The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Silver Star
dismounted and joined another soldier in attempting to give their friend cover and to assess his wounds. Then a second soldier was shot and severely wounded. Wright went to his side and continued to fight until both were shot and killed by small arms fire.
“His courage and dedication to his team were unmatched,” Capt. Rick Dickson, a spokesman for U.S. Special Operations Command, said in reading from Wright’s award, according to WTOC-TV’s footage of the ceremony, “engaging a numerically superior hostile force, disrupting the enemy’s freedom of maneuver and eliminating several enemy fighters before succumbing to his wounds.”
Recently, the military posthumously awarded the Bronze Star to two of the other soldiers who were killed in Niger, Staff Sgt. Bryan Black, a Green Beret, and Sgt. 1st Class Jeremiah Johnson. Today, the Silver Star will be awarded to Sgt. La David Johnson during a ceremony in Miami.
Maj. Gen. John Deedrick, commanding general of 1st Special Forces Command, called Wright a hero at the ceremony in Georgia on Wednesday.
“All of us who served alongside Dustin will never forget his bravery and never forget his sacrifice,” Deedrick said. “But most importantly, we will never forget the true character of Dustin Wright. He was the epitome of a Green Beret.”
Relatives, friends and fellow troops rose to their feet and gazed at photos of Wright as the Ballad of the Green Berets and the Army Song were played. Moments later, Dustin Wright’s older brother, Will, rose to speak. The deaths of the U.S. troops in Niger, he said, “require a response from us as Americans.”
“The same way Dustin would give you a challenge, through love, I challenge every one of you as Americans, as patriots, to respond,” Will Wright said. “Love your country. Love these men. You may not serve in uniform, but you serve. Find that calling, live with that passion, until the last breath that you have got. And that is how you honor these men.”
The military suffered from widespread problems leading up to ambush in Niger, but “no single failure or deficiency was the sole reason” for the deaths of the U.S. troops, according to a report the Pentagon released last year.
Before American troops set out with the Nigerien troops on their ill-fated mission to capture a militant leader linked to the Islamic State, they did not conduct “pre-mission rehearsals or battle drills” with them. Additionally, commanders did not accurately characterize the mission, and the initial plan was not approved by the proper command level, according to the report, which also highlights a “contradictory and ambiguous” process for tracking military operations.
Dustin Wright’s father, Ardie, has said the troops were not adequately armed or supplied and that senior military leaders should be disciplined. At the award ceremony, he slowly exhaled before thanking the crowd and declaring, “This has been a rough time.”
“He was always fun, always happy — just the guy who lit up the room when he walked through the door,” he said about this son, calling him “my John Wayne.” At the end, continued Ardie Wright, “He gave all he had to try and win the day.”