My Hometown Boys......Navy seals.

[War-Horse]

It hurts to see these things.  Knowing the real cause of the war and the deception these guys are fighting for.    When Bush/Cheney are tried for treason and war crimes due to the investigations that will follow on 9/11 and corporate crimes, etc......(these guys gave all for nothing.....)

 
 
Navy SEAL to Get Medal of Honor
Apr 1, 2008 (1:11a CDT)
By CHELSEA J. CARTER  (Associated Press Writer)

SAN DIEGO -  An elite Navy SEAL who threw himself on top of a grenade in Iraq to save his comrades will be posthumously awarded the nation's highest military tribute, a White House spokeswoman said Monday.

The Medal of Honor will be awarded to Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael A. Monsoor. His family will receive the medal during a White House ceremony April 8.

Monsoor is the fourth person to receive the honor since the beginning of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

"Petty Officer Monsoor distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism on Sept. 29, 2006," press secretary Dana Perino told reporters during a briefing aboard Air Force One as President Bush headed to Europe for a NATO summit.

Monsoor was part of a sniper security team in Ramadi with three other SEALs and eight Iraqi soldiers, according to a Navy account. An insurgent fighter threw the grenade, which struck Monsoor in the chest before falling in front of him.

Monsoor then threw himself on the grenade, according to a SEAL who spoke to The Associated Press in 2006 on condition of anonymity because his work requires his identity to remain secret.

"He never took his eye off the grenade, his only movement was down toward it," said a 28-year-old lieutenant, who suffered shrapnel wounds to both legs that day. "He undoubtedly saved mine and the other SEALs' lives, and we owe him."

Two SEALs next to Monsoor were injured; another who was 10 feet to 15 feet from the blast was unhurt. Monsoor, from Garden Grove, Calif., was 25 at the time.

Monsoor, a platoon machine gunner, had received the Silver Star, the third-highest award for combat valor, for his actions pulling a wounded SEAL to safety during a May 9, 2006, firefight in Ramadi.

He was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star for his sacrfice in Ramadi.

Sixteen SEALs have been killed in Afghanistan. Eleven of them died in June 2005 when a helicopter was shot down near the Pakistan border while ferrying reinforcements for troops pursuing al-Qaida militants.

There are about 2,300 of the elite fighters, based in Coronado and Little Creek, Va.

The Navy is trying to boost the number by 500 - a challenge considering more than 75 percent of candidates drop out of training, notorious for "Hell Week," five days of continual drills by the ocean broken by only four hours sleep total.

Monsoor made it through training on his second attempt.
 

[calmus]

god bless this man.

He'd probably rather be alive.

Takes a different kind of mind-set to fall on a grenade.  I know my first reaction would be to high-tail out of there.

[War-Horse]

Guys like this dont deserve to die.....I wish he had made the decision not to go into the supposed War on terror......He'll be in a better place than the ones who knew what was really up.

[24KT]

Guys like this dont deserve to die.....I wish he had made the decision not to go into the supposed War on terror......He'll be in a better place than the ones who knew what was really up.

Agreed

[headhuntersix]

Its funny watching u guys apologize for the death of a Navy Seal...why do u think that guy was a SEAL. This is not an 18 year old kid needing college money. Have u guys talked to SEAL, they're all nuts. This guy died saving his buddies...he's a hero, don't apologize for him.

[War-Horse]

 I grew up in san diego, family still there...of course Ive known seals.

I feel so much better now, thanks.

[calmus]

I grew up in san diego, family still there...of course Ive known seals.

I feel so much better now, thanks.

Me too!  Knowing they want to be blown up by grenades makes it all better. 

[CARTEL]

hey headhunter, you're just an idiot.

Yeah, he's a hero, but I'm sure he would have preferred to die.

I feel sorry that he chose to put himself on the grenade, instead of you.

Anyone who is willing to die for friends is one in a million. Military or not.

I would've done the same thing for any of the marines in my unit, any one of them,
but in no way would I have wanted to have to make that decision.

It's called honor, and courage, the first your'e obviously lacking, and without the first,
I seriously doubt you have the second.

I'd love to watch you get your little ass beat. Coward.

WTF are you talking about? Re-read his post.

[War-Horse]

WTF are you talking about? Re-read his post.

Im thinking he senses sarcasm from HH6.   Different military groups kinda stuff.....

[Purple Aki]

A British Royal Marine has just done the same thing, but luckily he survived. May be in line for the Victoria Cross:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/30/nhero130.xml

Heroic marine throws himself on grenade
By Thomas Harding, Defence Correspondent
Last Updated: 2:02am BST 31/03/2008

 Have your say      Read comments



A Royal Marine could receive the highest award for gallantry after he saved the lives of his comrades by throwing himself onto an exploding grenade in Afghanistan, it has been reported.

Frontline: Our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan
Have your say: Pay tribute to L/Cpl Croucher's bravery
Lance Corporal Matt Croucher amazingly survived the incident despite shrapnel peppering his helmet during the explosion.

   
L/Cpl Croucher's backpack was thrown more than 30ft in the explosion
 
His extraordinary courage, which could lead to a citation for the Victoria Cross, came after a tripwire booby-trap was stepped on during a nighttime mission outside the town of Sangin, Helmand province.

A live hand-grenade was released threatening to blow up L/Cpl Croucher, 24 and the rest of the patrol.

The marine shouted "grenade" and as his friends dived for cover L/Cpl Croucher lay with his back on the lethal device.

The patrol commander, Corporal Adam Lesley threw himself to the ground and another man got behind a wall, but one marine had frozen and was still standing when the grenade detonated.

"My reaction was, 'My God this can't be real'," said Cpl Lesley. "Croucher had simply lain back and used his day sack to blunt the force of the explosion. You would expect nine out of 10 people to die in that situation."

With fuses that can last several seconds the men waited for what "felt like a lifetime" before the grenade blew up.

The marine's backpack, thought to contain ammunition, was thrown more than 30ft and sent a burning radio battery flying through the air.

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L/Cpl Croucher, who suffered a bleeding nose and shock, was saved by the special plating inside his Osprey body armour. He almost certainly saved the life of Marine Scott Easter who had "just completely frozen".

"All I could hear was a loud ringing and the faint sound of people shouting 'are you ok? Are you ok?'" L/Cpl Croucher, a reservist from Birmingham, told the News of the World.

"Then I felt one of the lads giving me a top to toe check. My head was ringing. Blood was streaming from my nose. It took 30 seconds before I realised I was definitely not dead," he added.

Cpl Lesley said: "He had shrapnel in his helmet, in the plate of his body armour, but he was basically okay.

"His day sack had taken the blast."

The action happened on Feb 9 as the reconnaissance troop from 40 Commando went to search a bomb-making factory in a compound out Sangin.

A Ministry of Defence statement said: "L/Cpl Croucher has displayed incredible bravery in his action in Afghanistan. His bravery could well be recognised through some form of gallantry award in due course along with other personnel from the latest deployment to Afghanistan
 

[War-Horse]

A British Royal Marine has just done the same thing, but luckily he survived. May be in line for the Victoria Cross:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/30/nhero130.xml

These guys are to good to die...wish they were home.

[Purple Aki]

A British Royal Marine has just done the same thing, but luckily he survived. May be in line for the Victoria Cross:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/30/nhero130.xml

Turns out he got the George Cross - didn't get Victoria Cross due to not being in the face of the enemy. All being said and done, the man is a complete legend.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2445513/Royal-Marine-who-jumped-on-grenade-awarded-George-Cross.html

Royal Marine who jumped on grenade awarded George Cross
A Royal Marine is to receive the highest award for gallantry after jumping on a hand grenade to save the lives of three of his comrades.
 
By Thomas Harding Defence Correspondent
Last Updated: 11:52PM BST 22 Jul 2008


 Royal Marine Matthew Croucher, from Birmingham, 'fully expected' to lose a limb but was willing to make the sacrifice 'if I could keep my torso and head intact'
L/Cpl Matthew Croucher will become part of a select of group of just 20 living George Cross holders when the Queen awards him the medal, which is given for acts showing the same level of heroism as the Victoria Cross.

The Marine had less than seven seconds to make up his mind on whether to risk sacrificing his own life to save his friends when the hand grenade rolled onto the ground during an operation in Afghanistan earlier this year.

Without hesitating he chose to chance death and save his three fellow Royal Marines.

Now he has been awarded the George Cross, the highest decoration for bravery while not in the face of the enemy, which is surpassed only by the award of the Victoria Cross for thehighest level of bravery in the face of the enemy.

"It was a case of either having four of us as fatalities or badly wounded-or one," he said after the incident last February in Helmand province

L/Cpl Croucher, 24, was part of a company of 40 Commando sent to investigate a suspected Taliban bomb-making factory near the town of Sangin when he set off the trip-wire booby-trap that unleashed the deadly grenade.

"I thought, 'I've set this bloody thing off and I'm going to do whatever it takes to protect the others,'" he said.

The Marine then shouted "Grenade. Take cover" to three men close to the bomb.

"I knew a grenade like this has a killing circumference of about five metres," he said. "I'd been through this scenario in my mind and realised there was nowhere to take cover-there's no point running off because you're going to catch shrapnel.

"The lads behind me would have caught a lot too."

The serviceman, from Birmingham, "fully expected" to lose a limb but was willing to make the sacrifice "if I could keep my torso and head intact".

He dived onto the floor, rolled over and used his backpack - containing a 66mm rocket, a large lithium battery and medical kit - to cover the lethal shrapnel fragments from the coming blast.

When the bang went off he was thrown through the air and suffered just a nose bleed.

"It took 30 seconds before I realised I was definitely not dead," he said.

The astonished Marines looked on as L/Cpl Croucher's body armour and backpack shielded everyone from the blast which caused a few cuts and bruises.

L/Cpl Croucher was examined by a medic who recommended he should be evacuated but the Marine, who has completed three tours of Iraq, was determined to stay to fight the Taliban and within an hour had shot an insurgent approaching their position.

In an earlier instance of bravery the Marine attended a comrade shot in the chest preventing his lungs from collapsing while under fire for 45 minutes.

"Bullets were landing everywhere and at one stage a rocket-propelled grenade landed three metres from us. It injured four other guys," he later said.

L/Cpl Croucher has kept his backpack as a trophy of the day he "beat the grim reaper".

"When I see it I'm constantly reminded how lucky I am," he said.

[Stark]

A British Royal Marine has just done the same thing, but luckily he survived. May be in line for the Victoria Cross:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/30/nhero130.xml

incredible story a true warrior

[Purple Aki]

incredible story a true warrior

I know, and he's a reservist as well.

[Stark]

I know, and he's a reservist as well.

That doesn't matter, I'm a reservist as well.

and before I confuse certain people be under no illusion that I am not against Soldiers or soldering, I'm against a war based on lies
and deception.
I personally would have much more accepted it of Bush would have said: Listen up, we are running out of oil, these camelfuckers over there have all we need, they are weaker than we are, you guys have 2 days to comply or we going to surprise you.

much better an honest.

[Purple Aki]

That doesn't matter, I'm a reservist as well.

and before I confuse certain people be under no illusion that I am not against Soldiers or soldering, I'm against a war based on lies
and deception.
I personally would have much more accepted it of Bush would have said: Listen up, we are running out of oil, these camelfuckers over there have all we need, they are weaker than we are, you guys have 2 days to comply or we going to surprise you.

much better an honest.

You got me wrong, dude. I wasn't disparaging reservists, if anything they probably have to make bigger sacrifices - juggling a full time job/home life, as well as serving their country.

[Nordic Superman]

Matthew Croucher is a legend.

That doesn't matter, I'm a reservist as well.

and before I confuse certain people be under no illusion that I am not against Soldiers or soldering, I'm against a war based on lies
and deception.
I personally would have much more accepted it of Bush would have said: Listen up, we are running out of oil, these camelfuckers over there have all we need, they are weaker than we are, you guys have 2 days to comply or we going to surprise you.

much better an honest.

Good job you're not against soldering, otherwise I would have called you out as an hypocrite for using a computer.

[Stark]

You got me wrong, dude. I wasn't disparaging reservists, if anything they probably have to make bigger sacrifices - juggling a full time job/home life, as well as serving their country.

ah no I didn't though you were disparing reservists all good.

[Purple Aki]

Matthew Croucher is a legend.

Good job you're not against soldering, otherwise I would have called you out as an hypocrite for using a computer.

Heh! Bravo.

[Purple Aki]

ah no I didn't though you were disparing reservists all good.

Cool.

Slightly off topic, but I've been wondering this for a while: How are World War 2 veterans treated in Germany, Stark? Do you have the equivalent of remembrance day parades, like we have in the UK?

The reason I ask is that all the Germans I've met (liberal university students, granted) never wanted to talk about the War etc.

[Stark]

Cool.

Slightly off topic, but I've been wondering this for a while: How are World War 2 veterans treated in Germany, Stark? Do you have the equivalent of remembrance day parades, like we have in the UK?

The reason I ask is that all the Germans I've met (liberal university students, granted) never wanted to talk about the War etc.

ABSOLUTLY NOTHING!!!

We try to suppress that these guys had to fight and since we fought on the side of evil there is nothing to be proud about,
However i served with the Panzergrenadiers (one of the toughest Soldiers in WW2 German side) and there the whole being proud of the Wermacht and so on was very much alife

In fact all I have seen in Germany was a huge exhibition that proved via pictures and Documentation that the Wermacht was also partly responsible for the slaughter of innocent civvies Jews and undesirables in the East.
Of courses these people are dying out.
I have a friend in Germany who's now 80 and he has served in France and Russia he could tell you stories you wouldn't believe.
Stories of him shotting a young Sergeant with his pistol because he coward down in a fetus position because of the advancing Russians.
Thousand killed and he left with a few others, unbelievable cruelty, the guy has absolutely no heart left but give him something to drink and let him talk than lean back and let him talk.

[Purple Aki]

Its sad that the bravery and the sacrifice that they made for their country goes unrecognised. Nothing good can come of carrying on this collective guilt indefinitely.

Ironically, I know two British paratroopers that have "fallschirmager" tattoos.