Posted on 06/01/2005 4:11:36 AM PDT by chapin2500
When a blue pickup truck approached his convoy last Friday, something looked amiss. Specialist Dean Levy of Pembroke, riding atop a Humvee in Iraq, fired warning shots. But the vehicle kept heading toward the US troops. Levy fired another burst from his .50-caliber machine gun, this time hitting it straight on. The truck turned out to be carrying 400 pounds of explosives and Levy's second burst detonated it, killing the driver and sparing the lives of nearly a dozen US soldiers, according to military officials and Levy's family members.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
I don't if Specialist Dean Levy deserves a medal, but his actions were commendable.
John Kerry, part-time Senator from Massachusetts and decorated hero of the People's Republic of Vietnam, when informed of the exploits of his fellow Bay Stater, exclaimed, "Hey, whose side is he on, anyway?" He later clarified his response, that while he did not intend any harm befall his constituents, the more American casualties in Iraq, the better his prospects in 2008. "We need to keep our priorities straight.", he pointed out.
The most amazing aspect of this story is that someone from Massachusetts actually serves in the military. I thought that sort of thing ceased with the Revolutionary War.
Nice shooting, Dean! Your instincts and actions saved a lot of lives.
If a vehicle is carrying hundreds of pounds of explosives, shouldn't the suspension be pretty low, thus giving people a visual cue that something is wrong? Would it be possible to thwart some of these car bombs and homicide attacks by focusing on vehicles that ride low to the ground? An approaching convoy sees a car that's parked but the suspension is lower than others around it, or a mosque has a low-riding car parked out front and there's no heavy cargo in the back seat that would account for the low suspension, for example.
We've lost a number of men in this conflict, and we have quite a few more serving right now. Remember, 37% of us voted for W.
Look for Kerry to call for an investigation of this murder. After all, the soldier fired on the vehicle with no proof that it contained explosives. There were probably other innocent civilians in that vehicle that were needlessly killed. It has not been established in a court of law that the driver was a terrorist. Perhaps he was driving a load of explosives to supply coalition forces with demolition equipment for shopping mall construction or an Iraqi "big dig". We need to have an investigation to see if this was the case. Perhaps he had an invoice and shipping order for these materials. Until guilt or innocence of the soldier can be determined, he should be incarcerated in Abu Ghaihb prison with panties on his head. This will show the A-rab people that we are fair and concerned with their safety which will make them like us.
400 lbs isn't a lot of weight, 400 lbs= 2 men.
Way to go Specialist Dean Levy! Taking out the bad guys.
Instincts.......You got it!!
You might think that from our political leaders and the disproportionate Democratic vote. Last I looked (things may have changed) Massachusetts was roughly proportionately represented in casualties in Iraq. The state divided 37-63 in vote, but a lot of the 63 was lukewarm, the 37 are pretty devoutly anti-Kerry and pro-America (despite my handle).
That's the plan, after deadchecking the embeds, shoot all the low riders. Are you planning on opening a Midas franchise in Baghdad?
gaspar,
There are ~6 million people in the state. You think none of them serves?
There are USAF facilities in the state, flying F15s, A10s, and C5s. The first interceptors over Manhattan on 9/11 were F-15s from Cape Cod/Otis. Westover Air Reserve base has one of the longest runways in the country.
There is a National Guard brigade combat team (formerly 26Bde, 29ID(L) ) in MA, elements of which have served in Bosnia, the Sinai, Afghanistan, and Iraq. If you include the slice from 20th Special Forces Group, you get South America and central Africa too.
My grandfather was a Marine, gravely wounded at Tarawa. Two uncles were in Vietnam: one a Marine, the other a soldier. My father did a tour in the USAF. I did 4 years active Army and 4 more in the MA Guard. Several of my friends from my undergrad days are still in, and one is coming up on 20. There are between 400-500 undergrads at UMass-Amherst drawing veterans' benefits of some variety today.
Beyond today, you might be interested to know about the 26th ID (Yankee), which served in WW2 and WW1. Or the 54th Massachusetts Infantry in the Civil War- there's probably a movie or a book or two about that. But yes, there may have been one or two people since 1776 to wear a uniform.
I don't know which is sadder when I read posts like gaspar's: that it's so easy to slag MA in the first place, or that I try and defend it.
It was amazing, and I've always been very grateful for the kind treatment and welcome home.
Hey, just because you're behind enemy lines doesn't mean we don't love you! ;-)
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