Doc, is it bad
The spec 4 from Teaxas was laying face down on the litter in my aid station with all his clothes cut from his body. His young ass was shining in what little light was to be had. The sound of machine gun fire and the main gun of an M1A1 shook dust from the frame of tent. The youg soldier had been in an ambush initiated with an RPG and floowed up by small arms fire and more RPG's. He had been standing outside his veicle securing the convoy while others in the movement were busy tring to repair a down vehicle. In retrosect he metions that he noticed several men stop and tell children and women something and they would then rush away. Out of nowhere came the unmistakable whoosh of the RPG round followd by a defening explosion that sent him flailing through the air. When he landed the adrenaline prevented him from feeling any of the pain that was to come later so he just gathered his gear and began to look for a target. Amidst the small arms fire and RPGs he found several figures standing in the windows of a nearby building firing at the soldiers. The hero fires at one and the figure disappears. He scans the window for a couple of seconds and nothing else pops up so he moves on to the next window. Again, a figure pops his head up and shoulders an RPG. The soldiers fires and again, the target disappears, n0t to return. This engagement continues for a half hour as the leadership calls for assistance from a QRF. With the additioanl support of the QRF in the form of a BFV and an Abrams MBT the insurgents are silenced forever and the injured soldiers are evaved to out aid station where the story here began.
There is so much more of this to tell, but I will wait for another time. The Soldier is fine in the end and is nominated for a Bronze Star Medal. The saddest thing is that his leadership downgrades the award unofficially because "spec fours aren't going to get BSM's only E-7's and above" and the "he was really just doing his job". Way to go LTC, that is a mighty sword you weild, from the safety of your bunkered office in the protection of the FOB. Have a drink on me you drunk bastard!
There is so much more of this to tell, but I will wait for another time. The Soldier is fine in the end and is nominated for a Bronze Star Medal. The saddest thing is that his leadership downgrades the award unofficially because "spec fours aren't going to get BSM's only E-7's and above" and the "he was really just doing his job". Way to go LTC, that is a mighty sword you weild, from the safety of your bunkered office in the protection of the FOB. Have a drink on me you drunk bastard!
posted by Land Warrior at 6:46 AM
3 Comments:
Let's see, the soldier gets a CIB for returning fire against the enemy and a purple heart for getting wounded (already has the NDSM, and the GWOT-S for being in hte Army)..but apparently that's not enough. Bad, bad oppressive drunk chain of command who chooses to award BSM's to those in leadership positions for the entire year in combat. Reading your blog and others like it you would think no one else has ever gone to combat before and since your sacrifice is so great whie the rest of America is sitting at home eating cheetoh's and watching dancing with the stars you guys should all be lined up and issued the medal of honor (not just the E-7's and above) but everybody because your sacrifice is equally great. Stop belly aching and looking over your soldier with such an intense and short sided envy for once in your life....take your GWOT-S, NDSM,Iraq expeditionary medal, your CMB, CIB, purple hearts and all the other salad candy being "handed" out for a war that may be more intense than grenada but less so than Vietnam or anything before it and have a nice day. Service is about doing something because you believe in the cause, not becasue of what's in it for you.
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RickJ
I've went to the sandbox twice. I did my four and hit the door. My leadership too concerned about how they looked for the CO, SgtMaj, etc. and could have cared less about our conditions. Our advanced party arrived at Al Jaber about 3 weeks prior to the main body. We had about 20 personnel of Sgt's and below in 2 of the fancy Air Force insulated tents with A/C and heat. Once our staff arrived they gave us the boot and took over the tent and made us go across the berm the the Marines side. The AF didnt like us carrying our weapons around tehm, they got scared. The first 3 nights after teh staff took my tent, I slept on a plywood floor of a half-framed strongback tent in the rain with my bivvy sac. I'm sure glad the staff was warm and dry with their electricity. Selfish pricks!!! I loved doing my job in the Corps, but not for some desk jockey to come out and shake hands with the CG and say "look what I accomplished , sir." My crew and I busted otu asses building a parking ramp of 900,000 sq.ft. for 14hrs/day for 3 weeks. I got a CG coin, while the OIC (who fucked the whole project up) was awarded a NavComm. I dont want a medal, I just wanted to be appreciated a little more than we were.
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