ping
He is a Democrat, isn't he? As it is the nature of a snake to bite people, it is the nature of the DemocRats to hate anything that promotes freedom over totalitarianism (with the 'Rats in charge, of course).
Well just DAMN! That sucked all the marrow out of my bones and set the faucets to flowing, like BAM! God Bless this Patriot!
Well stated, David Bellavia, well stated. God Bless You!
From The Army Times:
http://www.armytimes.com/print.php?f=1-comnews-984935.php
July 20, 2005
N.Y. soldier’s bravery in Iraq earns state’s highest military honor
By Carolyn Thompson
Associated Press
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Staff Sgt. David Bellavia calls his Conspicuous Service Cross an “award of geography,” not valor, insisting anyone in his situation would have done what he did.
He is sincere, but given what Bellavia did — that is, kill six Iraqi insurgents during hand-to-hand combat in Fallujah last November — unconvincing.
“Had someone else stood where I stood and someone else been in that room, they would have made the exact same decision I made, which is to assault through,” Bellavia, of Batavia, said Tuesday before a ceremony marking the award of New York state’s highest military honor for veterans.
He modestly recounted how he “took out the targets” who had opened fire with AK-47s as members of his platoon hunted them inside a darkened house in the wee hours of Nov. 10, his 29th birthday. An embedded Time magazine reporter described the scene this way:
“Upstairs (Bellavia) scans the bedrooms,” wrote Michael Ware in the magazine’s Nov. 22 issue. “An insurgent jumps out of the cupboard. Bellavia falls down and fires, spraying the man with bullets. At some point another insurgent drops out of the ceiling. Yet another runs to a window and makes for the garden. Bellavia hits him in the legs and lower back as he flees. When it’s over, four insurgents are dead; another has escaped badly wounded.”
Bellavia had already killed two insurgents on the first floor.
“I think it was more the nature of killing six people, more than the fact that it was one against six,” Bellavia said Tuesday.
Bellavia’s commanding officers have submitted his name for consideration for the Army’s Distinguished Service Cross and the Medal of Honor, the military’s two highest awards.
Still, Bellavia is reluctant to stand alone in the spotlight. He said he’d rather redirect the attention toward the plight of veterans returning from the war wounded, both physically and emotionally.
“I can’t consider myself a hero when I walk on two good legs and have two working arms,” said Bellavia, whose company commander, executive officer and battalion sergeant major were among those killed in Fallujah.
“I’m not going to stand around and say I deserve this when I get the opportunity to hold my kid, I get the opportunity to tell my parents and my wife how much I love them,” the father of one said.
Bellavia talks about making it easier for veterans to receive counseling upon returning home, by making it accessible close to home rather than in faraway military hospitals, and of lobbying for improved employment opportunities for veterans, whose service to country, he said, should be at least as impressive as a college degree.
“I know that I’ve worked under the best leadership and had the greatest soldiers of a generation and I don’t need an award for that,” he said. “But I will bust my butt and help out these guys and try to use whatever light’s on me and just redirect it towards the guys that are affected for the rest of their lives because of their service.”
Bellavia, who was part of Task Force 2-2 in the 1st Infantry Division, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, is on leave until August when he retires from the Army.
BUMP...let's get this out to the public!
bttt
Can someone read this for the congressional record?
Thank you for posting this.
WOO-HOO!
Bookmark - excellent article. Prayers for this generation of soldiers. May they continue in strength and courage. What a contrast to the murtha's and kerry's.
BRAVO!!! I thank God every day for courageous men and women like Dave Bellavia. His article hits the nail on the proverbial head. Excellent article!
Thanks for posting it, West Coast Conservative.
excellent post.
thanks for that
Wow, this is awesome, and look at this guys face, not exactly the kind of face you'd be afraid to bump into at a bar or in some dark alley. This guy is obviously DEADLY when he needs to be.
Murtha suffers from inter-generational jealousy. His generation's was was 'Nam ... not a victory. He loathes the prospect of the current generation of warriors coming home victorious.
Great post!!
If this gets picked up by the MSM it will leave a mark.
This thread should be nailed to the Free Republic Mast head.
Like Tom "The Hammer" Delay, I can envision a great moniker for this guy:
David "Asskick" Bellavia.
Murtha is a traitor.