Two soldiers assigned to the 1st Special Forces Group were decorated Wednesday for their actions during a four-hour engagement with insurgents in June 2007 in the southern Iraqi city of Ad Diwaniyah.

Sgt. 1st Class Chad M. Kite, 27, and Staff Sgt. Chris L. Federmann, 32, were each awarded the Silver Star during a ceremony Wednesday morning at 1st Group headquarters at Fort Lewis.

Wednesday's awards followed a ceremony Monday in which a Fort Lewis MP, Sgt. Michael Espejo, received a Silver Star for killing a suicide bomber in Afghanistan before he could detonate his explosive vest.

Kite and Federmann are credited with fighting off numerous insurgent gunmen who attacked a combined U.S., coalition and Iraqi team that was trying to capture a suspected terrorist leader.

"These were multiple acts of selfless courage," said Lt. Gen. Robert Wagner, commander of the U.S. Army Special Operations Command, who attended the ceremony.

A USASOC press release issued a couple days after the June 3 raid said Iraqi troops killed four insurgents, and said coalition forces were along as advisers. It also said the Iraqis did not find the person they were looking for.

But 1st Group on Wednesday said it was Kite and Federmann who "heroically distinguished themselves by exceptionally valorous conduct amidst the bravery exhibited by all the soldiers participating in this battle."

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Curious about what will happen, disciplinary action-wise, to the Army employee who took a government laptop home and put some 900 soldiers at risk for identity theft when a prowler swiped it from his unlocked truck?

We asked. Fort Lewis' answer, per a post spokesman:

"Regarding the laptop computer, this incident has been informally investigated by the employee's civilian supervisory chain of command. The result of the investigation is being handled as an administrative personnel action. Because this is an administrative personnel action the information is not releasable."