"US Soldier Honored with Highest Peacetime Award for Heroic Defense of Woman"

US soldier, Spc. Rene Rodriguez, stationed in Hawaii, will receive the Soldier's Medal, the Army's highest-level peacetime award, for his heroic actions in saving a woman from a violent assault. Rodriguez intervened when he saw a man attacking the woman, positioning himself between them and enduring multiple strikes to protect her. Despite thinking he had convinced the attacker to leave, the man returned and continued the assault. Rodriguez fought him off again and locked the woman in his car until the police arrived. The woman, who was in shock, later contacted Rodriguez to express her gratitude.