Scusa, Michael Patrick

Sergeant Michael Patrick Scusa deployed to Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom, the U.S.-led military campaign that began in October 2001. He was assigned to a remote combat outpost in the mountainous Nuristan Province, an area where insurgent activity had intensified significantly by 2009.

On the morning of October 3, 2009, his outpost, Combat Outpost Keating, came under a coordinated, mass assault by an estimated 300 Taliban fighters. The attack began before dawn with heavy machine gun, rocket-propelled grenade, and small arms fire from multiple elevated positions surrounding the base.

Scusa was among the American and Afghan National Army personnel defending the outpost during the ensuing hours-long battle. The fighting was close-quarters and intense, with insurgents breaching the perimeter wire. U.S. military reports state he was killed during the defense of the outpost.

The battle for COP Keating resulted in the deaths of eight U.S. soldiers and wounded more than two dozen others. It was one of the deadliest ground engagements for U.S. forces in Afghanistan up to that point. The outpost was largely destroyed and was officially closed shortly after the battle concluded.

Scusa was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star Medal with Valor for his actions during the battle. He was 22 years old at the time of his death, leaving behind a wife and a young son.

Operation Enduring Freedom, the U.S. combat mission in Afghanistan, concluded in December 2014. See the full roster of those killed in this conflict.

Among those documented in the same conflict: Andrews, Evander Earl, Edmunds, Jonn Joseph, Stonesifer, Kristofor Tif, Davis, Bryant Leroy.

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