President to Award Medal of Honor to Retired Army Captain

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 Groberg 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.