Lt. Gen. John Mulholland said Special Forces Soldiers receiving seven Silver Stars for valor in Afghanistan would probably say they were doing their job and just as soon skip the fanfare.

In most cases, Mulholland probably was right.

He is commander of U.S. Army Special Operations Command on Fort Bragg and awarded the medals.

Asked for their reaction after the ceremony to receiving the Army's third-highest valor award Monday, the typical reaction of Special Forces Soldiers was to shrug their shoulders.

Sgt. 1st Class Jonathan Clouse, 39, who calls Whispering Pines home, was one of six Soldiers who received the awards in the auditorium of the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School. One of the awards was posthumous.

Clouse, a Special Forces medic, received the award for his actions on June 26, 2008, in Herat Province. His citation said he rushed through enemy sniper and machine-gun fire to save the lives of wounded comrades.

"The real honor that I feel is the honor for having stood side by side and fought alongside some very great warriors," Clouse said. "Getting a Silver Star pales in comparison to the honor I feel at having served alongside those men. The honor was being there that day."

Former Marine Maj. Danny Strelkauskas, who was Clouse's team leader, came to the ceremony in civilian dress to talk about Clouse's actions on that day.

The team was ambushed and pinned down by snipers and machine guns, Strelkauskas said. Clouse was working as a liaison officer with the Marines, but the team medic was injured, and Clouse stepped back into his old role.

"He repeatedly rushed through the kill zone in order to render aid to some of the fallen Marines that were around him," Strelkauskas said. "In the process, he was shot in the back of his body armor where he had battery, and it ended up igniting and he was on fire."

Clouse put out the fire and ran back across the kill zone to help an injured Marine.

"He was pretty much directly responsible for establishing a casualty-collection point," Strelkauskas said, "and ensuring that the multiple wounded that we had were able to be extracted."

Clouse probably saved the lives of more than 14 people, Strelkauskas said.

Sgts. 1st Class Mark J. Roland and Antonio Gonzalez risked their lives under heavy enemy fire to save Afghan Soldiers on June 11, 2007, near Firebase Ripley.

Roland, 37, is from State College, Pa.; Gonzalez, 41, is from East Los Angeles.

Mulholland said during his remarks that U.S. Soldiers have a reputation among their allies for coming to the aid of comrades who need help.

Staff Sgt. Daniel Gould, 27, of South Jordan, Utah, and Sgt. 1st Class Mario Pinilla received the award for their actions on Aug. 20, 2008, in Oruzgun Province.

"I feel like all these guys," Gould said. "It's something you would never aspire to get. I'm pleased to get it, but at the time (I feel) a sense of unreservedness because so many other people do the exact same thing. They are doing it daily."

Pinilla was born in Colombia, where he lived until age 18. He said he felt happy to receive the award and be alive to receive it and be surrounded by his family and friends.

Spc. Rene Nunez, an 82nd Airborne Division Soldier, accepted the award for his brother, Sgt. 1st Class David Nunez. His brother received the award for actions in which he lost his life in Farah Province on May 29, 2008.

Master Sgt. Julio L. Bocanegra, 40, originally from Houston, said he had no reaction to receiving the award. He exposed himself to enemy fire to rescue wounded Afghan policemen on Aug. 26, 2008, when his convoy was ambushed on the way to Orgun-e.

"Like the general said, we were just doing our job," Bocanegra said. "There was no thought to it. We just had to do what we had to do to get people out of there. We wanted to keep it low-key.

"It's something that's positive for the unit, but most of us that got the awards, we didn't want all this," Bocanegra said. "We would have been fine with, 'Hey, here you go. Thank you.' "

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