There’s a great personal interest story out there about Brian Stann on Yahoo Sports.
It was written by Kevin Iole and really plumbs the depths of the WEC Fighter. For example, did you know that Brian Stann, who competes this weekend in the WEC, is a Silver Star winner? He also played football at Annapolis and he’s an Iraqi war vet. Here’s one of his experiences while he was in Iraq.
Stann, 26, was the 2nd Mobile Assault Platoon leader with Weapons Company in May 2005 when his unit came under heavy assault while trying to seize a bridge in Karabilah.
The military referred to it as a “360-degree fight” and reported that Stann’s unit faced over 30 rocket-propelled grenade attacks, multiple machine guns firing and detonating improvised explosive devices.
An IED had hit one of Stann’s tanks, trapping four Marines. Stann and Sgt. Luke Miller went into the tank to pull the men out and rush them through heavy enemy fire to safety.
For his actions, Stann received a Silver Star, the third-highest medal given by the military, for extraordinary heroism.
In presenting Stann with his award, Maj. Gen. Richard Huck said, “He has great strength of character and endurance, which was shown when everything happened over a week and he kept on going. It doesn’t even capture all that happened."