WASHINGTON (October 15, 2015) — In a Nov. 12 White House ceremony,
President Barack Obama will present the nation’s highest honor for
conspicuous battlefield gallantry to a retired Army captain for tackling
a suicide bomber in Afghanistan’s Kunar province three years ago.
Retired Capt. Florent A. “Flo”
Groberg will receive the Medal of Honor for his courageous actions while
serving as a personal security detachment commander for Task Force
Mountain Warrior, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry
Division, during combat operations in the provincial capital of Asadabad
on Aug. 8, 2012.
Groberg will be the 10th living recipient to be awarded the Medal of Honor for actions in Afghanistan.
Personal Background
Born May 8, 1983, in Poissy,
France, Groberg became a naturalized U.S. citizen Feb. 27, 2001. He
graduated from Walter Johnson High School in Bethesda, Maryland, in June
2001. In May 2006, he graduated from the University of Maryland,
College Park, with a bachelor’s degree in criminology and criminal
justice.
Groberg entered the Army in July
2008 and attended Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning, Georgia. He
received his commission as an infantry officer on Dec. 4, 2008. After
completing the Infantry Officer Basic Course, the Mechanized Leaders
Course and the U.S. Army Airborne and U.S. Army Ranger schools, he was
assigned to the 4th Infantry Division at Fort Carson, Colorado, as a
platoon leader.
He deployed to Kunar province in
November 2009 and again in February 2012. Between deployments, he served
as a platoon leader, infantry company executive officer and a brigade
personal security detachment commander at Fort Carson.
Injured during his August 2012 combat engagement, Groberg spent
his recovery at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in
Bethesda, Maryland, until May of this year, and he was medically retired
from Company B Warriors, Warrior Transition Battalion, July 23.