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Thread: In honor of our fallen brethren.

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    In honor of our fallen brethren.



    Getting upset about someone else's marriage because of your religion, is like getting upset about someone else eating a doughnut because you're on a diet. - Unknown

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    I was watching some videos of soldiers surprising their loved ones when they return home. I was going to post a couple, but they always make me smile so much, I tear up. I remember my Mom's reaction when I got home from 'Nam.
    Getting upset about someone else's marriage because of your religion, is like getting upset about someone else eating a doughnut because you're on a diet. - Unknown

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    Cool

    Rep. Duncan Hunter Petitions Mattis to Approve Medal of Honor...

    Lawmaker Petitions Mattis to Approve Medal of Honor for Fallen Marine
    Feb 06, 2017 | Rep. Duncan Hunter is hoping that the fourth time's the charm for fallen Marine Sgt. Rafael Peralta.
    The lawmaker, a California Republican and veteran Marine officer, sent a letter Monday petitioning Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to review Peralta's nomination for the Medal of Honor -- a nomination that three previous defense secretaries have opted not to approve. Unlike his predecessors, however, Mattis has additional reason to be familiar with Peralta's case, having commanded troops as a Marine general in Fallujah, Iraq, during the same time period in which Peralta was killed in action. Peralta was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross for pulling a live enemy grenade under his body to save fellow Marines during a 2004 house-clearing mission in Fallujah, according to his official medal citation. Such an act would typically merit the Medal of Honor, and it did in the case of Cpl. Kyle Carpenter, who absorbed much of a grenade blast in Afghanistan in 2010 to save a fellow Marine.


    Sgt. Rafael Peralta, a platoon guide with Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 31st MEU

    But experts consulted on Peralta's nomination have said the physical evidence of his heroism does not meet the stringent standards for the military's highest valor award. Peralta was wounded by a bullet ricochet to the back of the head immediately before his death, and some investigators have questioned whether he could have been conscious and able to grab the grenade after sustaining that wound. "The benefit of Secretary Mattis [reviewing Peralta's case] is that he's commanded Marines in Iraq and he knows better than anyone in government right now -- along with [Homeland Security] Secretary [John] Kelly -- how politics can be infused in a valor award case and how the bureaucracy if left unchallenged will win every time," Hunter spokesman Joe Kasper said in a statement provided to Military.com. "Mattis is still at heart a U.S. Marine and he's well aware that the Marine Corps, as an organization, fully endorsed Peralta's Medal of Honor," the statement said. "Names like Mattis, Kelly and Dunford regularly came up as supporters of the award, but now it's a new administration and there's new hope for the Marine Corps, the Peralta family and anyone else who's been passionate about Peralta's legacy."

    Mattis commanded 1st Marine Division during the 2003 invasion of Iraq and subsequent operations early in the war, playing key leadership roles during the first and second battles of Fallujah in the spring and fall of 2004. Peralta was assigned to 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines, part of 3rd Marine Division, at the time of his death. A spokeswoman for the office of the secretary of defense, Laura Seal, said the office would not comment on the letter, as is policy with congressional correspondence, but would respond directly to its author. Hunter's letter comes days after the Navy took ownership of the USS Rafael Peralta, an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer named in honor of the fallen Marine. In light of the ship's delivery, Hunter asked Mattis to re-examine the case that has troubled Peralta's family members and fellow Marines for more than a decade.

    MORE

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    Final Heroic Moments That Earned John Chapman the Medal of Honor...

    Video Shows Final Heroic Moments That Earned John Chapman the Medal of Honor9 Aug 2018 - The USAF has released video highlights from an overhead aircraft that shows the final moments of Tech Sgt. John Chapman
    The U.S. Air Force has released video highlights from an overhead intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance aircraft taken on March 4, 2002 that shows the final heroic moments of Tech Sgt. John Chapman, who will receive the Medal of Honor for his bravery later this month. Chapman charged multiple machine-gun nests and engaged in hand-to-hand combat on the 10,000-foot peak known as Takur Ghar in Afghanistan during Operation Anaconda. Chapman, an Air Force combat controller, and six members of Navy SEAL Team 6 -- callsign Mako 30 -- were tasked with helicopter-inserting high above the valley so they could direct air strikes and provide intelligence for conventional troops below, who were attempting to flush out an estimated 200 to 300 lightly-armed Al Qaeda fighters, just five months after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11.

    [center]
    Air Force Tech. Sgt. John Chapman, who died in an attack by Al-Qaida and Taliban forces.['/center]

    Before they landed, Chapman and the team came under heavy enemy fire from al Qaeda fighters, which led Navy SEAL Neil Roberts to fall from the back of the aircraft. The team later mounted a rescue operation for Roberts, in which Chapman and SEAL Team Leader Britt Slabinski paired up to clear a series of bunkers on the mountaintop. Chapman personally shot and killed at least two enemy fighters shortly after his insertion, alongside Navy SEAL Chief Britt Slabinski, who engaged multiple enemy positions and cleared a small bunker (Slabinski received the Medal of Honor in May for his actions during the battle). Amid withering fire and after Chapman was wounded and presumed dead, the SEALs evacuated the peak.


    As the video shows, Chapman trudged far ahead of the team as they tried to go up a snowy slope, as enemy fighters fired at the Americans from two bunkers. Chapman charged into the first bunker, then "deliberately moves from cover to attack a second hostile machine gun firing on his team" before he was wounded and temporarily incapacitated, the Air Force says. Meanwhile, Chapman remained behind and regained consciousness. Now alone, he continued to fire on enemy positions and engaged in hand-to-hand combat. And when a quick reaction force helicopter was heard, he provided covering fire until he was struck twice in the chest and killed. "John Chapman engages enemy positions as RPGs impact the incoming quick reaction forces on Razor 01," the video says. Chapman's family will receive the posthumous award from President Donald Trump on Aug. 22 in a ceremony at the White House.


    https://www.military.com/daily-news/2018/08/09/video-shows-final-heroic-moments-earned-john-chapman-medal-honor.html

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    New Details Reveal Airman John Chapman's Heroism at Roberts Ridge...

    New Details Reveal Airman John Chapman's Heroism at Roberts Ridge
    22 Aug 2018 - Tech. Sgt. John Chapman ran out of a bunker on the Takur Ghar mountaintop for the second time, intentionally risking fire from heavily armed enemy fighters.
    Shot several times already, Chapman attempted to halt the al-Qaida forces' assault on an incoming MH-47 Chinook helicopter carrying U.S. special operators. He no longer had the cover of night, and exposed himself to the enemy as he ran. Dashing out to the ridge line in five-foot-deep snow, Chapman fired at the enemy fighters who were loading rocket-propelled grenades, helping additional American forces to enter the landing zone. It would be his final bold act before two shots from a large-caliber machine gun cut through his torso, one destroying his aorta and killing him instantly. But this, Chapman's final fight, occurred well after the special tactics airman had already been presumed dead.


    A 30-month investigation involving eyewitness testimony from nearby Armyand Air Force service members and drone targeteers, intelligence reports and aircraft video feed proved that Chapman not only lived after he was initially hit and knocked unconscious early in the mission, but that he at one point engaged the enemy in hand-to-hand combat, fighting for about 70 harrowing minutes on the ground alone. This week, officials who investigated the circumstances surrounding his death spoke publicly for the first time about their findings.




    Chapman, a combat controller assigned to the 24th Special Tactics Squadron, will posthumously receive the Medal of Honor, an upgrade of his Air Force Cross, for his actions on March 4, 2002, during a ceremony at the White House on Wednesday. He will become the first U.S. airman to receive the military's highest award since the Vietnam War. "John was the only American that was alive on [that] mountain top, and there was somebody fighting for an hour," said an Air Force special tactics officer who was part of the investigation team.


    Speaking on background during a briefing at the Pentagon on Thursday, the officer explained how the Air Force Special Operations investigative team and the Pentagon concluded that Chapman had lived and continued to fight after his presumed death. "When you watch [these videos], heroism jumps right off the page at you," the officer said. "It chokes you up, and it makes you realize the incredible sacrifice." He added, "You don't have to do 30 months of analysis to see that."




    In all, Chapman sustained nine wounds, seven of which were nonfatal, according to his autopsy report. A medical examiner concluded he lived and fought through gunshot wounds to his thigh, heel, calf and torso, which pierced his liver. He had a broken nose and other facial wounds, suggesting he engaged in hand-to-hand combat in close quarters. The final fatal shots likely came from a PKM machine gun, officials said.


    THE EVIDENCE
    See also:

    'Top Gun' Sequel Filming Aboard Aircraft Carrier USS Abraham Lincoln22 Aug 2018 - The highway to the danger zone will run through Hampton Roads, VA.
    The sequel to the 1986 Hollywood blockbuster "Top Gun" is filming aboard the Norfolk-based USS Abraham Lincoln this week, according to the Navy. The original film inspired an entire generation of fighter pilots and served as a recruiting bonanza for the Navy. The much-anticipated sequel began shooting on May 31, according to a photo on Tom Cruise's Instagram account. The photo featured him in a flight suit near a fighter jet with the same helmet he wore in the original film and referenced an oft-quoted line from the original movie: "I feel the need, the need for speed." The first day of shooting took place at Naval Air Station North Island in California, the Navy said.



    The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72).




    Few details about what the film will be about have been released, but Cruise revealed in an interview with "Access Hollywood" last year that it would be called "Top Gun: Maverick." "Stylistically it'll be the same," Cruise said in the interview. "We'll have big, fast machines. ... It's going to be a competition film like the first one and it's going to be in the same vein, the same tone as the first one, but a progression for Maverick." A 15-person crew from Paramount Pictures and Bruckheimer Films went aboard the Lincoln on Sunday and will remain through Saturday, said Naval Air Force Atlantic spokesman Cmdr. Dave Hecht. He said no actors are aboard and that the crew is shooting footage on the flight deck of air operations, which include F/A-18 Super Hornets from Virginia Beach-based Carrier Air Wing Seven taking off and landing as part of their carrier qualifications. "Top Gun inspired countless men and women to volunteer to protect and defend our country as Naval aviators and the crew of USS Abraham Lincoln are excited to play a small role in bringing this story back to the silver screen and inspiring another generation to serve in the world's finest Navy." "This opportunity is one of many aircraft carrier embarks planned pierside and at sea on both coasts coordinated by the Commander, Naval Air Forces," Hecht said in an email from aboard the Lincoln. "Top Gun inspired countless men and women to volunteer to protect and defend our country as Naval aviators and the crew of USS Abraham Lincoln are excited to play a small role in bringing this story back to the silver screen and inspiring another generation to serve in the world's finest Navy."


    Michael Singer, a publicist with Jerry Bruckheimer Films and Television, declined to provide any details about the production in an email to The Virginian-Pilot. In July, Variety reported that "Only the Brave" star Miles Teller was tapped to play the son of "Goose" and is Cruise's new protege in the sequel. In the original film, Goose was played by Anthony Edwards and served as Cruise's radar intercept officer in the F-14 before his character died during a training accident. Cruise also said on the "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" last month that Val Kilmer, who played Cruise's rival, "Iceman," in the original film, would be returning for the sequel. Musician Kenny Loggins, who wrote the hit song "Danger Zone" for the original "Top Gun" soundtrack, told TMZ that he's spoken with Cruise and is interested in remaking the song for a sequel. "I'm hoping to do it maybe as a duet with a young act," Loggins said. "We have some feelers out to some pretty cool rock acts. ... Maybe do it his way or their way, depending on if it's a band or a soloist. So we'll reinvent the song to a point." The sequel is set to debut on July 12, 2019, according to Paramount


    https://www.military.com/off-duty/20...m-lincoln.html

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