The irony and back-story of the situation are pretty fucked. He was originally going to be brought up on charges because he was ordered not to go back in to rescue the other Marines, and I guess as the story got noticed higher up the chain he was recommended for the MOH instead. He was asked if he had any requests while in DC, and he asked to have a beer with Obama, which they did in the Rose Garden last night. He's only the third living recipient in Iraq and Afghanistan and the first living Marine. Cool story.
During the speech Obama gave for the award ceremony, he said that when he tried to call him at his new civilian construction job to tell him he's getting the MOH, he wouldn't take the call and had him call back during his lunch break. That's fucking funny... "I'm sorry Mr. President, but can you call me back in a couple of hours? I've got nails to hammer"
did obamma call him a "corpse man" like the did the last Medal Of Honor recipient that he gave the medal to?
Even at knowing just a few Marines as distantly as I do, I have to imagine whoever gave those orders got a good swift kick in the ass for even thinking of giving orders like that.
I wanted to slap my wife in the face when I was watching the ceremony on T.V. and she started some inane babble about something she had read on TMZ. Bitch, can't you see there's important shit going on? It's fucking great to see Congress finally recognizing the valor that is taking place in these wars. World War II was roughly 5 years long and had 464 recipients. The Iraq and Afghanistan wars are 10 years old now and only have 10 recipients. I know there were a shitload more people on WWII and all that, but I think Congress probably robbed a lot of brave men and women(?) of the recognition that they deserved due to political views of the wars.
It has to be genetic. There is no way women can be so oblivious of the relative importance of what is on T.V. at the time compared to the latest news on the White House party-crashers (the actual story she was getting ready to tell me before I shushed her). Oddly enough, O&A covered the story on the show today, too.
My dad was 1st Recon in Vietnam, and the only thing I can think to say right now after reading this and also watching this today is Semper Fi. It was a damn good day for The Corps, and I agree that there's probably at least 10 other guys who should have been similarly decorated by now. It's a different world we live in.
