Hometown: Chevy Chase, MD
Branch: U.S. Army 
Unit: 1st Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne) “Green Beret”
Military Honors: Silver Star, Bronze Star, Army Achievement Medal, Purple Heart
Date of Sacrifice: May 15, 2004 - KIA in Kajaki, Afghanistan
Age: 37
Conflict: War in Afghanistan, 2001-2021

Bruce Price grew up very familiar with military life, moving frequently with the Army assignments of his military physician father, Colonel Herman Price. Bruce’s connection to the military began on September 11, 1966, when he was born at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington D.C.

Herman and Madalin (Trigg) Price, along with Bruce and his two older sisters relocated frequently, including stints in El Paso, Texas, San Rafael, California, and Chevy Chase, Maryland, where Bruce graduated from Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School in 1985 and enlisted in the United States Army a year later.

Price’s overseas tours included Kuwait and Germany—where he met his wife, Renate. Returning to the United States, they settled in Fayetteville, North Carolina, home to Fort Bragg. There the couple welcomed a son, Aiden.

In 1992, Price volunteered for the Special Forces, graduating from the Special Forces Qualification Course at Force Bragg and earning the right to wear the Green Beret of the country’s elite forces. Price served as a Weapons Sergeant and in 1998 graduated from Warrant Officer Candidate School in Fort Rucker, Alabama, then completed the Special Forces Warrant Officer Basic Course at Fort Bragg. He was assigned to the 3rd Special Forces Group based at Fort Bragg. Besides being a Green Beret, Price was an Army jumpmaster and Army Ranger.

Beginning in 2002, Price’s unit deployed to Afghanistan three times as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. By his third deployment, as Chief Warrant Officer, Price was assigned as Assistant Detachment Commander in the 1st Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group.

Price’s mother, Madalin, told the Washington Post that her son devoted himself to understanding and protecting the Afghan people, even reading the Koran cover to cover on one of his tours. “He viewed them as people, not as enemies,” she said. “That was what he prided himself on more than anything: treating everyone as a human being. Even though he was a soldier, a Green Beret, he felt like, ‘They’re people like I am.’”

On May 15, 2004, Price was on a combat patrol in Kajaki, southern Afghanistan, when his unit was ambushed by enemy insurgents with small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades. His actions on that day earned him the Silver Star Medal. The citation reads, in part:

Chief Warrant Officer 2 Bruce E. Price distinguished himself by gallantry in action and extreme heroism above and beyond the call of duty as the assistant detachment commander for Operational Detachment Alpha 313 (ODA-313), Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force-Afghanistan in support of Operation ENDURING FREEDOM during an armed reconnaissance mission near Musa Qalay, Afghanistan on 15 May 2004.

On this date, Chief Warrant Officer Two Price and his detachment were part of a combined patrol consisting of U.S. Special Forces and soldiers from the 1st Kandak, 3d Brigade of the Afghan National Army. The purpose of the mission was to disrupt anti-coalition militia (ACM) activity in this known enemy sanctuary. Chief Warrant Officer Two Price commanded the lead vehicle in a convoy composed of two ground mobility vehicles (GMV) and two non-tactical vehicles.

While moving through a small, restricted village, the patrol was ambushed at extremely close range from multiple prepared positions. Chief Warrant Officer Two Prices’ GMV was immediately struck head-on by two rocket-propelled grenades (RPG) and machine gun fire, disabling the vehicle. Within seconds of the ambush, all personnel in Chief Warrant Officer Two Price’s vehicle were wounded or unable to return fire. The determined enemy swept the vehicle with repeated volleys of machine gun and RPG fire.

Chief Warrant Officer Two Price immediately rallied his men and tried to gain fire superiority in order to break the enemy attack. He quickly realized that the enemy force was concentrating its fire on the lead and trail vehicles of the patrol in an effort to trap the friendly forces inside a prepared kill zone.

With his vehicle in flames and under a mounting volume of fire, Chief Warrant Officer Two Price gave the order to dismount and seek cover. Chief Warrant Officer Two Price then exited the vehicle and without hesitation began engaging [the] enemy directly to his front from the exposed door machine gun position on his vehicle. The ACM force immediately began concentrating its fire on Chief Warrant Officer Two Price.

With total disregard for his own life, [he] continued to man the machine gun until he was mortally wounded by small arms fire. Chief Warrant Officer Two Price’s courageous efforts to destroy the enemy enabled his teammates to reach cover and continue to fight. His valorous leadership and spirited actions served as the call to action, which inspired the entire patrol to drive the entrenched enemy from the field.

Chief Warrant Officer Two Price’s conspicuous personal heroism, extraordinary valor and selfless courage saved a number of his detachment members from certain injury and possible death at the cost of his life. The gallantry in action and absolute bravery in the line of fire by Chief Warrant Officer 2 Bruce E. Price reflect great credit upon himself, the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force-Afghanistan and the United States Army.

At the age of 37, after a 17-year career serving the nation, CWO3 Bruce E. Price gave “the last full measure of devotion” to his country. He was laid to rest with full military honors on May 25, 2004, at Arlington National Cemetery (Section 60, Site 7982)—across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C.

Sources
Artist’s rendering by Craig Du Mez, from an original photo
Arlington National Cemetery: Bruce E. Price – Chief Warrant Officer, United States Army
Green Beret Foundation: Bruce E. Price
U.S. Army Special Operations History Office: CW3 Bruce E. Price
The Washington Post, May 19, 2004: Green Beret ‘Loved His Job,’ Father Says
The Baltimore Sun, May 19, 2004: Former Md. man is killed in rebel attack in Afghanistan
Military Times—The Hall of Valor: Bruce E. Price
Military Times—Honor the Fallen: Army Chief Warrant Officer 3 Bruce E. Price
Daytona Beach News-Journal, Nov. 13, 2014, via Legacy.com: Madalin Olivia Trigg Price
Burial Site: Find a Grave