Another interesting note here: he was a MECHANIC and VOLUNTEERED to go on the rescue mission...he would NOT have had to do it because his job didn't require that. Perhaps the Army didn't LIE about his job after all.
And perhaps the truly sad thing here is that Casey Sheehan acted heroically, yet all that will be remembered of him is his mother's actions.
"Another interesting note here: he was a MECHANIC and VOLUNTEERED to go on the rescue mission...he would NOT have had to do it because his job didn't require that. Perhaps the Army didn't LIE about his job after all."
Whether he had a combat arms MOS, a combat support MOS, or a combat service support MOS, he was a soldier first and a mechanic, technician, or whatever second. Think of all the cooks, clerks, truck drivers, and mechanics who had to grab rifles during the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944 to ward off hordes of attacking Germans.
For too long a lot of soldiers had the idea that they were clerks or whatever first and soldiers second. I could have to tell you stories about having to deal with young privates who started whining and sniveling when they were told they were going on a field training exercise.
Recently the army instituted some long-needed changes in basic training. Now recruits going through basic get a lot more field time, and on top of that they fire more than just their individual weapon. They get familiarization fire with such weapons as the M240B machine gun, the .50-caliber machine gun (good old Ma Deuce), and the Mark 19 grenade launcher. They also spend a lot of time training to respond to ambushes and attacks on convoys.
Bottom line: Casey was a soldier. Deal with it, Cindy!