Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta First Living Medal of Honor Recipient for Valor in the Wars in Afghanist

[DFab420]

Source: ABC News

Today 25-year-old Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta of Iowa becomes the first living Medal of Honor recipient for valor in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Giunta will receive the nation's highest medal for his heroic actions on the battlefield in Afghanistan Oct. 25, 2007, which helped save one soldier's life and the body of another from falling into enemy hands.

President Obama will bestow the medal in a ceremony at the White House. Giunta will be the first living service member to receive the Medal of Honor since the Vietnam War.

-snip-

"Spc. Giunta's selfless actions and personal courage were the decisive factors in changing the tide of the battle, ensuring that Sgt. Brennan was not captured by the enemy, and preventing the lead fire team from being destroyed by the enemy's near ambush. Despite bullets impacting on and around himself, Spc. Giunta fearlessly advanced on the enemy and provided aid to his fallen comrades. His actions saved the lives of multiple paratroopers and changed the course of the battle in his platoon's favor," reads the official narrative.

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/News/25-year-iowan-recieve-living-medal-honor-valor/story?id=12160138

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Honestly, with everything else that goes on. Please Please don't let this man's courage and unyeilding loyalty to his comrades in arms go unnoticed.

DU, whatever your opinions about the wars are, this man deserves our praise and respect. Let's have a moment of reflection to think about the sacrifices paid daily by these men and women.


(In a side note, I doubt that Spc. Giunta would care if any of his squad members were gay, lesbian, straight, or asexual. I bet he just thought of them as people who needed his help...just that thought Sen. McCain)

[PearliePoo2]

1. Hate the wars...

but tears down my cheeks for this courageous young man of valor.:cry:

[Uncle Joe]

2. Thank you for your service, Sgt. Giunta.

:patriot:

Thanks for the thread, DFab.

[BrklynLiberal]

3. We can hate the war, but love the warriors..the ones that actually have boots on the ground, that is

NOT the politicians/chickenhawks that send other people's children to fight wars for them.

This young man deserves all the credit and admiration in the world.

It is a shame that he had to be a hero that at a war front, instead of at some disaster in home town...

[jwirr]

5. That is the lesson that we have learned since Vietnam. It is and

never has been the fault of the warriors. Politicians and corporations are the driving force behind all wars. Thank you for your service sir.

[proteus_lives]

7. Most have learned that lesson.

But some refuse to, even on DU.

[bluedigger]

4. Thank you for your service, SSG Giunta!

I just watched the award ceremony. Good work! I also found this excerpt which describes his actions, as well as the reactions of men in combat generally: http://www.stripes.com/war-excerpt-about-staff-sgt-salvatore-giunta-s-actions-1.117774

“Out of nothing  —  out of taking your next step  —  just rows of tracers, RPGs, everything happening out of nowhere with no real idea of how it happened --  but it happened,” Giunta told me. “Everything kind of slowed down and I did everything I thought I could do, nothing more and nothing less"...

...Much later, a military investigation will determine that the enemy was trying to throw up a “wall of lead” between the first few men and the rest of the unit so that they could be overrun and captured. Gallardo understands this instinctively and tries to push through the gunfire to link up with his alpha team, Brennan and Eckrode. Twenty or thirty RPGs come sailing into their position and explode among the trees. When Gallardo goes down with a bullet to the helmet, Giunta runs over to him to drag him behind cover, but Gallardo gets back on his feet immediately. They’re quickly joined by Giunta’s SAW gunner, PFC Casey, and the three men start pushing forward by throwing hand grenades and sprinting between the blasts. Even enemy who are not hit are so disoriented by the concussion that they have trouble functioning for a second or two. The group quickly makes it to Eckrode, who’s wounded and desperately trying to fix an ammo jam in his SAW, and Gallardo and Casey stay with him while Giunta continues on his own. He throws his last grenade and then sprints the remaining ground to where Brennan should be. The Gatigal spur is awash in moonlight, and in the silvery shadows of the holly forests he sees two enemy fighters dragging Josh Brennan down the hillside. He empties his M4 magazine at them and starts running toward his friend.

:patriot:

[causamortis]

6. My professional opinion

Prior serice, signal corps, 82nd paratrooper, veteran of enduring freedom...


In my opinion what this guy did was beyond the pale.. He was in the middle of the squad (possibly 3rd or 4th person in line) when the squadstumbled into an L shaped ambush. This basically translates into enemy on your left flank and in your front unloading their ammunition into your position...

From what I was taught, the first response is to A) get the hell off the road, out of the ambush, and away from where the enemy is firing.

Then B) hit the ground and return suppressive fire..

However, what this soldier did went against not only his own training but simple human self-preservation. Instead of saving his own skin, his reaction was to drag his fellow soldiers off the road.. Not SOP but extremely courageous.


BTW More often than not the people who actually join the service ought to be the ones voting dem; namely, the poor with few other better options in life. I know that described me when I decided to enlist; however, along the way I actually gained an affinity for the military lifestyle but never lost track of my own political beliefs. Soldiers do not pick the wars they fight, that decision belongs primarily to wealthy, corrupt, elder politicians, who are never once faced the prospect of having to look upon their buddy draw their last breath.

[bluedigger]

8. According to him, he joined for a t-shirt.

:crazy: I guess working at Subway ain't all it's cracked up to be.:rofl:

As for your training, I would generally agree, but in this case, that didn't seem to be an option, as they were ambushed at nearly point blank range (~ 15-20'). Your options then are to get shot in the back, or advance on the enemy. He reacted correctly, as did his comrades, and most of them survived.

Welcome to DU! :hi:

And Air Assault!:toast: