Pentagon recommends Medal of Honor for a 'living' soldier

[K38 Shawn]

Perhaps the story should not be presented until the decision is confirmed. Certainly will lend to a lot of discussion over the terrain covered in this story.

Pentagon recommends Medal of Honor for a living soldier


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/30/AR2010063005346.html?hpid=topnews

[Ken White]

Though in the future, post a link as you did and then you don't need to paste the entire article, just a short excerpt will do -- that way the Blog avoids copyright problems...

This:
"We should be stationing our troops in places where they won't be earning the Medal of Honor because the population and terrain favor us and we have quick access to air support," said John Nagl, one of the authors of the Army's counterinsurgency doctrine and president of the Center for a New American Security, a defense think tank.has to be one of the less intelligent comments I've read in a few days. Surely he was misquoted...

[K38 Shawn]

Thanks Kevin, appreciate your advice.

[Bob's World]

Though in the future, post a link as you did and then you don't need to paste the entire article, just a short excerpt will do -- that way the Blog avoids copyright problems...

This:has to be one of the less intelligent comments I've read in a few days. Surely he was misquoted...

I suspect as well though that it overstates his true position by being out of context.

It touches though the balancing act in Afghanistan. Many from N. Afghanistan feel that the Coaliton is "rewarding bad behavior" by focusing development in the south. They also are very fearful of Karzai reaching out to those they worked to run off in the first place.

You must retain the support of the populace that is satisfied and therefore loyal, while reaching out to that segment that is not. We are not balancing well, or even at least explaining why things are done in certain ways.

The irony is though, that even though focus may by in "troubled areas", within those areas we tend to bring goodness to the secure areas such as described by Dr. Nagl. We have a generally right idea, but then becuase it is too hard to really do it right we goof it up at the last minute and end up reinforcing the wealth and power of Karzai's cronnies.

Good Governance is hard. (Glad to hear that we are getting away from "death" being a prerequisite for extreme valor though!)

[William F. Owen]

Good Governance is hard.
Which is why it should only be done by Afghan civilians and Afghans alone.

[K38 Shawn]

I find it a bit of a struggle to take quotes in storylines as the entire thread of truth. I know in interviews there may be a variety of questions and responses. Not limited to the interpretation of the writer's intended delivery in the storyline. Perhaps tempered by word count or ability of the writer and perhaps the subject response. Not so easy to extract complete comprehension, but those 'tidbits' do lend to the piecing of communication. Albeit perhpas not always effective. One reason I enjoy the dialogue from others. Brings a different light in either directiion. If I understood it all I wouldn't be questioning. Thanks for sharing.

[Greyhawk]

...This has to be one of the less intelligent comments I've read in a few days. Surely he was misquoted...

"the population and terrain favor us and we have quick access to air support" sounds like a good description of Germany.

Today, I mean, not 1945.

[Steve Blair]

This:has to be one of the less intelligent comments I've read in a few days. Surely he was misquoted...

No kidding.

[jmm99]

Where, "the population and terrain favor us and we have quick access to air support" sounds like a better description of the good ole USA - which, all else being equal, would be a very good place for all of our service people this July 4th.

Unfortunately, all things are never equal.

Regards (especially to those who are overseas)

Mike

[Greyhawk]

...sounds like a better description of the good ole USA - which, all else being equal, would be a very good place for all of our service people this July 4th...

Unfortunately, all things are never equal.

Regards (especially to those who are overseas)

MikeHigh five.

[tequila]

The soldier in question has been ID'd as Staff Sgt. Sal Giunta (http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2010/07/army_MOH_070101w/), apparently for an action in the Korengal in 2007-08. The action is described in Sebastian Junger's book WAR, and also in the superb NYTIMES article by Elizabeth Rubin: "Battle Company is out there (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/24/magazine/24afghanistan-t.html?pagewanted=print)".


Around midnight, 1st Platoon filed into the KOP, eyes bulging, drenched in sweat, river water and blood. They were hauling the belongings of Mohammad Tali, a high-value target. Specialist Sal Giunta had killed him.

The next day I climbed up to the KOP and found Specialist Giunta, a quiet Iowan lofted into a heroism he didn’t want. His officers were putting him up for a medal of honor. Giunta told me the story of that night, how they’d barely moved 300 yards before they were blasted. Giunta was fourth in the file when it happened, and he jumped into a ditch. He couldn’t figure out why they were getting hit from where Joshua Brennan and baby-faced Franklin Eckrode should have been leading up ahead. He knew it must be bad, but as he leapt up to check he got whacked with a bullet in his armored chest plate. It threw him down. They were taking fire from three sides. He grabbed some grenades: “I couldn’t throw as far as Sergeant Gallardo. We were looking like retards and I decided to run out in front of the grenades.” He found Eckrode with gunshot wounds. “He was down but moving and trying to fix his SAW” — a heavy machine gun — “so I just kept on running up the trail. It was cloudy. I was running and saw dudes. Plural.”

He couldn’t figure out who they were. Then he realized they were hauling Brennan off through the forest. “I started shooting,” he recalled. “I emptied that magazine. They dropped Brennan.” Giunta scrambled up to Brennan. He was a mess. His lower jaw was shot off. “He was still conscious. He was breathing. He was asking for morphine. I said, ‘You’ll get out and tell your hero stories,’ and he was like, ‘I will, I will.’ ”

They were still taking fire. No one was there to help. Hugo Mendoza, their platoon medic, was back in another ditch, calling: “I’m bleeding out. I’m dying.” Giunta saw Brennan’s eyes go back. His breathing was bad. Giunta got Brennan to squeeze his hand. A medic showed up out of the sky. They prepared Brennan to be hoisted to the medevac in a basket. Soon he would be dead.

As the medevacs flew out, Sergeant Sandifer had talked in air cover: Slasher, the AC-130. The pilot was a woman and, Sandifer later told me, “It was so reassuring for us to hear her voice.” She spotted guys hiding and asked if she was clear to engage. “ ‘You’re cleared hot,’ I told her. And we killed two people together.” But, at this point, the killings were no consolation to Sandifer.

As Giunta said, “The richest, most-trained army got beat by dudes in manjammies and A.K.’s.” His voice cracked. He was not just hurting, he was in a rage. And there was nothing for him to do with it but hold back his tears, and bark — at the Afghans for betraying them, at the Army for betraying them. He didn’t run to the front because he was a hero. He ran up to get to Brennan, his friend.

[Tom Odom]

looks like it is official:


Obama to Award First Medal of Honor to Living Afghan War Vet (http://www.foxnews.com/search-results/search?q=MEDAL+OF+HONOR)

WASHINGTON -- President Obama will award the first Medal of Honor to go to a living service member who fought in the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta served as a rifle team leader during combat operations in Afghanistan's Korengal Valley. The White House says Giunta went beyond the call of duty during an October 2007 attack when he exposed himself to enemy fire to pull a comrade back to cover.

[Umar Al-Mokhtār]

Good Governance is hard.

Hell, we barely have it here. :D

[Bob's World]

Hell, we barely have it here. :D

This is a challenge for everyone. A constant challenge for everyone. No one can rest on their laurels on this issue.

[davidbfpo]

There are several threads on this award and the main one is:http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/showthread.php?t=11830

[davidbfpo]

Via an email about military blog writing a reflective piece by a soldier on the choice of Time magazine, incidentally a person I'd not heard of:http://rajivsrinivasan.wordpress.com/2010/12/17/person-of-the-year/

One paragraph:
I am not upset that Staff Sgt. Giunta wasn’t selected for the award. I don’t shame the periodical for not putting him on the short list. What makes me cringe is the fact that such heroic acts as Giunta’s in defense of our most beloved nation are still not “influential” enough — not valued enough — to move and inspire us as a country: a country for which so many of us cry fierce patriotism, yet feel so little of its burdens.

Thanks to Ken's comments and others I know a lot better than when I first came aboard SWC about the varying distance between the civilian and the soldier.