Trump awards medal soldier for heroic action in Afghanistan

WASHINGTON (AP) — A former Army medic who received the nation's highest military honor Monday for braving heavy gunfire to save lives in Afghanistan was rejected by the military the first time he tried to enlist.

"Boy that was a bad mistake. But they made up for it, right," President Donald Trump said in a formal White House ceremony where 250 people gathered to laud former Staff Sgt. Ronald Shurer II for his heroic actions in 2008 in a remote part of Afghanistan.

Shurer, a native of Fairbanks, Alaska, was a senior medical sergeant in the special forces on April 6, 2008 when his team encountered machine gun and sniper fire and rocket-propelled grenades from militants.