The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Bronze Star Medal with Combat “V” to Staff Sergeant Jason S. Dempsey, United States Marine Corps, for heroic achievement in connection with combat operations against the enemy while serving as an Explosive Ordnance Technician Team Leader, 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, II Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward) from 26 November 2006 to 20 March 2007 in support of Operation IRAQI FREEDOM. While conducting route clearance in Ar Rutbah, Staff Sergeant Dempsey received accurate small arms and machine gun fire from an elevated position. Leading the counterattack, he directed the fires of his team to suppress the enemy positions, forcing the enemy personnel to egress and expose themselves to light armored vehicles and sniper fires, which resulted in five enemy destroyed in action. On 28 January 2007, while rendering two Improvised Explosive Devices safely, his team’s robot became inoperable. Unhesitatingly, he approached and disarmed the live Improvised Explosive Device. Unexpectedly, he discovered a remote detonated, anti-tampering secondary device within three feet of his position. Directing the Marines to take cover and with disregard for his own safety, he manually disabled the anti-tampering device. He contributed to the success of operations through 144 total missions, including the rendering safe of 19 Improvised Explosive Devices, 8 post-blast assessments, 13 direct action raids, and the reduction of 29 weapons caches consisting of 4,268 pieces of ordnance, 249 pounds of bulk explosives, 27 unexploded ordnance items, and 61 weapons. Staff Sergeant Dempsey’s zealous initiative, courageous actions, and exceptional dedication to duty reflected great credit upon himself and were in keeping with the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and of the United States Naval Service. (Staff Sergeant Dempsey is authorized to wear the Combat “V”.)