https://www.armytimes.com/news/your...shotgun-wielding-robber-during-sunday-brunch/
The headline makes you think you're going to read a story about a heroic act. In fact SSG Ruth started out pretty well:
There would have been a happy ending if he had stopped right there. But what did he do?
10 months recovering from a near fatal wound. Suspects arrested six months later.
Here we have an example of a highly trained and combat experienced soldier acting on impulse, thankfully it didn't cost him his life.
I don't know that what he did would have met the criteria for the Soldiers Medal. It's normally awarded for saving a life. Not sure you could prove he saved anyone's life.
I'm sure he was confident he could handle the gunman he saw. But he didn't se the accomplice who shot him. He should have known better.
Unarmed Army Ranger confronts a shotgun-wielding robber during Sunday brunch
The headline makes you think you're going to read a story about a heroic act. In fact SSG Ruth started out pretty well:
Nearing noontime on March 24, 2019, Ruth was chatting up his two friends at the Brewer’s Sports Pub and Grill, a local, strip-mall type restaurant where the Pensacola, Florida-native went for meals like these or to watch a game in the heavily adorned eatery for University of Georgia boosters.
Ready to dig into his breakfast, Ruth suddenly heard something from the back of the restaurant, maybe a few dozen feet away from his table.
“I heard a scream in the back. I didn’t know what it was, then I heard another scream,” Ruth told Army Times.
One of the service staff came running from the back toward the dining area, wide-eyed in terror, she tripped and fell. The six-combat deployment veteran recognized fear and panic when he saw it. Something was terribly wrong.
He looked to the rear of the restaurant and saw a masked man waving a sawed-off shotgun, yelling, “This is a robbery, nobody move!” Ruth said.
The man disappeared around the hallway corner with the restaurant owner.
Ruth quickly told everyone to leave, helping shuffle the other nine patrons and staff near him out the front entrance, where they ran across a side street.
There would have been a happy ending if he had stopped right there. But what did he do?
Then the Ranger did something very few might do. He went, unarmed, toward where he’d heard the scream.
Ruth thought he saw signs that the shotgun-toting robber looked nervous. He worried for the owner alone in the back with him and thought if he could get an open path, he might be able to disarm the guy.
He crept along the short hallway a couple of feet and peered around the corner, taking an angle to see if he could identify what was going on without being seen.
Ruth had done that maneuver countless times in close-quarters shooting drills. But in those drills, he had a gun.
The robber was standing in the doorway to the restaurant owner’s office, his back turned.
Ruth seized that moment, hurling himself forward and landing a solid punch to the man’s head, knocking him to the ground and briefly unconscious.
The staff sergeant pounced, covering the man to keep him down and separate him from his weapon.
That’s when the robber’s unseen partner, who was inside the office, fired a 9mm pistol into Ruth’s side. It entered his chest and exited his back, he’d later learn.
10 months recovering from a near fatal wound. Suspects arrested six months later.
Here we have an example of a highly trained and combat experienced soldier acting on impulse, thankfully it didn't cost him his life.
At the time of the incident, Ruth said his command was looking into submitting him for an award, possibly the Soldier’s Medal, an award for heroism in non-combat situations.
But unit leaders changed and after he completed his 10-month recovery he began the transition to warrant officer and flight school.
I don't know that what he did would have met the criteria for the Soldiers Medal. It's normally awarded for saving a life. Not sure you could prove he saved anyone's life.
I'm sure he was confident he could handle the gunman he saw. But he didn't se the accomplice who shot him. He should have known better.