Why the valiance of Sgt. Williams is not newsworthy is an something that I'd have to invent adjectives to define. (Thanks to CIIDG for this.)
The Army’s chief of staff on Wednesday will honor a Fort Wainwright, Alaska, soldier with the nation’s second highest award for heroism in combat for fighting off an enemy ambush in Iraq last year.
Gen. George Casey will present Sgt. Gregory Williams of 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, with the Distinguished Service Cross, according to a recent U.S. Army Alaska press release.
The prestigious award is second only to the Medal of Honor.
It was Oct. 30, 2006, when insurgents attacked William’s Stryker vehicle during a late-night patrol of a Baghdad neighborhood.
A barrage of explosively formed projectiles “punched through the Stryker’s armor, penetrating the engine compartment, sending a fireball through the interior of the vehicle,” according to an Army narrative of the attack.
Williams was knocked out initially. After regaining consciousness, he carried a badly wounded 1st Lt. Aaron Williams to safety, despite the burns he suffered to his legs during the ambush.
Then under heavy enemy fire, he ran back to the smoldering Stryker and fired the .50 caliber machine gun until the enemy was forced to flee the area, the narrative states.
“Sgt. Williams, though he had been knocked out, sustained [burns] to his legs, and two punctured ear drums that required surgery, thought nothing of his own welfare, and concerned himself with the health and safety of his comrades,” the narrative states.
Want to enlist and induce the public? Tell the stories of the likes of Sgt. Gregory Williams. Push them in every aspect of political dialogue regarding the Long War and usurp the current media revelry of tragedy and failure with factual accounts of heroism. Bush could learn a lesson from Cato and start or end every foreign policy press conference or address with an account of selfless sacrifice like the above. If there's one element that transcends wars of attrition and wars of asymmetry it's domestic fervor. Just ask Winston Churchill or Ahmad Shah Massoud
4 comments:
Did Cato do something similar?
Adam,
Prior to the third Punic war Cato was convinced the only way to end the threat was to obliterate Carthage. And so the words "Carthago delenda est!" or Carthage must be destroyed became infamous as Cato proclaimed them in nearly every political address (oration) he made no matter the subject.
Pres. Bush could utilize an element of Cato's political tenacity and deliver verbal honors like the above posted as often as feasibly possible (obviously not as obsessively as Cato.)
Actually at the start of the war in Afganistan and Iraq he sort of did. Except his was closer to the exclamation from the Second Punic War.
"Hannibal ad portas!"
Heh. Good point Arherring.
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