Medal of Honor Given to a Living Soldier

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Medal of Honor Given to a Living Soldier

Posted: 9/10/2010 3:56:29 PM EDT

WASHINGTON — In the most dangerous valley of the most rugged corner of
eastern Afghanistan, a small rifle team of airborne soldiers fell into
an insurgent ambush, a coordinated attack from three sides.

<h6 class="credit">Richard Bumgardner/Defense Department, via Associated Press</h6>

Salvatore A. Giunta

A young Army specialist, Salvatore A. Giunta, took a bullet to the
chest, but was saved by the heavy plates of his body armor. Shaking off
the punch from the round, he jumped up and pulled two wounded soldiers
to safety, grabbed hand grenades and ran up the trail to where his squad
mates had been patrolling.

There, he saw a chilling image: Two fighters hauling one of his American
comrades into the forest. Specialist Giunta hurled his grenades and
emptied the clip in his automatic rifle, forcing the enemy to drop the
wounded soldier. Still taking fire, he provided cover and comfort to his
mortally wounded teammate until help arrived.

"It was one of the worst days of my life, and when I revisit it, it kind
of guts me a little bit more every time,” the soldier, now a staff
sergeant, said Friday.

For his valor during that October 2007 mission, the White House announced Friday that the 25-year-old sergeant, of Hiawatha, Iowa, would become the first living service member to receive the Medal of Honor, the military’s most prestigious award, for action during any war since Vietnam.

"President Obama
said ‘thank you’ for what I did,” Sergeant Giunta said in an interview
from his current post in Vicenza, Italy, after getting a call from the
president. "My heart was pounding out of my chest, so much that my ears
almost stopped hearing. I had my wife by my side. She was holding my
hand. When she heard me say, ‘Mr. President,’ she gave me a squeeze.”

The soldiers of Company B, Second Battalion (Airborne), 503rd Infantry
Regiment, were part of a classic hearts-and-minds campaign to provide
food, winter clothing and medical care to remote Afghan villagers — and
to assure them that the American and Afghan troops were a stronger force
for security than the insurgents. After months of patrols in the
Korangal Valley that cost the American military dearly, the outposts there were disbanded this spring, with forces moved to provide security to larger population centers. The military’s travails in the valley were described by Elizabeth Rubin in The New York Times Magazine on Feb. 24, 2008, and formed a section of a recently published book, "War,” by Sebastian Junger.

Sergeant Giunta does not discuss strategy or policy when he reflects on
that night, during which two paratroopers died and most of the patrol
received serious injuries.

"I entered the Army when I was 18, and I’m 25 now. I became a man in the
Army,” he said. "That night I learned a lot — and after that night I
learned even more. This respect that people are giving to me? This was
one moment. In my battalion, I am mediocre at best. This shows how great
the rest of them are.”

The official White House statement differs. "His courage and leadership
while under extreme enemy fire were integral to his platoon’s ability to
defeat an enemy ambush and recover a fellow American paratrooper from
enemy hands,” the statement said. The date for his medal ceremony has
not been set. Sergeant Giunta has served two deployments to Afghanistan.

Six service members have been awarded Medals of Honor, all
posthumously, for operations since September 2001, according to Pentagon
statistics. The White House announced Thursday that another would be
awarded on Oct. 6, again posthumously. The honoree is Staff Sgt. Robert J. Miller
of Army Special Forces, who, on a mission in Afghanistan on Jan. 25,
2008, sacrificed his life to save the lives of other American and Afghan
troops.

According to Pentagon statistics, 464 Medals of Honor were awarded
during World War II, 133 during the Korean conflict and 246 during the
war in Vietnam. An analysis by Army Times
last year said that there were, on average, two or three Medals of
Honor awarded per 100,000 service personnel in previous wars — but that
the rate for the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan had averaged one per
million.

That discrepancy has troubled some military personnel
and members of Congress, who have asked whether officials have been
reluctant to honor service personnel — especially living ones — because
of instances in which well-publicized stories of combat bravery have
been proved incorrect.

Pentagon officials say the decisions reflect the differences of modern warfare
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/11/world/asia/11medal.html?_r=1

Posted: 9/10/2010 3:58:49 PM EDT

[#1]

damn

Posted: 9/10/2010 3:59:14 PM EDT

[#2]

Amazing

Posted: 9/10/2010 4:00:05 PM EDT

[#3]

About time.

Posted: 9/10/2010 4:02:15 PM EDT

[#4]

There is a multiple page thread in GD already....

Posted: 9/10/2010 4:05:03 PM EDT

[#5]

Quoted:
There is a multiple page thread in GD already....

Just bring up search and type in medal.

Posted: 9/10/2010 5:51:21 PM EDT

[#6]

Quoted:

Quoted:
There is a multiple page thread in GD already....

Just bring up search and type in medal.

I can't find it, how about a link?

Posted: 9/10/2010 7:24:39 PM EDT

[#7]

Quoted:

Quoted:

There is a multiple page thread in GD already....

Just bring up search and type in medal.

I can't find it, how about a link?

http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=1&f=5&t=1088960

Posted: 9/10/2010 7:40:57 PM EDT

[#8]

Quoted:

Quoted:
There is a multiple page thread in GD already....

Just bring up search and type in medal.

I can't find it, how about a link?

http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=1&f=5&t=1088960

Posted: 9/10/2010 7:47:32 PM EDT

[#9]

As much as he may not want the recognition this is the guy that should be on all the news channels and on the front of all the big magazines.
My sons will come to know his name as well as my state senator come tommorow morning. God Bless the USa and God Bless Sgt Giunta.

Posted: 9/10/2010 7:54:01 PM EDT

[#10]

Quoted:
As much as he may not want the recognition this is the guy that should be on all the news channels and on the front of all the big magazines.
My sons will come to know his name as well as my state senator come tommorow morning. God Bless the USa and God Bless Sgt Giunta.

Indeed.

To add, there are many more that should be part of that honorable and exclusive list.