This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Real Soldiers

  • Corporal William “Kyle” Carpenter, USMC to receive Medal of Honor

    Corporal William “Kyle” Carpenter, USMC to receive Medal of Honor

    kyle-carpenter-2

    From the White House;

    On June 19, 2014, President Barack Obama will award Corporal William “Kyle” Carpenter, U.S. Marine Corps (Ret), the Medal of Honor for conspicuous gallantry. Corporal Carpenter will receive the Medal of Honor for his courageous actions while serving as an Automatic Rifleman with Company F, 2d Battalion, 9th Marines, Regimental Combat Team 1, 1st Marine Division (Forward), I Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward), in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

    Corporal Carpenter will be the eighth living recipient to be awarded the Medal of Honor for actions in Iraq or Afghanistan. He and his family will join the President at the White House to commemorate his example of selfless service.

    Corporal William “Kyle” Carpenter, was born in Flowood, Mississippi on October 17, 1989, and graduated from W. Wyman King Academy, Batesburg, South Carolina, in 2008. In February 2009, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps at Recruiting Station Columbia, South Carolina, and completed his basic training at Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island, South Carolina, later that year.

    […]

    In July 2013, he was medically retired as a Corporal due to his wounds. He is currently a full time student at the University of South Carolina in Columbia.

    His personal awards include a Purple Heart Medal, Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, and Combat Action Ribbon. Additional awards and decorations include the Navy Unit Commendation, Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Afghanistan Campaign Medal with one bronze campaign star, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Sea Service Deployment Ribbon with one bronze star, North Atlantic Treaty

  • SGT Kyle J. White awarded Medal of Honor today

    SGT Kyle J. White awarded Medal of Honor today

    So, This Ain’t Hell, against all odds, was admitted into the White House today for the Medal of Honor ceremony honoring Kyle J. White’s heroism and devotion to his duty on November 9, 2007. The best interview that I’ve read with SGT White is at Stars & Stripes so you should read that and not bother with my blather.

    There are a few more pictures at my Flickr page.

  • Streaming Video, MOH Ceremony, 1500 EDT 13 May 2014

    This should be the streaming video for the MOH Ceremony for SGT Kyle J. White, US Army. Hopefully I haven’t dorked up the embed code. And that the White House web site wasn’t done by the same folks who did HealthCare.gov. (smile)

    Ceremony’s at 1500 EDT, so you’ll probably see Opie Jay Carney shoveling more bullsh!t giving a press briefing if you tune in early.

    Don’t forget to wave if you see Jonn and TSO. (smile)

  • MARSOC MSgt to Receive Silver Star Today

    MSgt Donovan E. Petty, assigned to 2nd Marine Special Operations Battalion, Camp Lejeune, NC, will receive the Silver Star today.  The decoration will be presented by the  Maj Gen Mark A Clark, Commander, MARSOC, at a ceremony at Stone Bay.

    MSgt Petty is receiving the award for heroism in Afghanistan on 1 November 2012.

    The Marine Corps Times has an article giving some of the details of MSgt Petty’s actions that day.  After reading it, I’d say the decoration is fully deserved.  Cojones muy grandes, indeed.

    Damn well done, MSgt Petty.  Kudos.

  • Four Drum Soldiers Honored

    Four soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division, Fort Drum, NY, have been awarded the Air Medal with Valor Device.  They were honored for gallantry on 28 May 2013 in Afghanistan.

    On that date, the four landed during an attack to MEDEVAC a critically wounded US soldier, then took him to the US hospital at Bagram AB for treatment.  They also provided initial treatment to him en route.

    The wounded soldier survived.

    Those honored were CW4 Kenneth Brodhead, CW2 Melinda Walden, SSG Kristen Halsey and SGT Ryan Blomquist.  All were assigned to the 10th Combat Aviation Brigade.

    Well done, ladies and men.  Damn well done.

  • Master Sgt. Dan “Bud” Wassom II’s last act

    Master Sgt. Dan “Bud” Wassom II’s

    Fringe sends us a link to the story of Master Sgt. Dan “Bud” Wassom II of the Arkansas Air National Guard’s 189th Airlift Wing;

    Master Sgt. Dan “Bud” Wassom II’s last action in this life was using his body to shield his 5-year-old daughter Lorelai as a tornado demolished his house on Sunday, said his mother, Pamela Wassom.

    At the hospital, Lorelai told anyone who would listen that her father had saved her life, Pamela Wassom said.

    “Lorelai kept telling the emergency room people, she said, ‘My daddy saved me; the house exploded and my daddy saved me; he’s a hero,’” Pamela said. “And he is. He’s a true hero.”

    Storm Damage

  • Just Call Him “Cool Hand Jon”

    That would be SSG(P) Jon King, at Fort Sill, OK.  He’s a vet of both Iraq and Afghanistan.  He’s now assigned to C Company, 434th Field Artillery Detachment.

    Why call him that, you ask?  Let’s just say the story involves a live grenade, a grenade range, a raw trainee, a potentially deadly error – and about 4 seconds to save a life at the risk of his own.  Details are in this Army Times article.

    Read the article if you want to understand why IMO “Cool Hand” is apropos.  I think you will afterwards.

    SSG(P) King received the interim award of an ARCOM for his actions on 14 April 2014.  However, he’s also being considered for the Soldiers Medal.  From what I read, sounds to me like this one should be the proverbial “no brainer”.

    Well done, SSG(P) King.  Damn well done.

  • Captain Jennifer Moreno’s last act

    Captain Jennifer Moreno’s last act

    Jennifer Moreno

    Paul sends us a link to the Stars & Stripes story of Captain Jennifer Moreno, a nurse, who was killed by an explosive device on October 5th, 2013. That day she was one of four who were killed along with 25 others who were wounded in a series of 12 explosive devices. Captain Moreno disregarded her own safety and died trying to help others. She was awarded a Bronze Star Medal (I can only assume that medal came with a “V” for Valor, since the article isn’t clear on that point);

    The first to die was an Afghan woman walking out of the compound wearing a suicide vest.

    She detonated the explosive, killing herself, wounding six troops and setting off a second blast nearby. Two soldiers rushing to help troops wounded in the first blast hit the third bomb. A second enemy fighter died in those early blasts, too.

    An Afghan insurgent who ran away from the building detonated the fourth explosive, another suicide vest. The bomb killed him and a military working dog named Jani.

    Moreno heard a call from a staff sergeant to help a wounded soldier. At the same time, the battle’s ground commander told all of the soldiers to stay where they were.

    Her Bronze Star commendation uses dry, formal military language to describe the decision she faced.

    “Disregarding her own well-being,” it reads, “Moreno unhesitatingly moved to assist (the soldiers) upon realizing the severity of the wounds sustained by her fellow teammates.”

    “While in transit, Moreno detonated Device No. 5 and was killed in action.”

    Few could make the same choice.

    “None of us would have done what you did, running into hell to save your wounded brothers, knowing full well you probably wouldn’t make it back,” the commander of Moreno’s female Special Operations support team in Afghanistan, Capt. Amanda King, later wrote in a eulogy.