Bluffton native Chad Cupples, who served in Iraq with the 323rd Military Police Company, was awarded the Combat Action Badge in a ceremony on Aug. 5.  

The presentation in Rep. Jim Jordan’s office, Lima, was made as a result of Cupples’ involvement in an engagement on May 27, 2003. He took direct small arms fire from enemy combatants as well as indirect rocket and mortar fire on several occasions. 

Because Cupples had left the service when the medal was authorized, he did not receive the CAB with his team. He tried twice unsuccessfully to secure the CAB for himself. In August 2019, he connected with the congressman’s office, who helped him receive the award and arranged the CAB ceremony more than 17 years after the date of the attack. 

Cupples is supervisor of Campus Safety and Security at Rhodes State College/OSU Lima.

The Combat Action Badge (CAB) is a United States military award given to soldiers of the U.S. Army of any rank and who are not members of an infantry or special forces unit, for being "present and actively engaging or being engaged by the enemy, and performing satisfactorily in accordance with prescribed rules of engagement" at any point in time after Sept. 18, 2001.