(triumphant trumpet music)
(mellow music)
- I was born in France.
My mom is French Algerian.
I never actually met my biological father.
My mother raised me 'til I was about three years old
on her own before she met Larry Groberg.
He took me in as his son, even though I wasn't his blood.
He gave me his name and he taught me how to be
the person that I am today.
When I was 11 years old,
we decided to move from Paris to Palatine, Illinois.
I didn't speak any English,
so this was definitely a culture change for me,
but it was an opportunity to come to the United States
and I was super excited as a kid.
I sort of grassed into the culture.
Something that I really appreciate
is no matter what our differences are,
we are all proud to be Americans.
By the time I was in high school,
I would rather stay in the United States
a hundred times out of a hundred over going back to France.
(dramatic music)
Within a couple weeks
at University of Maryland, 9/11 happened.
I remember having conversations with my father,
telling him, "I'm gonna drop outta school
"and I'm gonna go join the United States Army.
"I'm gonna become an Army Ranger
"'cause I wanna find, fix, and destroy these individuals."
And this is one of those lessons that my father taught me.
He said, "The one thing I asked of you
"is when you start something, you finish it.
"That's what the Grobergs do.
"Because if you right now find an excuse
"to quit and drop out of school,
"you will always find an excuse to quit
"everything that you start in life.
"But if you learn to push on
"and accomplish whatever task that you started,
"in the long run, you will be successful."
He said, "You will graduate in four years,
"and in four years, you will go join the United States Army
"and follow your path."
July 1st, 2008 was my first day at Fort Benning, Georgia
as a new enlisted soldier.
Following graduation from Ranger school,
we got the call and it said,
"Hey, you're gonna be going to Afghanistan."
(gun firing)
(dramatic music)
I'm in the most kinetic place in the world.
I'm in eastern Afghanistan, the Kunar Province.
We were in over 250 engagements that year.
(gun firing)
I think probably the most important part
of my journey as an infantryman was that deployment.
My entire life, I wanted to go out there and fight
for what I believed in,
but when I got there and someone told me,
"Hey, by the way, you're in charge of 24 lives.
"Make the right decisions, their lives are in your hands."
That changed the whole ball game.
It was no longer about me.
It was about them
and it was about accomplishing the mission.
During my first deployment,
I had communications with the local populous
every single day.
I had opportunities to go to different schools.
I was one of the first U.S. Army guys
to go into a girls' school in the Kunar Province.
And guess what they were teaching, English,
in the Kunar Province, to girls.
That was, to us that was a big win.
(piano music)
My second deployment was in 2012
and I was in charge of the personal security detail
for Colonel Mingus at the time.
He is now Brigadier General Mingus.
(piano music)
- [Narrator] On August 8th, 2012,
U.S. Army Captain Flo Groberg was serving
as a personal security detachment commander
in the town of Asadabad in Kunar Province, Afghanistan.
His patrol was responsible for escorting 28 coalition
and Afghan National Army personnel,
including a number of senior officers,
to a weekly meeting with provincial Governor Wahidi.
- The entire movement was about 1100 meters,
and at about 750 meters, you reached a bridge.
We're about to reach that bridge when I saw this kid,
18 to 22 years old, and he just was out of place.
I remember thinking, "Where did you come from?
"What is going on here?"
And at that point, everything changes.
I know there's something wrong, so I left my position,
and I went towards him as fast as I could,
and I grabbed him by the chest.
That's when I realized, "Okay, this is a suicide vest,"
and so I just threw him as far as I could
and when he landed at my feet, he detonated it.
(bomb exploding)
Everything went black.
I remember waking up thinking, "What just happened?"
There was blood everywhere.
I had blood all over myself and I saw my leg.
My foot was facing me.
My fibula was sticking out.
It felt like my leg was melting.
Sergeant First Class Brink came outta nowhere.
He drags me to a ditch
and at that ditch is Specialist Balderrama, my medic,
and he saved my life.
At that point, another medic came in, and I'm asking him,
"What's the status report of my patrol?
"What is the status of my Warrior Six, my Warrior Seven?"
My Warrior Six, that was the call sign for the Colonel.
My Warrior Seven is the call sign
of Commander Sergeant Major.
The two individuals that we were tasked to keep alive
the entire tour.
And he told me, "My Warrior Six is fine.
"He might have a concussion,"
but then they said My Warrior Seven didn't make it,
and that's when I got really angry.
"How, why, I don't believe this, I need to see this.
"Get me out of this ditch."
I told him, "Pick me out of this ditch,"
and they picked me up and started dragging me.
I'm like, "Get me up."
I go, "I got a good leg, I can hop,"
and when I got to Sergeant Major, I noticed he wasn't alone.
And he was laying there with Major Gray, Major Kennedy,
and then one of the U.S. Department USA ID individuals,
Ragaei Abdelfattah, and they were all killed in action.
(piano music)
I spent three years at Walter Reed Hospital.
I had a limb salvage injury.
I lost 50% of my calf.
I became deaf in my left ear.
I lost the ability to run.
What they did for me,
reconstructed my entire achilles
and put together my left leg,
is just extraordinary.
- [Narrator] Three years after the action,
in July 2015, Flo had retired from the Army
with no expectations about further recognition.
(piano music)
- That blast by the bridge claimed four American heroes,
four heroes Flo wants us to remember today.
So while Ragaei's family could not be with us today,
I'd ask three Gold Star families to please stand
and accept our deepest thanks.
(audience applauding)
- This bracelet here represents my three Armed Forces guys
that were killed.
I wear this everyday, everywhere I go.
This is a reminder that I am lucky,
and this is an honor to still be on this Earth,
and I have to earn it every single day.
(piano music)
- Today, we honor Flo because his actions
prevented an even greater catastrophe.
By pushing the bomber away from the formation,
the explosion occurred farther from our forces,
and on the ground instead of in the open air.
(piano music)
(audience applauding)
- I ran towards the danger because that's what we do
as a United States Army soldier.
I need to protect the boss.
If I die today and the boss lives, it's a good day at work.
Tell you what, I didn't do the job well enough
'cause four of my brothers died
and to me, it will always be a failure.
And I will take that to my grave
and I'll live with it the rest of my life.
(piano music)
Everyday, I try to do something positive in the world.
Maybe it's saying hello to a stranger,
or thank you, or shaking a hand.
Man, I hope that eventually that builds up
to me being a good person and earning the fact
that I'm still on this Earth.
(piano music)