What
is a Hero?
All to often I hear about how there are
no more heroes. In truth, there are still plenty of heroes. Unfortunately
we as a society seem to have elevated all the wrong people to that status. Maybe
it is easier to explain what a hero isn't.
A hero is not an athlete who earns
millions of dollars a season to play a game and complains about the physical demands
of playing an entire game. A hero is not a musician who sings of violence
towards others and acts like some type of tough guy all the while riding in his
customized Hummer. A hero is not some hot shot movie star who acts the
part of a hero while complaining of the terrible weather conditions as he walks
out into the hot desert sunshine from his air conditioned trailer to do a 5
minute take and retreats back to shelter.
So what is a hero? The ones who
are won't say they are, or sadly can no longer say it because they have paid the
ultimate price. They are the ones who died on 9/11 saving others, and were just
doing their "job". They are the ones who have fallen 1/2 way
around the world, trying to prevent another 9/11, in a place many cannot even
pronounce or would be hard pressed to find on a map. It is then our job to remind the world of what a real hero is, so
that their memories are never forgotten.
Here are two examples of what our
children should aspire to. These are the stories of real heroes.
Lieutenant
(SEAL) Michael P. Murphy
Operation
Redwing
June 28, 2005
On June 28, 2005, deep behind enemy lines east of Asadabad in
the Hindu Kush of Afghanistan, a very committed four-man Navy SEAL team was
conducting a reconnaissance mission at the unforgiving altitude of approximately
10,000 feet. The SEALs, Lt. Michael Murphy, Gunner’s Mate 2nd Class (SEAL)
Danny Dietz, Sonar Technician 2nd Class (SEAL) Matthew Axelson and Hospital
Corpsman 2nd Class (SEAL) Marcus Luttrell had a vital task. The four SEALs
were scouting Ahmad Shah – a terrorist in his mid-30s who grew up in the
adjacent mountains just to the south.
Under the assumed name Muhammad Ismail, Shah led a guerrilla group known to
locals as the "Mountain Tigers" that had aligned with the Taliban and
other militant groups close to the Pakistani border. The SEAL mission was
compromised when the team was spotted by local nationals, who presumably
reported its presence and location to the Taliban.
A fierce firefight erupted between the four SEALs and a much larger enemy force
of more than 50 anti-coalition militia. The enemy had the SEALs
outnumbered. They also had terrain advantage. They launched a
well-organized, three-sided attack on the SEALs. The firefight continued
relentlessly as the overwhelming militia forced the team deeper into a ravine.
Trying to reach safety, the four men, now each wounded, began bounding down the
mountain's steep sides, making leaps of 20 to 30 feet. Approximately 45 minutes
into the fight, pinned down by overwhelming forces, Dietz, the communications
petty officer, sought open air to place a distress call back to the base. But
before he could, he was shot in the hand, the blast shattering his thumb.
Despite the intensity of the firefight and suffering grave gunshot wounds
himself, Murphy is credited with risking his own life to save the lives of his
teammates. Murphy, intent on making contact with headquarters, but realizing
this would be impossible in the extreme terrain where they were fighting,
unhesitatingly and with complete disregard for his own life moved into the open,
where he could gain a better position to transmit a call to get help for his
men.
Moving away from the protective mountain rocks, he knowingly exposed himself to
increased enemy gunfire. This deliberate and heroic act deprived him of
cover and made him a target for the enemy. While continuing to be fired
upon, Murphy made contact with the SOF Quick Reaction Force at Bagram Air Base
and requested assistance. He calmly provided his unit’s location and the size
of the enemy force while requesting immediate support for his team. At one point
he was shot in the back causing him to drop the transmitter. Murphy picked it
back up, completed the call and continued firing at the enemy who was closing
in. Severely wounded, Lt. Murphy returned to his cover position with his
men and continued the battle.
An MH-47 Chinook helicopter, with eight additional SEALs and eight Army Night
Stalkers aboard, was sent is as part of an extraction mission to pull out the
four embattled SEALs. The MH-47 was escorted by heavily-armored, Army
attack helicopters. Entering a hot combat zone, attack helicopters are used
initially to neutralize the enemy and make it safer for the lightly-armored,
personnel-transport helicopter to insert.
The heavy weight of the attack helicopters slowed the formation’s advance
prompting the MH-47 to outrun their armored escort. They knew the
tremendous risk going into an active enemy area in daylight, without their
attack support, and without the cover of night. Risk would, of course, be
minimized if they put the helicopter down in a safe zone. But knowing that their
warrior brothers were shot, surrounded and severely wounded, the rescue team
opted to directly enter the oncoming battle in hopes of landing on brutally
hazardous terrain.
As the Chinook raced to the battle, a rocket-propelled grenade struck the
helicopter, killing all 16 men aboard.
On the ground and nearly out of ammunition, the four SEALs, Murphy, Luttrell,
Dietz and Axelson, continued the fight. By the end of the two-hour
gunfight that careened through the hills and over cliffs, Murphy, Axelson and
Dietz had been killed. An estimated 35 Taliban were also dead.
The fourth SEAL, Luttrell, was blasted over a ridge by a rocket propelled
grenade and was knocked unconscious. Regaining consciousness some time later,
Luttrell managed to escape – badly injured – and slowly crawl away down the
side of a cliff. Dehydrated, with a bullet wound to one leg, shrapnel embedded
in both legs, three vertebrae cracked; the situation for Luttrell was grim.
Rescue helicopters were sent in, but he was too weak and injured to make
contact. Traveling seven miles on foot he evaded the enemy for nearly a day.
Gratefully, local nationals came to his aid, carrying him to a nearby village
where they kept him for three days. The Taliban came to the village several
times demanding that Luttrell be turned over to them. The villagers refused.
One of the villagers made his way to a Marine outpost with a note from Luttrell,
and U.S. forces launched a massive operation that rescued him from enemy
territory on July 2.
By his undaunted courage, intrepid fighting spirit and inspirational devotion to
his men in the face of certain death, Lt. Murphy was able to relay the position
of his unit, an act that ultimately led to the rescue of Luttrell and the
recovery of the remains of the three who were killed in the battle.
Petty
Officer Second Class (SEAL) Michael A. Monsoor
September
29, 2006
Petty Officer Michael A. Monsoor, United States
Navy, distinguished himself through conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the
risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as a Combat Advisor and
Automatic Weapons Gunner for Naval Special Warfare Task Group Arabian Peninsula
in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom on 29 September 2006. He
displayed great personal courage and exceptional bravery while conducting
operations in enemy held territory at Ar Ramadi Iraq.
During Operation Kentucky Jumper, a combined Coalition battalion
clearance and isolation operation in southern Ar Ramadi, he served as automatic
weapons gunner in a combined SEAL and Iraqi Army (IA) sniper overwatch element
positioned on a residential rooftop in a violent sector and historical
stronghold for insurgents. In the morning, his team observed four enemy
fighters armed with AK-47s reconnoitering from roads in the sector to conduct
follow-on attacks. SEAL snipers from his roof engaged two of them which
resulted in one enemy wounded in action and one enemy killed in action. A
mutually supporting SEAL/IA position also killed an enemy fighter during the
morning hours. After the engagements, the local populace blocked off the roads
in the area with rocks to keep civilians away and to warn insurgents of the
presence of his Coalition sniper element. Additionally, a nearby mosque
called insurgents to arms to fight Coalition Forces.
In the early afternoon, enemy fighters attacked his position with automatic
weapons fire from a moving vehicle. The SEALs fired back and stood their
ground. Shortly thereafter, an enemy fighter shot a rocket-propelled
grenade at his building. Though well-acquainted with enemy tactics in Ar
Ramadi, and keenly aware that the enemy would continue to attack, the SEALs
remained on the battlefield in order to carry out the mission of guarding the
western flank of the main effort.
Due to expected enemy action, the officer in charge repositioned him with his
automatic heavy machine gun in the direction of the enemy’s most likely avenue
of approach. He placed him in a small, confined sniper hide-sight between
two SEAL snipers on an outcropping of the roof, which allowed the three SEALs
maximum coverage of the area. He was located closest to the egress route
out of the sniper hide-sight watching for enemy activity through a tactical
periscope over the parapet wall. While vigilantly watching for enemy activity,
an enemy fighter hurled a hand grenade onto the roof from an unseen location.
The grenade hit him in the chest and bounced onto the deck. He immediately leapt
to his feet and yelled “grenade” to alert his teammates of impending danger,
but they could not evacuate the sniper hide-sight in time to escape harm.
Without hesitation and showing no regard for his own life, he threw himself onto
the grenade, smothering it to protect his teammates who were lying in close
proximity. The grenade detonated as he came down on top of it, mortally
wounding him.
Petty Officer Monsoor’s actions could not have been
more selfless or clearly intentional. Of the three SEALs on that rooftop
corner, he had the only avenue of escape away from the blast, and if he had so
chosen, he could have easily escaped. Instead, Monsoor chose to protect
his comrades by the sacrifice of his own life. By his courageous and
selfless actions, he saved the lives of his two fellow SEALs and he is the
most deserving of the special recognition afforded by awarding the Medal of
Honor.
Only two
defining forces have ever offered to die for you, Jesus Christ and the American
Soldier.
One died for your soul, the other for your freedom.
