The Few, the Proud...

[LovetoCamp 9]

http://www.redding.com/redd/nw_national/article/0,2232,REDD_17534_2879339,00.html

 

Why isn't the following plastered all over the media? I for one, am way tired of reading about the 1 reserve deserter and 7 misfit guards.

 

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) -- A 29-year-old Marine from upstate New York received the Navy's second highest award last week 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. 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.

 

Brian Chontosh served with the Weapons Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force based in Twentynine Palms.

 

More than 6,000 soldiers have been awarded Navy Cross Medals since World War I.

 

[LovetoCamp 9]

I missed this on ABC.

 

Fort Campbell Military Police Unit Honored For Heroism In Iraq

 

(FORT CAMPBELL, Ky., May 12th, 2004, 12:30 p.m.) -- A military police battalion was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation on Wednesday for extraordinary heroism in Iraq, receiving it for the second time in unit history.

 

The award Wednesday for the 716th Military Police Company was especially gratifying to the soldiers because it contrasts news out of Iraq about the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. military police officers at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

 

"I think you should take this story and put it right over top of the other one," said Terri Dorn, commander of the 194th Military Police Company within the battalion.

 

"There are so many good things that the military police do, so many good things that these soldiers have done and it's kind of sad to have an individual incident happen and it just kind of clouds over all the good things that we've been doing," said Dorn, 32, of Green Bay, Wis.

 

The 716th Military Police Battalion is the only one in Army military police corps history to receive the award, which honors actions that set it apart from others in the same war, said battalion commander Lt. Col. Aston Hayes.

 

The 716th first received the Presidential Unit Citation for its defense of the U.S. Embassy in Saigon, Vietnam, in 1968.

 

The latest award is for its work in southern Iraq while attached to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force for major combat. It provided security to the Marines, detained prisoners of war and conducted convoy operations.

 

Its force of 1,200 later moved into seven Iraqi cities to rebuild police operations and rebuild infrastructure.

 

"You once again stood up and held your heads high. The 716th knew what it was supposed to do in another one of our nation's wars to earn yourselves a Presidential Unit Citation, the highest award the government has to give," said Marine Col. John Sweeney. "There's no doubt here the every soldier here earned that, and we are thankful for that."

 

Sweeney, chief of staff of the 1st Force Service Support Group, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, spoke at the ceremony Wednesday where award was presented.

 

The 716th was the largest military police battalion in Iraq for major combat. Its partnership with the Marines is believed to be the first time an Army military police battalion was attached to a Marine unit during combat operations, Hayes said.

 

After the Marines returned home, the 716th supported a coalition of Polish and Spanish armies in southern Iraq.

 

On Oct. 17, 716th battalion commander Lt. Col. Kim S. Orlando was killed by hostile fire in Karbala. Hayes was flown to Iraq from Fort Riley, Kan., to take command of the 716th.

 

Combined, the battalion was awarded 27 Purple Hearts to those injured in combat -- including four awarded posthumously to those killed.

 

The unit's history dates to World War II when it helped guard troops and equipment transporting in and out of Jersey City, N.J. Since Vietnam, it has deployed to Grenada, Panama, Kosovo, and Saudi Arabia for the 1991 Persian Gulf War.

 

It is the most decorated military police battalion in the Army.

 

[LovetoCamp 9]

Mt. Pleasant Marine receives Silver Star

Marine Corps News

 

Release Date: 5/6/2004

 

Story by cpl. Luis Agostini

 

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif.(May 6, 2004) -- Marine Lance Cpl. Armand E. McCormick, 22, received the Silver Star Medal from the Commandant of the United States Marine Corps, Gen. Michael W. Hagee, during an awards ceremony May 5 at Marine Air Ground Combat Training Center, Twentynine Palms, Calif.

 

McCormick, a Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, native, received the military's third-highest award for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action against the enemy while serving as rifleman for Combined Anti-Armor Platoon, Weapons Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom on March 25, 2003.

 

Three other Marines received medals for valor at the same ceremony. "They are the reflection of the Marine Corps type who's service to the Marine Corps and country is held above their own safety and lives," said Gen. Hagee, commenting on the four Marines who received medals during the ceremony. "I'm proud to be here awarding the second highest and third highest awards for bravery to these great Marines."

 

"These four Marines are a reflection of every Marine and sailor in this great battalion," said Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps, Sgt. Maj. John L. Estrada.

 

Under heavy fire McCormick exhibited exceptional bravery when the lead elements of his battalion were ambushed with mortars, rocket propelled grenades, and squad automatic weapons fire. Fearlessly he drove his lightly armored vehicle directly at an enemy machine gun position and purposely crashed it into an occupied trench line. With the initial breach of the enemy defense now gained for his unit, he sprang from the vehicle and began assaulting the berm and ambush line with two Marines. Taking direct fire, and outnumbered, he pressed forward, firing his M9 pistol at enemy forces. Moving through the trench, he repeatedly came under enemy fire, each time calmly taking well-aimed shots.

 

As the group ran low on ammunition, he collected enemy rifles and a rocket- propelled grenade and continued to press the attack forward several hundred meters. As a follow-on company began to make their entrance into the berm, he returned to his vehicle and backed it out of the trench. McCormick's boldly aggressive actions greatly reduced the enemy's ability to inflict casualties on the rest of his battalion.

 

"It's an honor of course, it is just another day in the Marine Corps," said McCormick.

 

"I ready to go it again and help out with the situation," he said about redeploying to Iraq. Consequently, McCormick will be redeploying to Iraq Friday.

 

"To me I did what I was suppose to do, I did what was expected," he added.

 

Established in 1918, the Silver Star is awarded to a person who is cited for gallantry in action against an enemy of the United States while engaged in military operations involving conflict with an opposing foreign force, or while serving with friendly foreign forces engaged in armed conflict against an opposing armed force in which the United States is not a belligerent party. The required gallantry, while of a lesser degree than that required for award of the Distinguished Service Cross, must nevertheless have been performed with marked distinction.

 

[hops_scout 9]

Trail, you wont find it on the news because that would hurt the news and their party. That would mean that some of our troops want to be there and feel it needs to be done.

[red feather 10]

Keep them coming Trail!

 

and thanks.

 

yis