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

Category: Real Soldiers

  • Peralta Medal of Honor case goes to Hagel

    Most of you already know the heroic story of Rafael Peralta, the Marine sergeant who had been severely wounded, yet still used his broken body to shield his mates from a grenade blast. he was awarded the Navy Cross for his final selfless act, but others think that he earned the Medal of Honor that day. One of those people is Congressman Duncan Hunter, who s asking Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel to reconsider the award, according to the Washington Times;

    Rep. Duncan Hunter, a California Republican who served combat tours as a Marine officer in Afghanistan and Iraq, has made Sgt. Rafael Peralta’s case a mission, and the congressman said Wednesday that the credibility of the Medal of Honor system is riding on whether the Defense Department gets his case right.

    […]

    “If you do the right thing on Peralta, it will show the military that, hey, we can do the Medal of Honor process properly,” the congressman told The Washington Times.

    He and two California Democrats, Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Rep. Xavier Becerra, wrote a letter asking that the nomination be reopened.

    There is no indication that Mr. Hagel has reopened the case, but Pentagon spokesman Carl Woog said the secretary is taking a look at some of the details.

    The Navy Cross is nothing to sneeze at, but still, I hope the Defense Department does the right thing and honor this extraordinary Marine in the way that they should.

  • Edward “Babe” Heffron passes

    Babe Heffron

    If you’ve ever watched Band of Brothers, and I’m sure most of you have, you know who “Babe” Heffron is. He passed last night according to the DAV at the tender age of 90.

    The former private was with Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, in the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) of the U.S. Army during World War II.

    Heffron was portrayed in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers. He co-wrote @Brothers in Battle, Best of Friends: Two WWII Paratroopers from the Original Band of Brothers Tell Their Story.

  • Marine Corps vet saving the world one person at a time

    KTVU reports that a life-long Raiders fan and a marine veteran saved a woman from herself yesterday when the woman jumped from an upper deck of the Collesium. The Marine tried to convince her to not jump, but when she did, he tried to catch her;

    Arriving paramedics found the woman in very critical condition, and a man also injured on the concourse where she fell. Initially, they thought she fell on him, but witnesses say he actually jumped to where she was falling, and tried to save her.

    “Very heroically, he tried to catch her, so he got injured in the process, “ Sgt. J.D. Nelson of the Alameda County Sheriff’s Department told KTVU.

    The man’s injuries weren’t critical, but enough to keep him in the hospital Sunday night. He is a 61 year old grandfather from Stockton, a Marine Corps veteran, and a lifelong Raiders fan who recently acquired season tickets.

    He told investigators that he and a friend were lingering near the flagpoles and Al Davis commemorative flame when he saw the commotion around the despondent woman.

    When she jumped, he lunged toward her, with no regard for his own safety.

    He said afterward, he didn’t think about it, but just did it.

    The hospital says that she may not survive her injuries, but it’s not from this unnamed veteran’s lack of trying.

  • Maybe Some Good Will Come From It

    It seems the claims that CPT William Swenson’s Medal of Honor packet was simply “lost” might actually be true.  According to the Army Times, a recent DoD IG investigation found that loss of award recommendations was a “frequent” occurrence at Headquarters, US Forces – Afghanistan.  Award procedures there were apparently a mess.

    I’d like to think that was actually the case, and that Swenson’s MoH packet was simply lost through accident or incompetence vice being deliberately sabotaged.  It’s sad, though, that I still have to wonder if that’s really the case.  Politics (either inter- or intra-Service) should play absolutely zero role in military awards for heroism.  In Swenson’s case, I’m still not absolutely convinced that politics didn’t play a role in the “loss” of his original award recommendation.

    We all know that the military’s award system has major problems; we all know it will never be perfect.  But maybe Swenson’s case – and the resulting high-profile interest in the delay – will be a catalyst to help fix some of those issues.

    I hate to presume speak for others; most don’t need or want me to speak on their behalf.  But I’ll go out on a limb here and say that if the delay here helps fix the system, even partially, I’m guessing CPT Swenson would say the delay in his case was worth it.

    No, it never should have happened.  But maybe some good will come from it anyway.

  • Corporal Tony Harris earns Medal of Military Valour

    Corporal Tony Harris

    Corporal Tony Harris was a Canadian private on November 23, 2009 when his actions that day earned him the award he’s supposed to receive today in Ottawa from Governor General David Johnston, according to our Aunty Brat and the National Journal.

    Then he heard a “boom.” And then he heard screams. And then he started running. Not away. Toward the blast.

    “If you think about it, in a situation like that, it is kind of stupid running toward an explosion. Or you would think it was, but something just clicked in my mind. I wasn’t thinking.”

    He was not wearing a helmet or a flak jacket either. Taliban bombs were falling; an empty shipping container that doubled as accommodation had been blasted to bits.

    There was blood everywhere. Smoke. Screams. Six men were wounded. A seventh was dead. In war movies, time slows down. For Private Harris, time became a blur. He was acting, reacting, yanking an American from the burning, twisted metal wreck, tying off his severed femoral artery and lugging him across a 200-metre stretch of open ground before going back to grab another one.

    “We were moving pretty quickly,” Cpl. Harris says, laughing. “I definitely didn’t want to be out there. Nobody did. It is strange. I didn’t really remember a thing about what happened until I was sitting in an armoured vehicle afterwards and having a cigarette.

    “I was shaking all over. I had blood on my boots and blood on my pants. One of my buddies brought me a bag of Doritos — and then I was all good — but I couldn’t talk about it.”

    Thanks, Tony, for being there for our troops.

  • DSC & Navy Cross earned in Benghazi

    The Washington Times‘s Rowan Scarbough reports that two Delta force members were secretly awarded a Distinguished Service Cross and a Navy Cross for their actions at the Benghazi consulate on September 11th, 2012;

    The Washington Times has reported that two Delta Force members were among a seven-person rescue team sent from the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli to Benghazi on the night of Sept. 11, 2012. Their mission: rescue diplomats, security personnel and CIA employees pinned down by terrorists about a mile from the U.S. diplomatic mission where Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and aide Sean Smith were killed by al Qaeda-directed militants.

    Two of those seven were Delta Force operators. The Times can now report that one was an Army soldier and the other a Marine.

    The soldier was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, and the Marine received the Navy Cross for heroism.

    The bestowal of the awards was done in secret.

    Even though we’ll never hear about the award from the real folks who earned them, I’m sure we’ll hear from the fifty or so phonies who will claim the awards in the next few years.

  • Navy Cross recipient dissed by fellow cops

    Mary sends us a link to an article in the Orange County Weekly about the results of an investigation into the way Scott C. Montoya was treated by his brother officers in the Orange County Sheriff’s Department after he returned from Iraq where he earned the Navy Cross. Montoya volunteered for the Marine Corps after 9-11 and was awarded the Navy Cross for his actions on April 8, 2003;

    With his firearm in one hand engaging the enemy and a badly bleeding Marine in the other, he fought their way 500 yards to safety. He returned to the cross-fire again and dragged another – who’d been dazed by the concussion of a grenade blast – to a casualty collection point. In all, he rescued four injured Marines and one Iraqi civilian out of harm’s way, according to his citation.

    Montoya’s “extraordinary heroism” arose out of the battle for Baghdad.

    And this is how he was treated according to the OC Weekly;

    Evidence compiled in the case proved that OCSD deputies and higher ranking officers repeatedly tormented Montoya by mocking his combat heroics, spreading false rumors, sabotaging his locker, doctoring documents, encouraging citizens to file complaints against him, calling him “stupid,” suggesting they would not back him up on dangerous patrol calls, hiding GPS devices on his personal vehicles, placing surveillance cameras at his home, cursing him in front of citizens and, like high school punks, displaying a large dildo, lubricant bottle and condoms with his deputy gear.

    The department’s lawyer, William Haluck of Irvine, unsuccessfully lobbied jurors to view the acts as simple “jokes” or “pranks,” and repeatedly tried to slime Montoya and his Navy Cross without offering a shred of evidence that the honor wasn’t deserved.

    Now, we can just sit and wait to see how the judge decides that Montoya will be compensated for the shoddy treatment he received. The case was decided by a jury, and Montoya’s attorney said that the department destroyed loads of email that would have made the case easier to decide.

  • Shipleys honored at Veterans’ Homecoming

    Don & Dianne Shipley

    In case you didn’t know it, there was a Veterans’ Homecoming in Branson, Missouri on Veterans’ Day Weekend, and some friends of ours were honored as well as doing the honoring, according to the Tri-Lake News;

    This year, four individuals were recipients of The Capt. John Koutrakos Patriotism Award.

    “We’re always looking for someone who is going above and beyond,” Schantag said of the award. “Our recipients are some of the best and brightest this country has to offer.”

    Steve Robinson, a retired Navy SEAL, and his wife, Sharon, shared the award with Don, also a retired Navy SEAL, and Diane Shipley.

    The couples were honored and recognized for their efforts in sniffing out impostors posing as special forces veterans.

    “They are leaders in the work that we do with the frauds and phonies and the huge epidemic we have in this country,” Schantag said. “They’re pioneers of the methodology. They don’t leave a stone unturned, they don’t wrongly accuse an individual.”

    Steve Robinson had been exposing false claims for 12 years before he passed the torch to Don Shipley, who has continued the efforts for the past few years.

    Don Shipley was deemed a phony’s worst nightmare by Schantag, citing his hit YouTube series “Phony Navy SEAL of the Week.”

    Here’s a close up of the plaque;

    Don & Dianne Shipley 2

    I’ve talked with Don on the phone, and he’s one of the friendliest and most generous guys you’d ever want to meet – unless you’re a phony, of course. His wife adds a certain dimension and touch of class to his videos. They certainly deserve this honor together. And it’s only fitting that Mary got to present it to them.