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To: 68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub
Uncommon valor

© St. Petersburg Times
published April 18, 2003



The word "hero" is tossed around so casually these days that it has almost lost its meaning. Then comes the story of Army Sgt. Paul Smith, who reminds us what a real hero is. The 33-year-old soldier from Tampa was killed April 4 after valiantly fending off an Iraqi assault on his command post.

Smith's bravery in saving his troops is a story worth repeating. He was leading two dozen engineers building a prison at Baghdad International Airport when the contingent was attacked by 100 elite Republican Guards. As his soldiers fell around him, outmanned and outgunned, Smith dodged snipers and rocket grenades to tend to the wounded. He ran to a Humvee, grabbed a grenade and blew back the charging Iraqis. Then Smith climbed atop his armored vehicle and manned the .50-caliber machine gun, emptying four boxes of ammo over 90-minutes.

Witnesses said he killed 30 to 50 Iraqis and stopped the enemy from overrunning his post. When the firing stopped and the Americans regrouped, his men found Smith shot in the head. He was the only American to die in the fight.

Smith's commander plans to nominate him for the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest award for bravery. Whether his heroism amounts to gallantry beyond the call of duty is a distinction for others to make. The military has a process for deciding whether valor is common or not.

However one feels about the war, his fellow countrymen owe Smith -- and others like him -- their gratitude. This man of utter selflessness willingly put the lives of his comrades ahead of his own. He leaves a wife, two children and an inspiring legacy.

34 posted on 04/20/2003 9:07:10 AM PDT by Valin (Age and deceit beat youth and skill)
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To: Valin


Summary: Vision Forum Ministries presents a forum of scholars, theologians and journalists in opposition to the idea that a free people can survive while sending mothers and daughters to war.

The civil law, as well as nature herself, has always recognized a wide difference in the respective spheres and destinies of man and woman. Man is, or should be, woman's protector and defender. (Bradwell v. Illinois, U.S. Supreme Court, 1873)

Dear Friends:

     If certain federal lawmakers have their way, your eighteen-year-old daughters will be registered for selective service and drafted for combat by the next war. Should she find herself engaged in an overseas military exercise of any kind, you will be expected to accept as part of her duty that she may be shot, and if captured, gang raped. You will be told that this is the price of freedom that must be equally borne by men and women alike.

     Feminists argue that such an outcome is necessary in a culture that acknowledges full equality of opportunity between men and women. For the most part, the Christian church has leant credence to their theory through the embarrassing silence of pastors and politicians as America shamelessly sent daughters to their death during the Gulf War and more recently during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

     With this in mind, we at the Vision Forum have decided to pick a fight. Our fight is with any and all Christian men who have lost the ability to shudder in utter revulsion at the thought of mothers carrying M-16s while American men rest safely in their beds at home. Our argument is with our beloved fellow pastors who have quietly watched or actually encouraged young ladies on their way to the Marine Corps. recruitment office with a blessing from the local church. Today, we seek to provoke unto righteousness those denominations that have remained silent as we have sold our manhood cheap for a mess of pottage before the altar of political and partisan expediency. In short, our goal is to offer the faithful wounds of a friend to our loved ones in Christ.

     Toward this end we offer "A Forum on Women in the Military." Through this special forum made up of the contributions of key theologians and thinkers, we throw down the gauntlet of God's Holy Word to proclaim that it is biblically impermissible for men to abdicate their role as protectors and warriors by permitting and perpetuating the practice of women in the military. Click here to read my article, "The Gauntlet is Thrown: The Church Must Oppose the Sin of Women at War."


ADDITIONAL FEATURED ARTICLES

     Mamma Wears Combat Boots - Our dear friend, Jennie Chancey, correctly points out: "When the conservative commentators bring out all the studies and statistics that show women lack the upper body strength that is a given for ninety-five percent of the male population and that women tend to panic under fire, they have already given away the premise." Click here.

     An Offence to Every Righteous Man - In his exclusive article for us, Phil Lancaster writes: "To have women serving as soldiers on the battlefield is an abomination in the eyes of God and ought to be an offense to righteous men and women. It is an abandonment of the God-given order for society in which men are called upon to lay down their lives in defense of their wives, their homes, and their country, so that women can fulfill their primary calling to bear and nurture life." Click here.

     Boys Protect Girls - Vision Forum columnist R.C. Sproul, Jr. observes: "Let us speak against all abominations and aberrations. Let us, though we will suffer the anemic arrows of public opinion, speak with vigor what God's own Son, and my own son, will never forget -- that boys protect girls." Click here.

     What Kind of Nation Sends Women into Combat? - Syndicated columnists Cort Kirkwood served on the Presidential Commission on the Assignment of Women in the Armed Forces. He comments: "The ridiculous spectacle of rescued POW Pfc. Jessica Lynch, the feisty, ballyhooed warrior of the Army's 507th Maintenance Company, which was butchered early on in Iraq, occasioned the usual war whoops. Yet no one asked a simple question: What in heaven's name was a hundred-pound girl, barely out of pigtails and high school, doing in a combat zone?" Click here.

     What the Bible Says About the Draft and Women in Combat - Rus Walton has gone to be with the Lord, but his powerful words live on: "We must weigh compulsory military conscription -- and the potential drafting of young women -- on the scales of God's Word and measure our decisions on these matters according to His perfect will and perfect laws." Click here.

                              Persevero,

     

                              Doug Phillips
                              President, The Vision Forum, Inc.

VisionForum.com  | 


35 posted on 04/20/2003 9:13:03 AM PDT by ppaul
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To: Valin
"Then comes the story of Army Sgt. Paul Smith"

What a great story about a modern day hero.
Thanks for finding it and posting it.
77 posted on 04/20/2003 7:11:45 PM PDT by 68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub (Happy Easter and Passover Weekend)
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