MNF-Iraq: 9/11 hero finds his calling.
“I was getting ready to get out of the Army,” said Bramhall. “On 9/11, I went downtown to be out-processed, but found myself at the World Trade Center doing search and rescue.”
“I just walked out of the Madison Square Garden Train Station, and these Secret Service agents grabbed me and asked if I would help pull security since I was in uniform,” he said. “I didn’t think, I just did what I was asked to do.”
Bramhall, fighting through the chaos from the citizens of NYC, followed his orders and made his way to the towers to help secure the area. As he was pulling security, Bramhall was asked to help with one of the biggest missions of his life – go into the towers to help people evacuate them before they fell. ...
He was able to save a life at the World Trade Center site, but that wasn't enough.
After his service at the World Trade Center site was complete, Bramhall still decided to leave the military. He then went to work for the Rescue 1 Fire Station in NYC, hoping to continue to serve the people of New York. But after some time of reflection, Bramhall decided the best way he could serve the people of New York and his country was to go back into the Army.
Now a member of the 5-73 Cavalry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, Bramhall says he’s right where he needs to be – serving his country in Iraq.
“This is one of the reasons I am here in Iraq,” he said. “I’m here in support of those people in the towers who didn’t make it out of there. I’m doing this for them. I’m also doing this for another person who worked with me at the towers.”
Go read the whole thing at the link.
Michael Yon: The terrorists' smoke and mirrors. 'This war has a thousand faces. A couple weeks ago in Singapore, an opportunity arose to speak with a clutch of field-grade officers, most of whom were foreign veterans of the worldwide war. These officers were from countries such as Singapore, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, New Zealand, Australia and the United States. A common theme among our foreign allies is a concern that we Americans seem to think we are standing alone against a world teaming with enemies. Our military leaders of course know that we are not alone and that enemies do not lurk in every cave or under every rock. They know, too, that we have more allies than enemies, and even more who fit into neither category.'
CENTCOM: Dead terrorists.
BAQUBAH, Iraq - Soldiers from the 2nd Brigade, 5th Iraqi Army, partnered with coalition forces from the 1-12 Combined Arms Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, continued targeting terrorist cells Saturday to eliminate enemy activity and bring peace to the people of the Tahrir area of Baqubah.
Throughout the operations, the IA and CF were engaged repeatedly by several small arms fire and mortar attacks.
The forces, targeting the enemy, killed 11 terrorists, wounded one and detained approximately 20 suspects.
Countercolumn: What's wrong with this picture? Jason takes a look at the NYT's story on that raid on an Iraqi police station and notices something odd:
Here's the lede graf from the New York Times:
Hundreds of British and Iraqi soldiers assaulted a police station in the southern city of Basra today, killing seven gunmen, rescuing 127 prisoners from what the British said was almost certain execution and ultimately reducing the facility to rubble.
Sounds like great news, right? ...
But if you were just scanning headlines, you wouldn't know a damn thing:
British Troops Raid Iraqi Police Station, Killing 7
You also wouldn't know the rather relevant detail that the perps, in this case, weren't Al Qaeda or Ba'athist diehards, nor were they Mahdi militia types - they were elements of a corrupt and brutish police organization.
Which is surprising to me, given that back in '03 and '04, all we were hearing about was how much better the British were at this stuff than the Americans.
Remarks. You know, it occurs to me that the reason so many left-liberals go out of their way to demean and infantilize the military and its people, is that they are afraid of them. They're afraid of the things our fighting men and women represent - courage, sacrifice, discipline, strength, idealism. They quail at the very thought that a young American would willingly pick up a loaded weapon and walk into a gunfight, with the intention of finishing the gunfight in a manner not to the enemy's advantage.
And so, the moonbats must wring their hands and bleat their phony concerns about the safety of our troops and "getting the troops out of harm's way" while rigorously screening out the idea that those troops might, themselves, have something worthwhile to say about the matter.
Let me ask you this: When did it become the case that it is the civilians' job to protect the military?
In the back of their minds, even the peaceniks understand this. The fact that they are in debt to "rough men ready to do violence" threatens their already weak sense of selfhood, so they must compensate by either demonizing or trivializing the warriors who go out and risk their lives to kill evil men.
