Category: Real Soldiers

The folks at Saturday Evening Post sent us a link to their article excerpted from the book “Damn Few: Making the Modern SEAL Warrior” by Rorke Denver in which Denver recounts his experiences of SEAL Hell Week at Coronado;

Then came the shout, “Surf torture!”—and we headed back to the water again.

“Lock arms!” the instructor demanded as we linked ourselves in a long human chain of interlocked elbows. We clenched our hands together in front of us.

“Forward march!”

We marched together into the surf. It couldn’t have been more than 52 or 53 degrees in there. We walked farther out until the water was chest-high on most of us.

“Halt!” the instructor said.

Then “Take seats!”

That’s where the real torture began. We floated along in this armlocked line, bouncing in the rough surge of the Pacific, catching breaths when we could, as the constant waves smashed over our heads.

Boom, boom, boom. The waves kept breaking over us.

With all the strength we had, we were holding on to each other and trying to keep our heads up in the great wash cycle of the Pacific as our battered bodies were tossed helplessly around. Water was rushing over us, into our eyes, mouths, and noses. Sand and sea life were in the whirling mix. It was a hugely disorienting experience.

The Saturday Evening Post folks also sent us a link to their Pinterest photo gallery of past covers of their magazine which honor the troop.

I proud to call him my friend, and you need to take 20 minutes out of your day to see why;

Will sends us a link to WRALwhich reports that Jerry Smith of Durham, NC was honored as one of the original Seabees, and they used the occasion to also mark his 100th birthday yesterday at the governor’s mansion in Raleigh;

Smith is a “plank owner” in the First Naval Construction Battalion – members of which are called Seabees – which was commissioned on March 15, 1942. He served in the Navy from January 1942 to September 1945.

A Navy plank owner is an individual who was a member of the crew when the ship or command was placed in commission. His battalion is credited with completing construction projects during the war, risking their lives to build hospitals and airfields.

“It’s something we did because it had to be done,” Smith said. “Other jobs I could leave. I couldn’t leave the Seabees, and I’m glad I was in the Seabees.”

As we reported the other day, SSG Ty Carter is to be awarded the Medal of Honor today in a White House ceremony. Of course, our correspondent, TSO will be on hand to make sure everything goes smoothly. Or something. If you’re chained to your computer, you can watch it live at the White House website if the player below doesn’t work. It starts at 1410 hours (2:10 for those of you who can’t tell time the right way) Eastern.
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Chief Tango sends us a link to a Washington Post article about Army SSGs John Russell and Brian Williams who were out jogging on the National Mall in Washington DC when they came across a jogger who had been hit by a bus. Their military medical and leadership training kicked in as they treated the fallen man;

The last time Russell and Williams encountered casualties, they were under fire in Afghanistan, separately treating soldiers felled by insurgent snipers and a roadside bomb that overturned an armored vehicle.

“You realize that the guy lying in front of you needs help, that he just happened to be in the wrong place and you in the right place,” said Russell, 37. “The man, he was beat up pretty bad when we ran over to him.”

The friends returned from war four years ago and settled into more sedentary lives in the Washington suburbs — Russell with his wife and 5-year-old son, Blake, in Fairfax; Williams with his wife and 13-year-old son, Anthony, in Alexandria.

A D.C. fire department spokesman confirmed that two men who identified themselves as Army soldiers were treating the patient when the paramedics arrived. Kenneth B. Ellerbe, the chief of D.C.’s Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department, praised the soldiers’ efforts and noted the advantages to being in a city with a “well-trained civilian population.”

You should read the whole well-written article.

TSO’s buddy, Jake Tapper emailed him to get the word out about Tapper’s upcoming documentary about Staff Sergeant Ty Carter who has been recently selected for the Medal of Honor for his actions at COP Keating;

Tapper traveled to Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state for the interview with Carter, whose Medal of Honor for his valorous action during the October 2009 attack on Combat Outpost Keating will mark the first time in nearly fifty years that two living service members are awarded the nation’s highest honor for actions during the same battle. In February, President Obama awarded the Medal of Honor to former U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Clint Romesha.

Carter and Romesha were central figures in Tapper’s New York Times bestselling book, “The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor.” The book, which will be published in paperback on October 22, chronicles the troubled history of one of the most remote American military posts in Afghanistan and the eight American service members killed in the October 2009 attack on Combat Outpost Keating. Tapper traveled to Afghanistan twice while reporting the book. For more about Ty Carter’s story from “The Outpost” click here.

I trust that Jake, one of the last surviving journalists, will do an excellent job with this story. The program will be on CNN Wednesday August 21st at 10 PM, so be sure to watch.

A former POW and Medal of Honor recipient needs help.

The individual is SGM Jon Cavaiani, US Army (Ret).  His heroism is covered briefly here.  Helluva man.

Unfortunately, SGM Cavaiani has developed an illness that is life-threatening and will require a bone marrow transplant.  Details can be found here.

Jon Cavaiani is a naturalized citizen.  He’s done more for his adopted country than most who were born here.

Perhaps in some small way, we can help repay that debt.  SGM Cavaiani’s Give Forward page may be found here.  It’s possible that this page may also be of interest to those without a current DoD connection.  For those with a current DoD connection, this page may be of interest.  (A “current DoD connection” is defined as someone who is (1) serving on active duty, (2) a member of the Reserve Components, (3) a member of the USCG, (4) a current DoD civilian employee, or (5) a dependant of one of the previous four categories.)

Hat tip to Blackfive for publicizing the issue, and to TSO for first bringing it here.

Tequila Volare sends us a link to Fox Atlanta which reports how 14 Airmen walked from Dover Air Force Base, Delaware to Arlington National Cemetery in tribute to their fallen commander, David Gray, who was killed by a suicide bomber in Afghanistan last year. His troops were still deployed and didn’t get to make the funeral, so they made up for it when they finally returned;

“They just said it was their way of saying a final goodbye to my brother,” said Ronnie Gray, David’s brother.

The airmen marched from Dover Air Force Base in Delaware to Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C.

“For those guys to take time out of their lives to honor my brother in that way, it showed me a lot,” said Ronnie Gray. “It showed me that my brother was a tremendous leader, and those guys loved my brother a lot.”