By: NICOLAS FIERRO
Salina Post
A former St. John's Military School student has been approved to receive the U.S. Military's highest decoration for his bold and courageous efforts in combat.
Major, Nicholas "Nick" Dockery from Indianapolis, Indiana has been approved by the U.S. House and Senate to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor.
The bill, H.R. 7194 has been passed and will authorize President Donald Trump to award the Medal of Honor to Nicholas Dockery for acts of valor as a member of the Army while serving in Afghanistan.
Bob Yates, a former instructor at the Military school in Salina taught Dockery for a year. Dockery was a Sophomore when Yates taught him in 1998
“He was a good cadet and kept his stuff squared away,” Yates said. “He listened real well to instructions, and was one of the ones who never gets recognized by people from Salina,” Yates jokingly said due to a perception of St. John’s having “bad boys.”
In 2012, Dockery had been deployed to Afghanistan's Kapisa province as a platoon leader with the 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team.
According to Military Times, in Afghanistan Dockery's unit was ambushed by Taliban forces, while working closely with an Afghan platoon to provide security for the provincial governor's compound.
Reportedly, Dockery risked open ground to move back and forth multiple times as his troops engaged enemy forces.
Word came to him one U.S. Soldier, Staff Sgt. Eric Mitchell had been wounded, and Dockery immediately went to their defense killing one enemy soldier.
Moreover, Military times reported he gathered four soldiers inside the courtyard, Dockery worked to organize a counter-attack to clear the space, even as the enemy countered with heavy fire and called in reinforcements. At one point, he used his own body to shield another soldier from the blast of an enemy grenade. Every soldier in the group sustained wounds in the onslaught.
In a nearby alley, Dockery found a sergeant being dragged away, unconscious, by two Taliban fighters. He charged at the fighters and killed them both, then turned his attention to Hansbro, providing CPR and life-saving first aid.
As the fight continued, Dockery risked the open roof of the compound to signal with smoke grenades to the gunships that would ultimately lay down suppressive fire and save the men.