Something That Didn't Make The News

[Tgace]

The Soldiers You Never Hear About

They’re not all prisoner-abusers, you know.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This article appears in the June 14, 2004, issue of National Review.

Ask Americans to name some of our soldiers in Iraq and chances are they'll readily identify Lynndie England, Charles Graner Jr., Jeremy Sivits, and Ivan "Chip" Frederick II. The three major networks have run over 200 stories on the detainee-abuse scandal, making the seven disgraced soldiers assigned to Abu Ghraib the most recognizable faces of American service in Iraq. The media's line of attack against the war is revealed in its selective coverage of our soldiers: All villains and victims, no valor. Not one of the heroes decorated for bravery in Iraq has received a minute of coverage from ABC, CBS, or NBC. National newspapers have run hundreds of stories on the scandalous service of the Abu Ghraib seven, but have made no mention of another seven whose stories of service could be recounted with Steven Seagal cast in the lead.


In early May, Marine Captain Brian Chontosh, Marine Lance Corporal Joseph Perez, and Marine Sergeant Marco Martinez were awarded Navy Crosses for extraordinary heroism, an award second only to the Medal of Honor. Army Sergeant Gerald Wolford, Army Sergeant Major Michael Stack, Marine Staff Sergeant Adam Sikes, and Marine Corporal Armand McCormick — and 123 others — have been awarded Silver Stars for outstanding valor in combat. The stories of these courageous men represent the dedication of the tens of thousands of soldiers serving bravely and honorably in Iraq far better than the actions of a derelict nightshift in two isolated cell blocks.

On March 25, 2003, then-Lieutenant Brian R. Chontosh, 29, of Rochester, N.Y., was leading his platoon on Highway 1 south of Baghdad when his troops came under a coordinated ambush of mortars, rocket-propelled grenades, and automatic-weapons fire. With the road ahead blocked, Chontosh realized his men were caught in a kill zone. He ordered his driver to advance directly into the enemy trench. Chontosh leapt from his vehicle and began firing with his rifle and pistol. But his ammunition ran out. "With complete disregard for his safety," according to the citation, "he twice picked up discarded enemy rifles and continued his ferocious attack.... When his audacious attack ended, he had cleared over 200 meters of the enemy trench, killing more than 20 enemy soldiers and wounding several others."

After being awarded the Navy Cross, Captain Chontosh said, "I was just doing my job, I did the same thing every other Marine would have done, it was just a passion and love for my Marines." Two of those Marines — Corporals Armand E. McCormick, 22, and Robert P. Kerman, 21 — received Silver Stars, the service's third-highest award, for their "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity" in pressing the assault forward in that trench. Two days after the award ceremony at Camp Pendleton, McCormick redeployed to Iraq.

During the First Marine Expeditionary Force's advance to Baghdad, Lance Corporal Joseph B. Perez's platoon came under intense fire. As point man for the lead squad he was its most exposed member. Perez, 23, returned fire continuously while also directing accurate fire from his squad. He led a charge into a trench, killed the enemy combatants there, and, under "tremendous" fire, threw a grenade into another trench. Perez continued shooting with "precision rifle fire" and despite serious gunshot wounds directed his squad to take cover and reorganize, enabling them to defeat the enemy.

Then-Corporal Marco A. Martinez, 22, was coming to the aid of an ambushed platoon during the battle of Al Tarmiya on April 12, 2003, when his squad leader was wounded and he took command of the assault along the Tigris River. With his squad under fire from a nearby building, and "enduring intense enemy fire and without regard for his own personal safety," he launched a captured rocket-propelled grenade into the building, allowing a wounded Marine to be evacuated. Martinez then single-handedly assaulted the building and killed four enemy soldiers with a grenade and his rifle. "I just wanted to take care of my squad. I didn't want to quit on them," he later explained.

In the same battle, Staff Sergeant Adam R. Sikes, 27 — who had cancelled plans to attend Georgetown University "so he wouldn't miss the war in Iraq" — was pinned down when the ambush struck but rallied two of his squads to counterattack. "With the squads in position, Staff Sergeant Sikes charged alone across 70 meters of fire-swept ground to close on the first enemy strongpoint, which he cleared with a grenade and rifle fire." Sikes then moved to the top of a three-story building and, exposed to enemy fire, directed mortar rounds onto enemy positions. Finally, he moved to a squad that had taken casualties and managed their evacuation — again under fire. "So many people are pouring their hearts out over there, trying to make things right," Sikes said at the award ceremony.

Staff Sergeant Gerald A. Wolford of the 82nd Airborne Division received the Silver Star for his actions during a four-hour battle to secure three river crossings in As Samawah. Wolford placed his heavy-machine-gun vehicle between the enemy and the dismounted infantrymen accompanying him. When the vehicle was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade, he ordered his crew to pull out while he remained to direct fire on the enemy position. "For the remainder of the fight, SSG Wolford continually exposed himself to enemy fire as he made efforts to aid others to withdraw."

Sergeant Major Michael B. Stack's Special Forces team came under fire on April 11 when they were traveling from Baghdad to Al Hillah. Providing rear security for the convoy, Stack, 48, immediately began to fire so others could escape from the kill zone. He led a security force to eliminate the remaining threat and allow for the evacuation of casualties, and then prepared for a counterattack. But the enemy concentrated fire on his vehicle and an explosion killed him instantly. The South Carolina father of six — and grandfather of three — was awarded the Silver Star posthumously. "We're doing the right thing," Stack had told his older brother, retired from the Army.

The death of Corporal Pat Tillman (who had left the National Football League) received plenty of press coverage, but the courage and self-sacrifice that merited his posthumous Silver Star was little reported. Tillman was a team leader in an Army Ranger platoon that was ambushed in southeastern Afghanistan. He and his team members were safely out of the area of attack when the tail section of their convoy became pinned down in rough terrain. Tillman ordered his team to dismount and take the fight up a hill toward enemy forces; it was there that he was killed. Once his team had engaged the enemy, fire directed at the convoy's tail section diminished and those soldiers escaped the ambush with no casualties.

Tillman's unit commander, Lieutenant David Uthlaut, was seriously wounded in that attack. Uthlaut was First Captain of the Corps of Cadets for his West Point class of 2001; Rhodes Scholarship material, he chose to serve in Iraq. Twelve West Point graduates have been killed to date in Iraq.

More than 3,700 Purple Hearts have been awarded to our troops in Iraq. Private First Class Quintin D. Graves, 19, joined the Marine Corps last July, and now wears two Purple Hearts. Calling his mother for the second time in less than a month, "I tried to explain it wasn't that bad," he said. "I couldn't lie and say I'm not around the fighting. That lie doesn't work anymore." Marine Corporal Thomas W. Kuster, a 28-year-old from California, has three Purple Hearts. Last year he was wounded in Baghdad. "They got me once," he explained. "I figured they weren't getting me again." But they did — during street fighting in April, and then at a checkpoint outside Fallujah. A bullet was removed from the back of his knee and he walks with a limp, but he's back on duty. "My parents begged me to come home," Kuster said. "But, I felt like if I was to go, I'd be turning my back on my Marines."

The only American name most people recognize from the fierce three-day battle at Mazar-e-Sharif is that of John Walker Lindh, the Taliban kid from Marin County. While Lindh was disgracing himself, Army Special Forces Major Mark Mitchell was earning the first Distinguished Service Cross awarded since the Vietnam War. Vastly outnumbered, Mitchell led 15 Special Forces troops and allied fighters to rescue a CIA agent, recover Johnny "Mike" Spann's body, and prevent a Taliban takeover of the fortress. During the fighting, Mitchell used the unwound turban of an allied soldier to scale a 35-foot-high wall of the compound and then directed air strikes from his exposed position. CIA director George Tenet attended the ceremony last November recognizing Mitchell for "extraordinary heroism in action."

The Ranger Creed that inspired the bravery of Pat Tillman reads, in part: "Surrender is not a Ranger word. I will never leave a fallen comrade to fall into the hands of the enemy and under no circumstances will I ever embarrass my country." It's too bad the media will under no circumstances tell the remarkable stories of these and other soldiers and Marines, who bring great credit to themselves, their services, and their country.

 

[Tgace]

Special Forces soldier awarded Silver Star for heroism in Afghanistan
By Sgt. Kyle J. Cosner
U.S. Army Special Operations Command

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. – A 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne) soldier here received the Army’s third highest valor award during a ceremony here Thursday for his actions in a January 2002 raid on a suspected al Qaeda stronghold in Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom.
Master Sgt. Anthony S. Pryor, a team sergeant with Company A, 1st Battalion, 5th SFG (Abn.), received the Silver Star Medal for his gallantry in combat during the raid when he single-handedly eliminated four enemy soldiers, including one in unarmed combat, all while under intense automatic weapons fire and with a crippling injury.
“Receiving this award is overwhelming, but … this isn’t a story about one guy,” Pryor said of the events that led to his Silver Star. “It’s a story about the whole company instead of an award on the chest. If the guys hadn’t done what they were supposed to do, (the mission) would’ve been a huge failure.”
“I just did what I had to do,” he said, recalling his hand-to-hand struggle against the suspected terrorists. “It wasn’t a heroic act – it was second-nature. I won, and I moved forward.”
During the ceremony, Maj. Gen. Geoffrey C. Lambert, commanding general of the U.S. Army Special Forces Command (Abn.) said that Pryor was a perfect example of the Special Forces mentality.
“About a year ago … I said to Tony, ‘what did you think when that fellow knocked your night-vision goggles off, pulled your arm out of its socket and was twisting it, all while you were fighting with your other hand?’” Lambert said. “And (Pryor) said, ‘it’s show time.’ He must have meant what he said, because he earned that Silver Star. Think about a cold, black night; think about fighting four guys at the same time, and somebody jumps on your back and starts beating you with a board. Think about the problems you’d have to solve — and he did.”
“This is the singular hand-to-hand combat story that I have heard from this war,” Lambert added. “When it came time to play, he played, and he did it right.”
On Jan. 23, 2002, Pryor’s company received an order from the U.S. Central Command to conduct their fourth combat mission of the war - a sensitive site exploitation of two compounds suspected of harboring Taliban and al Qaeda terrorists in the mountains of Afghanistan.
Because of the presence of women and children within the compounds, Pryor said aerial bombardment was not considered an option. Once on the ground there, the company was to search for key leadership, communications equipment, maps and other intelligence.
Sgt. 1st Class Scott Neil was one of the team members there with Pryor that night at the second compound. A Special Forces weapons sergeant, he fought on Pryor’s team as a cell leader and found himself momentarily pinned down by the sudden hail of bullets after the team’s position was compromised.
“After the initial burst of automatic weapons fire, we returned fire in the breezeway,” Neil said. “It was a mental spur – after we heard the words ‘let’s go,’ everything just kind of kicked in.”
Moments later, though, the team became separated in the confusion, but with the situation desperate for the Special Forces soldiers against a determined and larger-than-expected enemy, Pryor and one of his teammates kept moving forward, room to room. They began to enter a room together, but another enemy soldier outside the room distracted the team member, so he stayed outside to return fire.
Pryor first encountered an enemy that was charging out of the room and assisted in eliminating him. Then, without hesitation, Pryor moved ahead into the room and found himself alone with three more enemy soldiers.
According to Pryor, the next two enemies he saw were firing their weapons out of the back of the room at his men that were still outside the compound.
“I went in, and there were some windows that they were trying to get their guns out of to shoot at our guys that hadn’t caught up yet,” he said. “So I went from left to right, indexed down and shot those guys up. I realized that I was well into halfway through my magazine, so I started to change magazines. Then I felt something behind me, and thought it was (one of my teammates) — that’s when things started going downhill.”
Pryor said it was an enemy soldier, a larger-than-normal Afghan, who had snuck up on him.
“There was a guy back behind me, and he whopped me on the shoulder with something, and crumpled me down.”
Pryor would later learn that he had sustained a broken clavicle and a dislocated shoulder during the attack.
“Then he jumped up on my back, broke my night-vision goggles off and starting getting his fingers in my eyeballs. I pulled him over, and when I hit down on the ground, it popped my shoulder back in.”
Pryor said that after he stood up, he was face to face with his attacker. Pryor eliminated the man during their hand-to-hand struggle.
Pryor had now put down all four enemies, but the fight wasn’t over yet.
“I was trying to feel around in the dark for my night-vision goggles, and that’s when the guys I’d already killed decided that they weren’t dead yet.”
Pryor said that it was then a race to see who could get their weapons up first, and the enemy soldiers lost. He then left the room and rejoined the firefight outside. When the battle ended, 21 enemy soldiers had been killed. There were no American causalities, and Pryor had been the only soldier injured.
The announcement of the award and the circumstances around it has shifted an intense public focus onto Pryor, who has used every opportunity to shift that focus away from himself and onto the soldiers of his team for their own efforts in the successful raid.
“Tony is getting a Silver Star because he entered a room by himself, and he engaged the enemy by himself,” said Sgt. 1st Class James Hogg, a Special Forces medical sergeant on Pryor’s team. “He elevated his pure soldier instinct and went to the next level, and that’s what this award is recognizing. He didn’t stop after his initial battle, and continued to lead.”
Leading his soldiers, despite his injuries, is something Neil said that Pryor couldn’t seem to stop doing.
“As soon as he left that room, he came running up to me and wanted to know if everybody was okay,” Neil said, describing Pryor after he had emerged from his four-on-one fight. “He never mentioned anything about what went on … and during the whole objective and as the firefight continued, he never stopped. He was always mission-first, and that’s what his Silver Star is all about.”
Pryor is the third Special Forces soldier to receive the Silver Star Medal for actions during Operation Enduring Freedom. The other two, Master Sgt. Jefferson Davis and Sgt. 1st Class Daniel Petithory, also of the 5th SFG (Abn.), received theirs posthumously.
- 30 -
[Sgt. Kyle J. Cosner is assigned to the U.S. Army Special Operations Command Public Affairs Office at Fort Bragg, N.C.]

 

[Tgace]

And some knucklehead (and if you listened to that knucklehead you knew he was a knucklehead) who abuses prisoners gets HIS face on all the major networks...
:idunno:

 

[PeachMonkey]

And some knucklehead (and if you listened to that knucklehead you knew he was a knucklehead) who abuses prisoners gets HIS face on all the major networks...

As much as we may all want the media to simply become echoing mouthpieces for the administration and the military (more so than they were during the runup and invasion of Iraq, even), common sense tells us that it's not really groundbreaking news that the United States has a long tradition of valor and courage in its armed forces running all the way back to the colonial period.

Abuse and torture of prisoners, however, is very much a violation of everything that we've always claimed to hold dear, and as such, qualifies as news that people need to be informed of, desperately -- particularly since such abuse was clearly developed as policy at the highest levels.

 

[Tgace]

Lets see those photos from Abu Graib one more time...I dont think everybody in the country has seen them at least 10 times yet. We can just forget stories like this, nobody is interested in them.

Two Receive Soldiers Medal for Lifesaving Heroism
By Coalition Press Information Center, Baghdad, Iraq
American Forces Press Service

ASAD, Iraq, Dec. 23, 2004 -- Instant decisions and decisive action led to two soldiers receiving the Soldiers Medal here Dec. 18 for heroism in a fight to save the lives of four Cobra AH-1 attack helicopter pilots March 29.

Staff Sgt. Spencer A. Howell and crew chief Spc. Eric S. Burns of the 507th Air Ambulance Company each received the Soldiers Medal from Marine Maj. Gen. Keith J. Stalder, commander of the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing. The Soldiers Medal is the highest award given for noncombat heroism.

The events leading to the soldiers' receiving the medals would have tested the strength and reaction times of any well rested soldier, but the two had just returned from Al Taqaddum Air Base on an urgent medical evacuation mission.

After hearing a loud noise and seeing a flash of light, the duo realized two helicopters had collided. Without hesitation, Burns reported the collision and raced along with Howell to the crash site.

Howell explained the scene as he saw it. "While the rescue was taking place from first sight, both aircraft looked completely destroyed and pieces of the airframe were scattered everywhere," he said. Quinn's report described one helicopter on its side, and said the pilots could be seen trying to exit.

The other helicopter was situated upside down with the pilots still trapped inside, and the engines of the second helicopter were still running, on fire, and with electrical power still applied to the armed missiles, rockets and 20 mm onboard ammunitions. Both men began to extract the pilots from the second helicopter after Burns had quickly helped the two pilots escape from the first.

The canopy was still intact and restricting access to the cockpit, Quinn said. Both pilots were trapped as the flames continued to build. If the scene was not chaotic enough, a C-130 Hercules transport plane landed on the runway just feet from the scene, and the wingtip passed within feet of the burning wreckage, causing huge vortices that fanned the fire.

Firefighters arrived within moments of the collision and began spraying down the wreckage, which tended to push the flames toward the pilots. The flames were channeled up and over the aircraft, singeing the rescuers' hair, but the two remained steadfast.

This wasn't the final challenge Howell and Burns had to face. The pilot in the rear station was a large man, and all his weight was directly against the shoulder harnesses, making the release mechanism unusable. Howell, knowing time was precious, broke open the canopy and cut the jammed harnesses off the pilot with a survival knife.

Howell carried the pilot from the burning wreckage, then returned to help Burns, who was working to release an unconscious front-seat pilot as water, foam and flames encroached on them.

Burns removed all harnesses, but couldn't remove the pilot, whose foot was stuck in the wreckage. When Howell returned to help Burns, he lifted the pilot's weight and Burns reached into the twisted wreckage of the cockpit. With surgical skill, he cut the pilot's boot off.

After both pilots were released and carried to safety, Howell rendered medical aid to all four pilots and accompanied them to the battalion aid station. News of the soldiers' heroic efforts and successful rescue spread worldwide.

Burns was named the Dustoff Association's crew chief of the year. The Dustoff Association is a nonprofit organization for Army Medical Department personnel involved in aviation evacuation programs in war or peace.

Although Burns has had training in medical evacuation, he attributes knowing what to do in emergencies such as the one which saved the pilots' lives as "70 percent learned on the job."

"I was totally focused on saving the pilots, because they would have done the same if the roles were reversed," Burns said. He said he was just doing his job, and that anyone else in the 507th would have done the same.

Burns is from Arnold, Mo., and graduated from Fox High School there. Howell is originally from the Island of St. Kitts & Nevis in the Caribbean. His family relocated to Pontiac, Mich., where he graduated from Pontiac Central High School. Both are active duty soldiers in the 507th Medical Company (Air Ambulance), Fort Hood, Texas.

 

[Tgace]

Oh yes its "common sense tells us that it's not really groundbreaking news that the United States has a long tradition of valor and courage in its armed forces running all the way back to the colonial period." Nobody is trying to paint a picture of our servicemen as blood thirsty abusers who shoot unarmed injured Iraqis, or systamtic torturers, Invaders etc. etc. etc. Those are "isolated incidents" and most of our troops are brave and honorable people right?

 

[PeachMonkey]

Nobody is trying to paint a picture of our servicemen as blood thirsty abusers who shoot unarmed injured Iraqis, or systamtic torturers, Invaders etc. etc. etc. Those are "isolated incidents" and most of our troops are brave and honorable people right?

Yep, most of our troops are brave and honorable. On the news, I see stories every day about soldiers that have nothing to do with Abu Ghraib. The only people I see trying to paint US servicemen as "blood thirsty abusers" are insurgents.

There are incidents where US soldiers commit atrocities, and it's important that those events are documented clearly and punished, and that if responsibility for these acts leads up the chain of command, it be taken. Would you disagree? Perhaps we should try to hide the acts of these people?

 

[Tgace]

Every car bomb that goes off is "news" but did anybody hear about this guy....just "routine" heroism I guess....

From contemporary press reports:
September 13, 2002:

There have been times in this country when the armed services dead numbered in the hundreds and sometimes thousands each week.

But the death of one man can still move thousands to tears, and at Kirtland Air Force Base on Friday, the tears flowed freely in memory of Senior Airman Jason Cunningham.

In awarding the Air Force Cross to Cunningham on Friday, Air Force Secretary James G. Roche, his voice breaking, said, "On behalf of a grateful service and a grateful nation, we present this award representing extraordinary heroism as a symbol of our deep gratitude for his service," Roche said.

The medal was presented to Cunningham's widow, Theresa, who pressed a handkerchief to her face and was comforted by Technical Sergeant Keary Miller, who served as a fellow pararescuer with Cunningham in Afghanistan.

Cunningham was killed by enemy fire during a rescue mission March 4, 2002, and was buried March 11, 2002, in Arlington National Cemetery.

Air Force Chief Master Sergeant Gerald Murray said that only 22 airmen have been awarded the Air Force Cross, the service's highest award, and only two, including Cunningham, had received the award since the end of the Vietnam War.

The ceremony began with a film montage of Cunningham's youth, including his years growing up in Carlsbad, and his later years and marriage before going to Afghanistan in February.

In March, Cunningham was among 13 troops in a 52-foot-long Chinook helicopter headed for Takurghar Mountain near the village of Marzak, in the Paktia province.

The al-Qaida forces opened fire, and rocket-propelled grenades ripped into the helicopter. A group of combat troops jumped out of the helicopter and started shooting back, Miller said.

Two American soldiers were initially killed. Miller pulled one to the rear, while Cunningham attended other casualties under sniper and mortar fire.

The Air Force said Cunningham continued treating 10 wounded servicemen, moving them three times, once through a direct line of fire, after he had been shot. He probably saved all their lives. He died seven hours after being hit.

Air strikes were called against the al-Qaida forces, which Miller described as extremely effective.

The Battle of Takurghar was the deadliest day of combat for an American unit since 18 rangers and special operation soldiers died in Mogadishu, Somalia, in 1993.

The Air Force Cross is awarded for extraordinary heroism displayed by U.S. and foreign military personnel and civilians. The only higher award is the Medal of Honor.

The Air Force Cross awarded to Cunningham was only the second awarded since the close of the Vietnam war. The other one was given to Technical Sergeant Timothy A. Wilkinson in 1993 who, like Cunningham, was a pararescuer. Wilkinson repeatedly braved enemy fire while wounded to rescue and treat servicemen who were involved in the Mogadishu battle.

The award ceremony for Cunningham was held in the hangar at Kirtland normally used by 58th Special Operations Wing to train pararescuers, including Cunningham. Many of the people in attendance were fellow pararescuers, here for a reunion. Many civilian spectators, former pararescuers, wore the red beret of PJ, as the pararescuers are called.

The base closed down for the hour-long event that drew thousands of people.

"Thank you for the lives he saved and the service he gave," Air Force Chief Master Sergeant Gerald Murray said to the Cunningham family in his speech.

Most of the men and women crowded inside the hangar were dressed in green camouflage or pressed blue uniforms, many wore the distinctive maroon berets of pararescuers, and many wiped away tears throughout the service.

A 30-foot high U.S. flag draped behind the stage, where four Air Force officials, Cunningham's parents and wife sat quietly.

Theresa Cunningham, dressed in a black dress, took deep breaths and used a white handkerchief to wipe her tears.

Air Force Chief of Staff General John Jumper said Cunningham was an American hero with "supreme dedication" to his job and family.

"Jason did not get a second chance," he said, "But he gave a second chance to others."

Cunningham's commander, Lieutenant Colonel Vincent Savino said he wouldn't expect anything less from the New Mexico airman.

"Not everyone would do what he did that day," said Savino in an interview. "He went above and beyond. He gave the ultimate sacrifice - his life."

"He had the world in front of him," said Savino, who attended the ceremony from his base in Georgia. "He knew he was going to go places."

Jumper presented Theresa Cunningham and Cunningham's parents, Larry "Red" and Jackie Cunningham of Gallup, each with a jewlery box carrying the gold metal cross topped with a blue ribbon.

Servicemen playing "Amazing Grace" on bagpipes ended the event.

Technical Sergeant Brandon Casteel said afterward the ceremony was an honorable recognition for his best friend, his hero.

"We're all proud of him," said Casteel, who spoke at an earlier memorial service for Cunningham in Georgia.

Casteel said its still hard to accept that Cunningham's not coming back.

When asked what he would do with just one more day to hang out with Cunningham, who loved karate and shooting for sport, Casteel said: "Just talk to him."

"I miss him" said Casteel holding back tears. "I miss my friend."

 

[Tgace]

Yep, most of our troops are brave and honorable. On the news, I see stories every day about soldiers that have nothing to do with Abu Ghraib. The only people I see trying to paint US servicemen as "blood thirsty abusers" are insurgents.

There are incidents where US soldiers commit atrocities, and it's important that those events are documented clearly and punished, and that if responsibility for these acts leads up the chain of command, it be taken. Would you disagree? Perhaps we should try to hide the acts of these people?

Whos talking about "hiding" anything?? Unless Im more tired than I think I dont believed I ever implied that the news should replace the "bad" with the "good". I find it interesting that that assumption is being made.

 

[Tgace]

http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/197093p-170141c.html

Hero gave own life
to save others

Puch congressional Medal of Honor for fallen N.Y. Marine

By CORKY SIEMASZKO
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER


A New Yorker who died saving two other Marines by covering an Iraqi grenade with his helmet and blunting the blast with his body has been nominated for a Congressional Medal of Honor.
Cpl. Jason Dunham was commanding a checkpoint near Karbala on April 14 when a black-clad Iraqi leaped out of a car and grabbed him around the neck, according to the Marines.

A strapping 6-foot-1 ex-jock, Dunham kneed the Iraqi in the chest and then both fell to the ground.

It was then that he spotted the grenade in his attacker's hand and called out a warning to the Marines rushing to his aid.

His cry was cut short by the blast.

When the smoke cleared, Dunham was laying facedown in his own blood and his Kevlar helmet was shattered. The Marines who tried to help him also were wounded, but they were alive.

"He is a genuine American hero," said a Marine officer at Camp Pendleton in Twentynine Palms, Calif., where Dunham's unit, the 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines, is based. Dunham is the first U.S. soldier to be nominated for the nation's highest honor for valor in the Iraq war.

If President Bush approves the award, Dunham's heroism would be the first act of bravery recognized with the medal since Gary Gordon and Randy Shugart, two Army Delta Force soldiers, died fighting in Somalia. They were posthumously honored with the award 11 years ago.

Mortally wounded when grenade fragments pierced his skull, Dunham lingered for six more days before he died at a military hospital in Bethesda, Md. His parents, Deb and Dan Dunham of Scio, N.Y., were at his side.

He was just 22.

Since then, Dunham's legend has grown and the drive to award him the medal is being spearheaded by his battalion commander, Lt. Col. Matthew Lopez.

Deb Dunham said she did not want to jinx her slain son's chances by talking about the medal. "I'm aware of the nomination, and if Jason gets this honor, please call me back," she said. "But right now we'd like to close the door a bit and have a little privacy. We're still mourning."

Among those who have testified about Dunham's bravery are the soldiers he helped save.

More than 1,000 people packed Scio's high school gym for Dunham's funeral.

"I hope one day I could be half the hero he is," childhood friend Dean Phillips wrote in an online tribute. "I hear there is a special place for heroes in heaven."

 

[Tgace]

http://www.pbase.com/kburch/the_picture_from_iraq_you_wont_see_in_the_news

http://www.blackfive.net/main/someone_you_should_know/index.html

 

[Tgace]

Not exactly on the same level as all the other stories of heroism Ive found, but this is a good story too.

Who says women cant be warriors? Hoooah!!

U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Conrad College

• This is to certify that the Secretary of the Army has awarded the Army Commendation Medal to Private First Class Jessica L. Nicholson, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 40th Engineer Battalion, for valor and courage in the face of enemy actions while assigned to the 40th Engineer Battalion. Her decisive actions at a security checkpoint prevented the enemy from endangering the lives of her fellow soldiers. - Army Commendation Medal (with Valor device) awarded to Private First Class Nicholson

This is one of my favorites. Jim B. sent this to me. Jess's story has been around for about six months(those of you in Germany certainly have heard this one) and it's worth sharing so everyone knows her name - PFC Jessica Nicholson. Oh yeah, she named her machine gun "Camille" - I freakin' LOVE that! In the 82nd, my hog (M60) was called "Bonnie". PFC Nicholson should be headed back to Germany (or in Germany by now)

Training, Instincts and Wrestling Experience Pay Off for 1st Armored Division Soldier When quick action is required in an emergency situation, a soldier often doesn’t have time to think. The soldier’s training and instincts take over.

Pfc. Jessica Lynn Nicholson, 21, a 1st Armored Division soldier with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 40th Engineer Battalion, 2nd Brigade, Division Engineers, found out how true that adage is recently when she was working at a security checkpoint in Baghdad. The reason she, a tracked-vehicle mechanic, was assigned to the checkpoint was to search women.

“But, that day (about 9 a.m. on June 7) there were a lot of people gathering at this checkpoint and it was very busy. So, I was asked to search some men, too,” said Nicholson.

“While other soldiers were searching a car, the driver had stepped out of the car and I was searching the driver. He didn’t have any weapons on his person,” she said.

“The other soldiers checking the vehicle at first thought it was clear. Then one of the soldiers thought that something didn’t seem right. So, he searched the car again,” she added.

During the second search, the soldier spotted a grenade hidden behind the visor on the driver’s side. The soldier shouted, “Grenade!”

“I immediately got man down on the ground, face down, and I remember pressing his face into a sandbag,” Nicholson said.

She continued to hold him down until other soldiers came over and zip-cuffed the man.

The man then claimed he had the grenade because he was going to turn it in to the U.S. soldiers. But they did not believe that story, because he had not mentioned it, or indicated anything like that, until after the soldiers had found the grenade and after he had been subdued and was handcuffed with the plastic zip-strips.

“I really don’t remember exactly how I got him on the ground, but it was practically instantaneous,” she said, blushing. “I don’t remember the details of putting him down. I just remember, suddenly, I had him down on the ground with his face pressed into a sandbag and I kept holding him there.”

She said the man then started crying and someone said he might have been embarrassed because it was a shame for a man in Iraq to get beat up by a woman.

​

That's right. She made him cry like a baby. Poor jihadi. I'm sure the NY Times thought about publishing this story of physical abuse.

Asked if she had grown up as a tomboy, Nicholson said, “No, I was even a cheerleader for a little while. I guess I kind of grew up out in the middle of nowhere,” she said, “and I just always had to do whatever needed to be done.” She grew up in Silverton, Idaho, and, when she was 15, her family moved to Winnemucca, Nev. She said she has also boxed with some of the men in her company.

Asked if she wore boxing gloves, she replied, “Oh yes, of course, we had boxing gloves. I wouldn’t want to hurt them.”

She is the daughter of Jim and Kris Nicholson of Winnemucca, Nev. She has been in the Army for a year and a half. Nicholson’s weapon is an M-249 SAW (Squad Automatic Weapon), which she carries with her everywhere she goes. She has nicknamed her SAW, “Camille.” “It’s my baby,” she said.

​

Hopefully, PFC Nicholson will consider going to the Academy Prep school (then West Point) or ROTC and get a commission. The Army needs Soldiers like her...

 

[Ceicei]

Definitely a heroine!!! A regular, all-around, everyday gal. What's not to like? At least she understood clearly what needed to be done.

- Ceicei

 

[Tgace]

I named my "pig" Lucille....had to have a "Rock n' Roll" reference.

 

[Phoenix44]

i saw his point and he is right. it's rather easy these days for the retards running the liberal media outlet to bash and belittle what the men and women are doing over there and how we "shouldnt" be there or whatever.

It is very true that many important stories don't make the front pages, and that's disgraceful. But please don't start the "liberal media" garbage.

By and large, the media is corporate, and right wing. ClearChannel, owns more TV and radio outlets than anyone else. Rupert Murdoch is a multinational conglomerate.

How many conservative pundits were actually in the military? Rush Limbaugh? Bill O'Reilly? Hannity? Randi Rhodes of AirAmerica Radio, the only liberal national media outlet, served in the Air Force. And she advocates every day for benefits for the troops and their families, armor, and other necessities. She is against this war, but a big supporter of the troops.

How many conservative pundits have gone to Iraq or Afghanistan to entertain the troops? How about ZERO? On the other hand, Al Franken, an unabashed liberal, also on AirAmerica, spent his Christmas vacation in Iraq, Kuwait, and Afghanistan with the USO entertaining the troops. This was his fifth trip with the USO.

Who recently interviewed the Iraq veteran director of Operation Truth? Limbaugh? I don't think so. It was Outrage Radio--liberal.

I also don't see any links to TruthOut, OpTruth, WoundedWarriorProject, or USO on Limbaugh's website.

And I don't know where you're seeing all those photos of flag covered caskets. Bush made those photos illegal, remember? But you can frequently find them on my liberal website, www.mandatethis.org

 

[Tgace]

A little clip of some combat....

http://www.compfused.com/directlink/451/

 

[RandomPhantom700]

Throughout that whole clip, I just kept wondering what the hell they were shooting at.

 

[Tgace]

Many times thats exactly how it is....

 

[Tidy_Sammy]

I don't believe the corporate owned media's of today, nor do I have any liking for Bush.

Let me just point out a little something though, many of the high cats and people that shout 'lets go to war' - don't and won't have their children getting packed off.

The irony in it is rather bitter.

 

[MisterMike]

Throughout that whole clip, I just kept wondering what the hell they were shooting at.

Hopefully anything that moved and wasn't American.

Good clip Tgace