Retired Sgt. Maj. Eric Geressy was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the nation’s second-highest award for valor, for heroic actions in Iraq in 2007.

In a March 18 Pentagon ceremony officiated by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Geressy addressed an audience packed with his former Army teammates, his family and friends. “What do you say with a room like this, full of all your people you respect the most?” he said. “… This has been going on forever, it seems like. This is very surreal.”

Geressy was awarded a Silver Star in September 2011 for his actions on Sept. 4, 2007, in Baghdad, where he took command of a combat outpost and thwarted a complex enemy attack. In upgrading his award to the Distinguished Service Cross, Hegseth, who fought with Geressy in Iraq, though not in this battle, said it was time to “recognize his actions of that day.”

Geressy was first sergeant of Eagle Company, 2nd Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, when on Sept. 3, 2007, he and his soldiers conducted a relief-in-place at a combat outpost in Al Hadar in southern Baghdad, according to the award citation. As the outgoing unit departed, Geressy immediately shored up the outpost’s defensive posture with sandbags, bulletproof glass and netting, and repositioned weapons systems.

On Sept. 4, with his company’s officers away, Geressy received orders to check on a suspected vehicle-borne IED. While his soldiers were outside the safety of the outpost, they came under enemy gunfire, prompting Geressy to deploy a quick-reaction force that extracted the soldiers and killed three enemy fighters, according to the citation.

Within 15 minutes, the outpost came under a complex attack led by up to 45 enemy fighters who simultaneously launched a massive volume of gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades from three different directions, the citation says.

Geressy immediately requested an air weapons team, then moved to the rooftop and “exposed himself to direct enemy fire by moving from guard tower to guard tower assessing the situation and inspiring his soldiers by calmly encouraging them to keep up the fire,” the citation says.

When one of his soldiers in a guard tower was shot, Geressy moved to his position to direct the medical evacuation and helped carry the soldier to safety, moving back to the roof where he continued directing fires at an increased volume until the company gained superiority, according to the citation.

During this time, the air weapons team arrived and, after providing them with a situation report, Geressy directed his soldiers to mark known enemy positions with M203 smoke. Acting as the on-scene commander, Geressy authorized the air weapons team to launch a Hellfire missile into the defensive position, crippling the enemy.

A subsequent lull gave Geressy a chance to ensure the quick-reaction force could evacuate his wounded soldier to a combat support hospital. As their vehicles exited the outpost, enemy gunfire increased, targeting the evacuation vehicles. Geressy authorized the air weapons team to launch additional Hellfire missiles and to conduct strafing runs with their 30 mm cannons, destroying the enemy’s remaining defensive position and breaking “the enemy’s will to continue to attack,” the citation reads.

Geressy’s citation notes that Eagle Company “killed 18 al Qaeda fighters with no additional wounded soldiers.”

He “heroically led his company in high intensity combat” while fulfilling the jobs of company commander, fire support officer and first sergeant, Geressy’s citation says. “On numerous occasions, he fearlessly exposed himself to direct enemy fire to instill confidence in his men, care for his wounded and to destroy the enemy.”