Medal of honor: Christopher celiz ‘filled every block as a ranger’

[Peter1469]

One of the few soldiers to serve in the Ranger Regiment who was not an infantry soldier.


MEDAL OF HONOR: CHRISTOPHER CELIZ ‘FILLED EVERY BLOCK AS A RANGER’

That was Christopher Celiz, good at everything he set his mind to, from mortars to heavy weapons to playing guitar to leading Rangers in secret CIA-led operations, even though he was not — unusually among Rangers — a traditional infantryman.

Thursday, Dec. 16, Celiz posthumously received the Medal of Honor for actions on one of those secret missions about a month after the mortar incident.

Perhaps the highest testament to Celiz’s position within the Rangers was the respect he held from his fellow Rangers, despite an unconventional route into the elite fighting unit. The path most soldiers follow into Ranger Regiment, and even more so to leadership positions within it, is generally a rigid line, from basic training to RASP (Ranger Assessment and Selection) to Ranger School and slowly through the junior positions of a Ranger platoon — rifleman, fire team leader, squad leader, platoon sergeant. Celiz joined the Army as a combat engineer, spending his first years at Fort Hood and Fort Stewart, far from the spartan lifestyle and intense training that most early-career Rangers endure.

But when he was assigned to the 1st Ranger Battalion in 2013, Celiz soon proved he belonged. He was the battalion master breacher and engineer and in 2017 was named the platoon sergeant for a mortar platoon. As he neared his fifth career deployment in 2018, he volunteered for the murky world of ANSOF, the secret Rangers teams attached to the CIA’s anti-insurgent campaign with Afghan forces.


Details on the ANSOF teams remain rare, but the Ranger who served with Celiz said the assignment accepted only top-tier, combat-experienced Rangers, chosen after a wide selection process.