The Battle of Shok Valley: SSG Ronald J. Shurer II

Welcome to the Medal of Honor podcast, brought to you in partnership with the National Medal of Honor Museum. I’m Ken Harbaugh. In each episode, we’ll learn about a different service member who has distinguished him or herself through an act of valor.

Ronald J. Shurer II was born on December 7th, 1978 in Fairbanks, Alaska. Both of his parents served in the U.S. Air Force, so Shurer moved around a bit during his childhood, spending time in Illinois, Idaho, and eventually Washington at McChord Air Force Base. In high school, he spent his time training and competing in triathlons.

After graduating, Shurer attended Washington State University and earned his bachelor’s in Business Economics. He enrolled in a master’s degree program at the school, but after the 9/11 terrorist attack, Shurer felt called to serve. In 2002, Shurer entered the U.S. Army, becoming a fourth-generation U.S. Military serviceman.

Shurer underwent medical training and special forces training, eventually becoming an Army Green Beret. With the special forces, he completed two 7-month deployments to Afghanistan in 2007 and 2008.

During his second deployment, then Staff Sergeant Shurer’s served in a unit under Combined Special Operations task force. On April 6th, 2008, his unit embarked on Operation Commando Wrath, a mission to capture or kill high-value targets in Shok Valley. The operation would later be named The Battle of Shok Valley.

Shurer’s unit was transported and inserted by helicopters, and began traversing the rocky terrain of a near-vertical mountain towards their objective. As they made their way up, they suddenly came under RPG, machine gun, sniper, and small arms fire from 200 enemies, inflicting multiple casualties and pinning them down. Shurer later said “We don't go out on a mission where we don't expect to meet some resistance, but this was unlike anything we'd ever faced before.” Distant and isolated from any potential reinforcements, the task force would have to fend for themselves.

As the team’s only medic, Shurer immediately sprung into action, braving heavy enemy fire to reach and treat a nearby wounded soldier. He then received word that his forward element had also sustained several casualties and was pinned down. Still under fire, Shurer maneuvered up the mountain in an attempt to reach them. Along the way, an RPG blast sent shrapnel towards one of his allies, wounding the soldier’s neck. Shurer stopped to treat his comrade, and then spent the next hour fighting and killing multiple enemies in order to reach the forward element, which was several hundred meters away. When he finally reached them, Shurer quickly got to work, providing aid to 10 injured Afghan commandos and four critically wounded U.S. Soldiers.

After the rest of his unit caught up with him, Shurer saw that the team sergeant had been severely wounded 15 meters away. He left his cover and began dashing to his ally. As he ran through a hail of bullets, his arm was wounded and a sniper shot him in the helmet . Shurer later said “It felt like I’d been hit in the head with a baseball bat”. Shurer continued on, reaching his wounded ally and dragging him to cover where he rendered care. Braving enemy fire yet again, Shurer moved to another wounded comrade whose leg was almost severed, and began administering aid.

When a helicopter arrived to evacuate the wounded, Shurer moved back down to the base of the mountain and began lowering injured teammates off a near vertical 60 foot cliff in order to reach safety. He said “We used tubular nylon webbing to kind of wrap it around the guy's shoulders and lower them down to the next group. We did it as carefully as we could, to not cause further injury. And then, we just kind of repeated that process down the hill.” As he guided their descent, airstrikes rocked the mountain, knocking loose debris that threatened the safety of the evacuees. While simultaneously avoiding enemy fire, Shurer used his own body to shield his allies from the debris, protecting them as they evacuated.

Once that was complete, Shurer moved back up the mountain to rejoin the fight. For five and a half more hours, Shurer continued to provide aid while simultaneously keeping enemies at bay. When a helicopter finally arrived for extraction, Shurer and the remaining team members moved to the LZ and successfully evacuated the mountain.

On October 1st, 2018, Ronald J. Shurer II was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions in Shok Valley. Thanks to Shurer’s incredible bravery over more than six hours, not a single American died in the battle.

Shurer went on to work for the Secret Service, first as an investigator stationed in Phoenix, Arizona, and later as a member of the Counter Assault Team in Washington DC.

The Medal of Honor podcast is a production of Evergreen Podcasts.

Nathan Corson is our executive producer and mixing engineer, Declan Rohrs is our associate producer, scriptwriter, and recording engineer, and I’m Ken Harbaugh.

We are proud to support the National Medal of Honor Museum. To learn more, and to support their mission, go to mohmuseum.org. Thanks for listening.