More Hell on Earth
I hope you read my post yesterday about the firebombing of Japan. In continuation of that though process for me, I heard a story on NPR this morning that make the hackles on my neck stand up.
I am so happy that we have people of honor and courage that defend our nation. Even though I'm not sure that we need to be defended like we are, that has absolutely nothing to do with the soldiers that are called on to wage the wars our politicians make for us.
I am so blessed never to have had to go off to war. I'm sure I would have gone, willingly, if I was ever called - but I was born at the right time and missed all of that.
I always love to watch the Band of Brothers DVD's. The most amazing television I have ever seen. Bar none. I have no idea what it was like - but that seems to be how it was by all accounts.
My personal involvement in these things was simply going to the airport and seeing my father off to Vietnam, agan and then again again. And going to pick him up - all emaciated and sick. Very, very sick.
He was a Green Beret. He lived in the mountains with the Montanyards (indigenous people of Vietnam) and he set up raids on North Vietnamese positions. This required him to live, litereally, weeks on end in the trees of jungles so dense that you couldn't see 10 feet in front of you.
And he lived for that. I have no idea why - all I know is that he would never talk of it. Not at all.
I never thought much about it until one of my friends would ask my dad something stupid like "Mr. Kennedy, did you have to kill people in Vietnam"?
Now even at a young age, I realized that you shouldn't ask anyone a question like that. But at the question, he would turn from his normally jovial self into a very quiet reserved man who would leave the room without comment.
Those reactions from the man I knew and loved told me all I ever needed to know about war.
I'm sure that there are memories that all soldiers have that are positive. Such as the brotherhood they all feel with each other and acts of heroism that truly were just reactions.
I remember one line at the last of the Band of Brothers series where Major Winters is telling about his grandson sitting on his lap when he was little and looking at all of the Major's medals and ribbons.
"Were you a hero, Grandpa"?
The answer came as naturally as water flowing in a river when he replied, "no, but I served in a company of them"............
So here's the story. Please pray for our troops and for wisdom for our leaders. I actually think that we have some that have wisdom at this time.
Air Force Staff Sgt. Zachary Rhyner's story is one of heroism in battle. On April 6, 2008, Rhyner and his team were participating in an assault on Shok Valley in northeastern Afghanistan.
At first light, giant helicopters swooped into the valley. The mission of the special forces teams was to capture an insurgent, what the military calls a high value target. No coalition forces had ever been to that area before. There was no place to land. There was an icy river running down the middle of the valley — a river they hadn't been told about.
Once in the valley, Airman Rhyner's team had to climb. The village was hundreds of feet above them. They had made it about 60 feet up before things went wrong.
"The first couple shots rang out," Rhyner adds, "Immediately our terp (interpreter) was killed, he got shot in the face. And he died right away. From there we took another volley of rounds, another teammate was hit."
The insurgents were above them — shooting down from the village and from high cliffs on both sides of the valley.
The team began to pull back and look for cover. Rhyner's job as the Air Force member of the team was to call in air support.
Rhyner picks up: "The fire continued, we were pulling security, shooting back, and I was coordinating with gun runs and bomb runs with the aircraft that was overhead. I got hit in the leg. And from there we just grabbed our wounded and pulled back as far as possible to get as much cover as possible. When we did that we kind of trapped ourselves with a cliff on either side of us."
The mission had changed. It was all about getting out alive now. Rhyner has been shot in the leg. He's firing his own rifle at fighters nearby. He's also calling in air strikes from above: F-15's, Apaches and A-10's. The battle goes on for hours.
Another Special Forces team tries to reach Rhyner's position. They couldn't. There was too much fire. That team's Airman was Rob Gutierrez, "They're just shooting down at us. It looked like a stadium with multiple cameras going off."
Gutierrez was hit twice in the head trying to reach Rhyner. Amazingly the bullets only dented his helmet. "We're fighting for our lives, you know what I mean?," Gutierrez adds.
He says, "We were just overwhelmed ... never been put in that ... I mean, a very difficult situation, engaging fire with helicopters and fixed wing aircraft — at the same time, yourself, shooting and trying to move and help injured guys get across the river and things like that...and you're slipping and falling and trying to get behind some sort of cover. "
While the standoff continues, Rhyner's team is still trapped. He says more than half of the team has been wounded.
"Rounds that weren't hitting us were hitting our equipment, pretty much everyone on our team had a bullet hole in some form — whether it was hitting their gear or hitting their limbs, stuff like that."
The insurgents got so close that Rhyner had to call in air strikes practically on top of his own position: Rockets, cannon and bombs. Nothing worked. Finally, there was only one option left: Rhyner calls in a 2,000 pound bomb.
Rhyner remembers, "After it went off, you literally couldn't see but a couple of inches in front of your face because of all the debris and dust that was in the air. And it sent down huge pieces of building and boulders and stuff, just showering us with all sorts of debris."
That stopped the shooting long enough for Rhyner's team to fight their way out — carrying their wounded down a cliff and across a chest-high, ice cold river.
The Battle of Shok Valley lasted about six hours. More than half of the Americans there were injured but none of them died. Ten Army Green Beret's won Silver Stars that day. That's the most for one action since Vietnam.
On Tuesday, Airman Zachary Rhyner is award the service's highest honor: The Air Force Cross. He's one of three men to receive it fighting in Afghanistan. The other two were awarded posthumously.
Wow and Amen
Peace be with you...............and everyone else as well
I am so happy that we have people of honor and courage that defend our nation. Even though I'm not sure that we need to be defended like we are, that has absolutely nothing to do with the soldiers that are called on to wage the wars our politicians make for us.
I am so blessed never to have had to go off to war. I'm sure I would have gone, willingly, if I was ever called - but I was born at the right time and missed all of that.
I always love to watch the Band of Brothers DVD's. The most amazing television I have ever seen. Bar none. I have no idea what it was like - but that seems to be how it was by all accounts.
My personal involvement in these things was simply going to the airport and seeing my father off to Vietnam, agan and then again again. And going to pick him up - all emaciated and sick. Very, very sick.
He was a Green Beret. He lived in the mountains with the Montanyards (indigenous people of Vietnam) and he set up raids on North Vietnamese positions. This required him to live, litereally, weeks on end in the trees of jungles so dense that you couldn't see 10 feet in front of you.
And he lived for that. I have no idea why - all I know is that he would never talk of it. Not at all.
I never thought much about it until one of my friends would ask my dad something stupid like "Mr. Kennedy, did you have to kill people in Vietnam"?
Now even at a young age, I realized that you shouldn't ask anyone a question like that. But at the question, he would turn from his normally jovial self into a very quiet reserved man who would leave the room without comment.
Those reactions from the man I knew and loved told me all I ever needed to know about war.
I'm sure that there are memories that all soldiers have that are positive. Such as the brotherhood they all feel with each other and acts of heroism that truly were just reactions.
I remember one line at the last of the Band of Brothers series where Major Winters is telling about his grandson sitting on his lap when he was little and looking at all of the Major's medals and ribbons.
"Were you a hero, Grandpa"?
The answer came as naturally as water flowing in a river when he replied, "no, but I served in a company of them"............
So here's the story. Please pray for our troops and for wisdom for our leaders. I actually think that we have some that have wisdom at this time.
Air Force Staff Sgt. Zachary Rhyner's story is one of heroism in battle. On April 6, 2008, Rhyner and his team were participating in an assault on Shok Valley in northeastern Afghanistan.
At first light, giant helicopters swooped into the valley. The mission of the special forces teams was to capture an insurgent, what the military calls a high value target. No coalition forces had ever been to that area before. There was no place to land. There was an icy river running down the middle of the valley — a river they hadn't been told about.
Once in the valley, Airman Rhyner's team had to climb. The village was hundreds of feet above them. They had made it about 60 feet up before things went wrong.
"The first couple shots rang out," Rhyner adds, "Immediately our terp (interpreter) was killed, he got shot in the face. And he died right away. From there we took another volley of rounds, another teammate was hit."
The insurgents were above them — shooting down from the village and from high cliffs on both sides of the valley.
The team began to pull back and look for cover. Rhyner's job as the Air Force member of the team was to call in air support.
Rhyner picks up: "The fire continued, we were pulling security, shooting back, and I was coordinating with gun runs and bomb runs with the aircraft that was overhead. I got hit in the leg. And from there we just grabbed our wounded and pulled back as far as possible to get as much cover as possible. When we did that we kind of trapped ourselves with a cliff on either side of us."
The mission had changed. It was all about getting out alive now. Rhyner has been shot in the leg. He's firing his own rifle at fighters nearby. He's also calling in air strikes from above: F-15's, Apaches and A-10's. The battle goes on for hours.
Another Special Forces team tries to reach Rhyner's position. They couldn't. There was too much fire. That team's Airman was Rob Gutierrez, "They're just shooting down at us. It looked like a stadium with multiple cameras going off."
Gutierrez was hit twice in the head trying to reach Rhyner. Amazingly the bullets only dented his helmet. "We're fighting for our lives, you know what I mean?," Gutierrez adds.
He says, "We were just overwhelmed ... never been put in that ... I mean, a very difficult situation, engaging fire with helicopters and fixed wing aircraft — at the same time, yourself, shooting and trying to move and help injured guys get across the river and things like that...and you're slipping and falling and trying to get behind some sort of cover. "
While the standoff continues, Rhyner's team is still trapped. He says more than half of the team has been wounded.
"Rounds that weren't hitting us were hitting our equipment, pretty much everyone on our team had a bullet hole in some form — whether it was hitting their gear or hitting their limbs, stuff like that."
The insurgents got so close that Rhyner had to call in air strikes practically on top of his own position: Rockets, cannon and bombs. Nothing worked. Finally, there was only one option left: Rhyner calls in a 2,000 pound bomb.
Rhyner remembers, "After it went off, you literally couldn't see but a couple of inches in front of your face because of all the debris and dust that was in the air. And it sent down huge pieces of building and boulders and stuff, just showering us with all sorts of debris."
That stopped the shooting long enough for Rhyner's team to fight their way out — carrying their wounded down a cliff and across a chest-high, ice cold river.
The Battle of Shok Valley lasted about six hours. More than half of the Americans there were injured but none of them died. Ten Army Green Beret's won Silver Stars that day. That's the most for one action since Vietnam.
On Tuesday, Airman Zachary Rhyner is award the service's highest honor: The Air Force Cross. He's one of three men to receive it fighting in Afghanistan. The other two were awarded posthumously.
Wow and Amen
Peace be with you...............and everyone else as well
posted by KK at 8:58 AM
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