SALUTING MILITARY VALOR

84 yr. old sniper!

2011-03-20T06:25:00.000-07:00

Please watch this video, he still has it!

http://www.shootingusa.com/IMPOSSIBLE_SHOTS/IS_SNIPER/is_sniper.html

Lance Cpl. Andrew Carpenter

2011-03-01T06:51:00.001-08:00

Lance Cpl. Andrew Carpenter

2011-03-01T06:46:00.001-08:00

Soldier laid to rest

2010-02-16T15:33:00.000-08:00

photo courtesy of Susan W. Thurman

articles courtesy of The Daily Herald (columbia, tn.)

In my Home Town we laid a Soldier to rest yesterday (2-15-10),

Chief Warrant Officer 2 Clayton Hickman.

Please read through the article and pay close attention to the Caption below the second picture. That would be the hardest thing (in my opinion) to do, but I would'nt want anyone else to present it. Please pass this one on!

Thank you;

Richard, MFDC

Congressional Medal of Honor recipient: Edward Freeman

2010-01-31T12:44:00.001-08:00

$300 Billion Betrayal

2010-01-31T12:09:00.000-08:00

You really need to see this for yourself. Click on this link and it will take you to YouTube. Tell a friend.
Thanks; Richard MFDC

MEDAL OF HONOR RECIPIENT

2010-01-17T14:39:00.000-08:00

Medal of Honor recipient: Paul Ray Smith
Click on link to read all about Paul and what he did.
Richard,MFDC

Wounded in an ambush - Aaron Davis

2010-01-08T06:41:00.000-08:00

Aaron Davis is a Soldier that we can all stand up and cheer. He truly showed what he was made of and where his heart and loyalties were.
A must read!!! Click here to read story

Thank YOU for reading;
Richard, MFDC

Four Down - 20,000 Responded

2010-01-08T06:06:00.000-08:00

FOUR DOWN - 20,000 RESPONDED

FUNERAL FOR FOUR HEROES TODAY IN TACOMA UNPRECEDENTED TEN'S OF THOUSANDS OF POLICE OFFICERS FROM ALL OVER THE USA, CANADA, AND OVERSEAS SHOWED UP FOR THE FUNERAL FOR THE 4 SLAIN POLICE OFFICERS FROM THE TACOMA SUBURB OF LAKEWOOD. OVER 20,000 POLICE OFFICERS ARRIVED FOR THE FUNERAL. 1,000 ROYAL CANADIAN MOUNTED POLICE OFFICERS DRESSED IN THEIR RED UNIFORMS FORMED A MASSIVE SEA OF RED. OVER 100 OFFICERS ATTENDED FROM NEW YORK , AND ANOTHER 100 FROM BOSTON . ALL HOTELS IN TACOMA WERE BOOKED FULL AND THE OVERFLOW OFFICERS WERE INVITED INTO THE HOMES OF LOCAL OFFICERS. MC CHORD AIR FORCE BASE OFFERED THEIR BASE AS A STAGING AREA FOR OVER 1,000 POLICE VEHICLES THAT WOULD FORM A PROCESSION FROM LAKEWOOD TO THE TACOMA DOME. AN AMAZING 3,000 VEHICLES SHOWED UP FROM ALL OVER THE USA AND THE PROCESSION TOOK 4 HOURS TO WIND THEIR WAY TO THE TACOMA DOME WITH THE STREETS LINED WITH THOUSANDS OF FOLKS WAVING AMERICAN FLAGS ALONG THE WAY...ALL IN WEATHER THAT WAS SUNNY BUT AROUND 20F DEGREES. THE ABOVE PICTURE SHOWS THE PROCESSION AS THEY PICKED UP THE 4 WHITE HEARSES IN LAKEWOOD . I'LL GIVE YOU THE REST OF THE REPORT IN PICTURES AS FOLLOWS... [Photo] 3,000 POLICE VEHICLES STAGED AT MC CHORD AIR FORCE BASE AS THE PROCESSION STARTS [Photo] THE LOCAL TV COVERAGE OF THE FUNERAL LASTED FOR OVER 6 HOURS. [Photo] NOTICE THE FACES AS THE OFFICERS PASSED BY... [Photo] THE FUNERAL PROCESSION WAS 10 MILES LONG AND TOOK 4 HOURS TO GET ALL THE VEHICLES TO THE TACOMA DOME [Photo] ARRIVING AT THE TACOMA DOME [Photo] MOVING THE CASKETS INSIDE [Photo] ROYAL CANADIAN MOUNTED POLICE MARCH FROM THE PARKING AREA IN A SEA OF RED [Photo] AT EASE BEFORE THE START OF THE MARCH [Photo] INSIDE THE TACOMA DOME [Photo] POLICE OFFICER PATCHES LEFT FROM ALL OVER THE USA [Photo] INSIDE ~ THANK YOU CANADA FOR YOUR RESPECT, AND ALSO TO ALL THE OTHER OFFICERS FROM OVER 275 CITIES WHO ATTENDED FROM ALL OVER THE USA ~ THANK YOU [Photo] THE 3 COURAGEOUS CHILDREN OF SLAIN OFFICER, GREG RICHARDS, SPEAK IN HIS MEMORY. GAVIN(10), JAMI-MAE(15), AUSTIN(17) [Photo] THIS WAS A FUNERAL THAT NOT ONLY HONORED THE MEMORY AND COURAGE OF THE 4 FALLEN OFFICERS, BUT TO HONOR ALL LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS, FIREMEN, PARAMEDICS, AND MILITARY POLICE FROM THE WHOLE USA WHO SERVE TO PROTECT US. THANK YOU AND GOD BLESS.

Thanks for reading, pass it on please!
Richard, MFDC

Jared Christopher Monti - Medal of Honor

2010-01-05T17:43:00.001-08:00

http://www.americanvalor.net/heroes/811

Go and read about Jared Christopher Monti and see how he saved his men!
Thanks for reading;
Richard MFDC

Marine used his helmet to smother hand grenade, killing him but saving others

2010-01-05T17:39:00.000-08:00

http://www.americanvalor.net/heroes/805

Jason L. Dunham; Medal of Honor Recipient. Come read about jasons Valor!

Thanks for reading;
Richard, MFDC

MEDAL OF HONOR RECIPIENTS

2010-01-05T17:21:00.000-08:00

Here is a link to the website " SWTimes.com", who has a series called "Saluting American Valor". This is a wonderful series which I highly recommend. This link goes to the Medal of Honor Recipients.

: http://www.americanvalor.net/medal-of-honor-recipients

Richard, MFDC

E-mail-A-Friend: American Valor: Leader’s Platoon Holds Off Enemy

2010-01-05T17:08:00.001-08:00

Story:
American Valor: Leader’s Platoon Holds Off Enemy

Sgt. 1st Class William Tomlin III was exhausted and severely dehydrated. Up against an enemy force of 300, the 45 soldiers of his scout platoon had been battling for nearly six hours in temperatures reaching almost 120 degrees near the village of Chakak, Afghanistan.

And now the enemy forces had closed within 15 meters of his position.

For more of this story, click on or type the URL below:

http://www.swtimes.com/articles/2009/12/28/news/news122809_01.txt

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Thanks for reading;

Richard,MFDC

Four cited for heroism in Afghanistan

2010-01-04T17:53:00.000-08:00

Four cited for heroism in Afghanistan

Richard,MFDC

Band of 10 fends off onslaught

2009-12-31T15:40:00.000-08:00

(by David Briscoe, Copyright 2009 Stephens Media)
(The Daily Herald- 11-9-09/ Vol.111, no.32)

Soldier directs air strikes

The Taliban assault force rolled out of a mountain pass on Nov. 16, 2001, about 1,000 fighters headed toward a strategic town in south-central Afghanistan that had booted out local Taliban leaders. From a ridge outside Tarin Kowt, capital of Oruzgan province, a 10 man U.S. Special Forces team, accompanied by a few dozen guerrillas and commanded by Capt. Jason Amerine, directed Navy F-18 air strikes against the approaching enemy convoy.
The day would be a roller coaster ride, one that would test Amerine's skills and emotions. Suddenly, with American bombs blasting the enemy as it advanced, the guerrillas decided they'd had enough. They packed into their pickup trucks, threatening to leave the Americans stranded atop the ridge. "All of us were yelling, trying to get them to stop, but we couldn't," Amerine recalled. With no choice but to jump aboard the pickups, "It was just an awful ride for 35 minutes as we retreated all the way back into town."
Two months after 9/11, in the early days of the war on terror, Amerine's tiny band of Green Berets had been dropped into Afghanistan to organize and train friendly locals. A guerrilla leader, Hamid Karzai, was trying to mobilize local fighters to oust Taliban radicals from the entire region around Tarin Kowt.
When they got back to town, Amerine told Karzai that the Americans needed to get back to the battle or the town would fall. "So, we basically forced all the drivers out of their trucks, took the trucks, and we drove back out of town," Amerine said.
The Special Forces team returned to the ridge and called in more air strikes, confident they could still stop the Taliban advance. But when the F-18s had to go back to reload, it was just Amerine and his nine men in pickup trucks against hundreds of Taliban, who couldn't be stopped. "At one point, some of the lead elements of the enemy convoy got to the edge of town, and we heard small arms fire," Amerine said. "That to me was it. The enemy made it to town. We're going to have to start thinking about going and getting Karzai and getting out of there."
Then they realized the arms fire was coming not from the Taliban but from the Tarin Kowt residents. "The people were engaging the (Taliban) convoy," Amerine said. "We still had hundreds of enemy coming for us, but the town was there fighting with us."
The day ended with an early victory in the war in Afghanistan. For Amerine, the battle led to a Bronze Star with Valor, making him one of the first decorated heroes of the war. For Karzai, it led to the Afghan presidency. The battle of Tarin Kowt established his credibility at home and abroad and turned the tide against the Taliban across the Pashtun tribal belt where the movement was born.
Just six weeks after Tarin Kowt, the Taliban surrendered Kandahar, Afghanistan's second-largest city. But Amerine and his team, with two men added, missed the surrender, falling victim just hours before to the deadliest friendly fire incident of the war.
Two men from Amerine's A-Team, one other American and more than 30 Afghan guerrillas died when a soldier who had joined the operation with a head quarters group mistakenly called down a 2,000-pound bomb onto his own coordinates.
Amerine views the incident just north of Kandahar as part of the danger of war and calls the men killed in his unit- Master Sgt. Jefferson Davis of Clarksville, Tenn., and Sgt. 1st Class Daniel Petithory of Cheshire, Mass.- the real heroes of the campaign.

In all, Amerine's unit received 11 Purple Hearts, eight Bronze Stars and two posthumous Silver Stars. Now 38, Amerine is the very image of a decorated soldier.
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Thank you for reading;
Richard, MFDC

Soldier Save Squad leader (Staff Sgt. John Marra)

2009-12-30T16:42:00.000-08:00

(by Ellen Woods copywrite 2009 Stephens Media):

Blasted by a roadside bomb, the last truck in the convoy flew into the air and landed on its side. The gunner ran out of the dust cloud shrouding the M1117 armored security vehicle while the driver crawled out through a hole.
Two trucks ahead, Staff Sgt. John Marra Jr. grabbed his rifle and medical bag and jumped down from the turret as enemy small-arms fire peppered the wreckage. His unit, the 303rd Military Police Company, had lost its medic, killed in an ambush three weeks earlier. On Oct. 24 2007, with the unit nearing the end of a 13-month Iraq deployment, this would be Marra's first time going it alone in her place.
"I ran, apparently under a lot of gunfire," Marra said. " I could hear it at the time, but I didn't know it was skipping off the ground all around me." When he reached the overturned truck, he found one soldier dead and another trapped. Further exposing himself to enemy fire, Marra jumped onto the passenger-side door, now the top of the truck.
Still alive inside, but in bad shape, was Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Blaxton, the squad leader.
"The armored doors are 500-plus pounds," Marra said. "Another one of our soldiers, Staff Sgt. Christopher Riley, jumped up to help me, and we held the door open while we lifted (Blaxton) vertically out the door. He weighs 200 pounds with 60 or 70 pounds of body armor and his back was broken, so we were lifting dead weight. I did a brief check for pulse and breath, and there were no signs of life.
Marra inserted a nasopharyngeal airway tube into Blaxton's nasal passage to clear an opening. He immediately heard encouraging gurgling sounds of Blaxton attempting to breathe. Marra and Riley loaded their critically injured squad leader into the back of the open-bed, non-armored Iraqi police truck and raced to the district police station for further medical help.
We were trying to outrun the insurgents, "Marra said. "We were bouncing around every which way, winding in and out of alleys. I was in the back of the truck straddled on top of Blaxton, trying to cover his body while performing CPR and trying to insert an IV line."
At the same time, Marra wondered about the Iraqis in the front of the truck. He had trained them, but were they trustworthy? It wouldn't be the first time, he thought, if the drivers simply turned over their passengers to the enemy.
This time, the Marra-trained policemen delivered their cargo to safety. Blaxton survived and has since medically retired from the military. He has become a wheelchair athlete. Marra dismisses his act of heroism: "Anyone in my unit would have done the same thing. We're trained to react the way we did that day. Your body takes over. The training is rigorous, and I don't think I would have been able to do what I did that day without it." He also drew inspiration from the memory of Cpl. Rachel Hugo, the medic who had been killed. She died in Bayji, in a similar attack in almost the same location.
As Marra worked to save Blaxton, he recalled a "slow motion second" in which he " looked over at the alley where we lost her. She's the one who taught me to put in an airway. She was with all of us that day."
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This information was taken from "The Daily Herald" Columbia, Tn. Vol.111. no.55 12/07/09
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Richard, MFDC

SALUTING MILITARY VALOR (my new blog)

2009-12-30T15:58:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone:

My name is Richard Blodgett and this is my new Blog! I wanted to start posting all the information that I am receiving about our Soldiers!
SELFLESS COURAGE AT THE MOMENT OF TRUTH!
There is alot of information that I get from my local newspaper and from different emails and social sites that I visit. I wanted to group it all together and I will list credits to the individuals or places where the information is gathered from. I will list or place up photos when available. I will also have links to there sites and to my own website.
If you know of any stories of battles from Afghanistan or Iraq, email me and I will place it here for you. I am trying to get there stories out to as many people as possible.
Thank you for reading and pass my blog address along: http://salutingmilitaryvalor.blogspot.com/

Richard, MFDC