Posted on 11/18/2009 7:37:48 PM PST by Libloather
RIP, Colonel.
Here’s three examples of bravery from the Iraq war. And a mixture to spread the praise around - a woman, a combat engineer, and a marine!
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=16391
Sgt. Leigh Ann Hester of the 617th Military Police Company, a National Guard unit out of Richmond, Ky., received the Silver Star, along with two other members of her unit, Staff Sgt. Timothy Nein and Spc. Jason Mike, for their actions during an enemy ambush on their convoy.....
... Hester led her team through the “kill zone” and into a flanking position, where she assaulted a trench line with grenades and M203 grenade-launcher rounds. She and Nein, her squad leader, then cleared two trenches, at which time she killed three insurgents with her rifle.
When the fight was over, 27 insurgents were dead, six were wounded, and one was captured.
Hester, 23, who was born in Bowling Green, Ky., and later moved to Nashville, Tenn., said she was surprised when she heard she was being considered for the Silver Star.
“I’m honored to even be considered, much less awarded, the medal,” she said.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Ray_Smith
The Bradley, damaged and running low on ammunition, withdrew to reload during a lull in the battle. Smith organized the evacuation of the injured M113 crewmen. However, behind the courtyard was a military aid station crowded with 100 combat casualties. To protect it from being overrun, Smith chose to fight on rather than withdraw with the wounded.[1]
Meanwhile, some enemy had taken position in the tower overlooking the courtyard, just over the west wall. The enemy now had the Americans in the courtyard under an intense crossfire. Smith took command of the M113 and ordered a driver to position it so that he could attack both the tower and the trenches. He manned the M113’s machine gun, going through three boxes of ammunition.
http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/military/article_fe156d13-02fb-5949-badc-7e9321239bd6.html
ROCHESTER, N.Y. - A 29-year-old Marine from upstate New York received the Navy’s second highest award Thursday for charging into enemy trenches during an ambush in Iraq and continuing his attack after depleting his ammunition.
Marine Capt. Brian R. Chontosh, of Rochester, N.Y., received the Navy Cross Medal in a ceremony at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Training Center, Twentynine Palms, Calif. The Navy Cross is second only to the Congressional Medal of Honor.
“I was just doing my job,” said Chontosh, who is married and expecting his first child. “I did the same thing every other Marine would have done.”
On March 25, 2003, five days into the war, Chontosh led his platoon toward Ad Diwaniyah when the troops came under an ambush of enemy mortars, rocket propelled grenades and automatic weapons, Marine officials said.
Chontosh directed his driver into a hail of machine gun fire. His machine gunner returned fire.
Then Chontosh ordered the driver into the enemy trench, where he left the vehicle and depleted the ammunition in his service rifle and pistol. He twice picked up discarded enemy rifles and continued his attack, finally firing an enemy rocket propelled grenade launcher.
In the end, Chontosh killed more than 20 enemy soldiers and wounded several others.
“We’re very excited and very proud, obviously very proud of all the young men and women over there and everybody over there,” said his father, Rick Chontosh, who flew to San Diego with his wife to attend the ceremony.
A: James L. Jones, 32nd Commandant of the Marine Corps.
And your point is....???
The Marine Corps is an Air-Ground Team of LIGHT infantry whose specialty is forced entry to a foreign shore, thus enabling the army to land safely and without getting their feet wet (their specialty is the unopposed landing, of course) in order to “win” the war. “First to Fight” means just that. We enable the army to do ITS job. We take nothing from them in that regard. INCLUDING, I might add, the guff that is typical of the army with regard to our job and our accomplishments.
I trust that will satisfactorily answer your query. Always pleased to educate and enlighten my doggie brethren (and sistren)...
R.I.P.
North Africa, Sicily, Salerno, Anzio, South France Leyte, Luzon and Normandy were all US Army amphibious assaults. Somehow, the army managed to assault all those beachheads without a single marine unit.
It was the Marine Corps who taught them the amphibious techniques we developed during the ‘20s and ‘30s under Gen. H.M. Smith AND turned them on to the Mike boats and LVTs which we ALSO developed in that time frame. But I was speaking of the modern division of labor, not the past, glorious as it is to the Corps.
Seriously, the USMC certainly is a fine LIGHT infantry organization, but the history they teach young marines is only a part of the story. Unfortunately, some people choose to ignore or minimize the rest.
Vertical envelopment was something we developed kind of at the end of Korea and it’s worked out really well. We also use it in conjunction with amphibious assaults from over the horizon.
We do retain the amphib capability with our ARGs (Amphibious Ready Groups or whatever they call them today) with the MV-22 Osprey and the LCACs. Plus it’s a capability we can use (and have used) to put troops ashore in rescues and humanitarian situations.
Using the named army divisions in the assault does NOT offer the same capabilities as having a Marine Expeditionary Unit with its embedded air support and delivery units (the reinforced helicopter/Osprey squadron with Harriers). The air assault army divisions do NOT bring their logistics train with them, making it difficult to have a SUSTAINABLE operation of more than a couple of days.
Here is an article he wrote for us at WinterSoldier.com in 2004.
RIP for a genuine hero.
The Army uses these techniques quite effectively. And yes, the Army brings their logistics with them as well. The Army actually owns supply ships that are deployed when needed to sustain an operation.The airborne and air assault divisions contain their own air elements, support and logistics units and air power in the form of attack helicopters. It's just plain silly to say or infer that somehow the Army is an inferior fighting force. As I previously pointed out, the Army pulled off many amphibious assault landings, air assaults and other operations without the marines. A reasonable person would have to agree to that.
I would NEVER call the army an inferior fighting force. They have their function, we have ours. Ours is primarily forcible entry and be first on scene. Theirs is to come in and conquer after we open the door. They generally do their job well.
This is stupid and a waste of time. We just speak different languages. end
The Army also finished WWII with a bigger navy than the Navy...
I’m not sure if it’s still true but at one point the Army had more aircraft than the Air Force and more ships than the Navy. But they probably never had more public relations officers than the marines.
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