Soldier With Oklahoma Ties Adds Silver Star To His List Of Medals

By Ashli Sims, News On 6

BROKEN ARROW, Oklahoma -- A Green Country military mom is especially proud of her soldier son. He's on his second tour of duty in Afghanistan, and now he's been honored for his bravery under fire with a Silver Star.

It's not his first medal.

For a mother with a son in a war zone, Lisa Wheat is pretty cool, calm and collected.

"I'm comfortable because I know the training he's had. He's had excellent training. And I just have all of the confidence in the world in him," Lisa Wheat said.

It seems the United States Secretary of Defense shares that confidence. When Secretary Robert Gates visited Afghanistan and awarded a set of Silver Stars, Wheat's son, Staff Sergeant Brent Schneider, was among them.

"Butterflies in my stomach, super-happy, and - just proud. And I couldn't even describe how I felt to know," Wheat said.

Staff Sergeant Schneider was in a firefight back in June. Stars and Stripes reported Schneider helped bandage a fellow soldier with a bullet in his chest, loaded a grenade launcher, and directed helicopters to the enemies - all under sniper-fire.

12/8/2010 Related Story: Soldier With Oklahoma Ties Awarded Silver Star In Afghanistan

"Makes me even more proud of him," his mother said. "He is the kind of American soldier that we all should be proud of."

Wheat says she and Schneider's wife, 4-year-old daughter and 1-year-old son are very proud.

And it's not the first time their hero has been recognized. He just received the Bronze Star in July, but all of the accolades haven't gone to his head.

"It was kinda like ‘no big,'" said Lisa Wheat, mother of a Broken Arrow soldier who was just awarded the Silver Star. "He's not a person to make a big deal out of anything. He was kinda like ‘let's keep this low key.'

"That's my son though. He's like ‘oh yeah.' Its just like another day at the office for him."