Sergeant First Class Ryan James Savard was born on February 27, 1983, in Salt Lake City, Utah. He grew up in an Army family; his father, Sergeant Major Garett Savard, served for many years, and Ryan was one of eight children. He spent part of his youth in Jefferson, New Hampshire, where the North Country community still claims him as one of its own, and he graduated in 2001 from Buena High School in Sierra Vista, Arizona.
Ryan entered the Army on August 29, 2001, only days before the September 11 attacks, as a helicopter repairer. After his initial training he was assigned to Company B, 7th Battalion, 159th Aviation Regiment in Giebelstadt, Germany, where he spent two years maintaining UH-60 Black Hawks and deployed to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
He then set his sights on Special Forces. He attended the U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School, earned his Green Beret and joined Company A, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne) at Fort Bragg as a weapons sergeant and later as a company assistant operations sergeant. In 2008 he moved to the Group Support Battalion of the 3rd Special Forces Group as a senior Special Forces weapons sergeant. He deployed to Afghanistan three times with the 3rd Group. In May 2010 he was selected as a Special Operations team member with U.S. Army Special Operations Command and deployed twice more in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
Ryan’s training record reads like a catalog of the Army’s most demanding schools: the Ranger Course, the Special Operations Target Interdiction Course, Military Free Fall, SERE High Risk Survival, French language training, the Special Forces Advanced Reconnaissance Target Exploitation Course and the Static Line Jumpmaster Course, among many others. His awards include two Bronze Star Medals, the Purple Heart, three Army Commendation Medals, the Joint Service Achievement Medal, three Army Achievement Medals, the NATO Medal, the Special Forces Tab, the Ranger Tab, the Combat Infantryman Badge, the Aviation Badge and the Military Free Fall Parachutist Badge.
In October 2012, Ryan was killed by enemy small-arms fire during combat operations in the Khanabad District of Kunduz Province, Afghanistan. According to the account shared with the Memorial Valor Foundation, his team came under fire as it arrived by helicopter, and Ryan moved toward the gunfire so his teammates could exit the aircraft safely. He was 29. He was posthumously awarded a third Bronze Star Medal, the Defense Meritorious Service Medal and a second Purple Heart.
After a private service at Fort Bragg, Ryan was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery on October 23, 2012. Flags across New Hampshire flew at half-staff that day by order of the governor. In a tribute entered into the Congressional Record, the Senate remembered him as an American hero who would be sorely missed. He is survived by his wife, his parents Garett and Marie Savard, his five sisters Rachel, Rebekah, Virginia, Karen and Mariah and his two brothers Jedidiah and Garrett. His teammates remember a Green Beret who put his brothers first.
Ryan was an extraordinary Green Beret who led from the front with courage, integrity and relentless devotion to his brothers in arms.
Special Operations Command Tribute
Sources
- ARSOF History: Sergeant First Class Ryan J. Savard
- Congressional Record, Senate, Nov. 26, 2012 (tribute to SFC Ryan James Savard)
- Military Times Honor the Fallen: Army Sgt. 1st Class Ryan J. Savard
- WMUR: Flags at half-staff for North Country soldier
- Arizona Daily Star (AP): Soldier from Sierra Vista killed in Afghanistan
- Family-provided records on file with MVF: Ryan Savard Bio.docx
