It may have just been a training exercise. But an M57 grenade can't make that distinction, so Staff Sgt. Kenneth Kam had to act to counter a mortal threat.
Kam received the U.S. Army Soldier's Medal
on April 9 for pulling a fellow soldier out of danger when a live grenade landed at their feet at a range at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.
He was As the trainer supervisinged a young military police trainee last June when she tried to lob the grenade over one of three walls around the pit, which stand a bit more than five feet tall. But she didn't give it enough arc to clear, so it came up short and bounced right back into the pit.
Kam's first thought was, "Crap, got to get out of the pit."
"There was pretty much no time to think about it. You just want to get away from it," Kam told Army Times.
With the clock ticking on the grenade's three- to five-second fuse, Kam acted quickly. He yanked the soldier out of the pit over a shorter rear wall about 18 inches tall, put her on the ground, and shielded dove on top of her just before the grenade detonated. The soldier was a bit shaken, Kam said, but neither of them were injured.
Brig. Gen. Kent Savre, commanding general at Fort Leonard Wood, praised Kam's quick reaction and training.
"He didn't even have to think about it. He knew what to do. He didn't hesitate," Savre said in an Army press release.
The twice-deployed Kam said trainers such as himself prepared for that exact scenario, one that has happened before.
"It's OK if I get injured," Kam said. "But a brand new kid coming into the Army doesn't really know better. His or her instincts aren't as sharp, and they haven't been tested in those types of situations yet. That's why it is our job to take care of them – even if it means putting our own life at risk."
Kam didn't initially want a ceremony, but he said he understood his commander's point: It's not just about him.
"The Soldier's Medal, to me, is the most honorable medal you can receive in peacetime for a valorous act, and you don't see them very often," Savre said at the ceremony, according to the release. "It (the ceremony) is not just for him. It's for you. It's for Fort Leonard Wood. It's for our Army to see that Soldiers and noncommissioned officers do the right thing when the time comes."
"He didn't say anything, just 'Dad, can you be here?' " Wallace Kam said in the release. "I'm very proud of him."
