Ashinhurst began the carry a stretcher arrived and hethen transferred the soldier to the stretcher. A moment later, Captain Ashinhurst recognized that some of theNAVMC 11533 (EF)

downed enemy fighters were wearing possible suicide vests. He alerted the Georgians securing the scene andthen notified the GLT chain of command so they could get EOD to check the enemy bodies.

After Captain Ashinhurst assisted a few more soldiers and Marines with the evacuation of casualties he locatedhis company 1stSgt to ensure all his Marines were accounted for. Recalling a tank in from outside the base,Captain Ashinhurst took the company executive officers tank and crew back outside the COP to command thedefense of Shir Ghazay during the medical evacuation of casualties and the reconstruction of the perimeter. Hisfearlessness in the face of the enemy and boldness of action inspired his men and those around him. Hisunhesitating reaction assisted in breaking up the enemy follow-on attack, saved the life of at least one Georgiansoldier, and secured the COP from follow on attacks.

Throughout the deployment, Captain Ashinhurst led the men of his company with boldness of action,decisiveness, all the while demanding a high standard of performance. He enthusiastically pursued theemployment of tanks across the province, traveling to Camp Leatherneck, Sangin, and Task Force 66 to conductplanning with other units and bring tanks into the fight against the enemy at every opportunity. Even though thecompany averaged approximately the same number of miles patrolled as other tank companies to serve inAfghanistan, Company D, they struck significantly fewer Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) overall. For sevenmonths of combat operations and approximately 2,000 kilometers of patrolling per tank, the company only struckfour IEDs. This is a testament to the companys training, discipline, and patience.

As a result of his tireless efforts, unyielding commitment to excellence and determination to destroy the enemywhile protecting friendly forces Captain Ashinhurst is enthusiastically recommended for the Bronze Star Medalwith Combat Distinguishing Device.

NAVMC 11533 (EF)