Matt Brown (aka "Boot Brown" as we had another, more senior, "Brown" in the Section) was one of my machinegunners. After he was wounded, he fired off another burst of his machinegun trying to continue supressing the enemy - even after he was wounded. The story we were told: After Brown made it to the hospital (or at least the aid station) he flat-lined and was "dead." They had found either his St. Christopher, or St. Michael's medallion and had a Chaplain read him his last rites. After the rites, Brown - came back.
As a side note from the story:
“I wanted to get with that girl, and then the next day I was seeing pieces of her all over the side of the road,” said Mr. Cathcart, now 28, who says he was discharged with post-traumatic stress disorder and is now unemployed in Colorado.
My #1 argument against women serving in combat arms in a nutshell, from this Marine's account.
It isn't about whether "they" can do the same physically, or whether sexual assaults increase or decline, or about "fairness." It is most importantly about the psychological impact it has on the men surrounding her.
In summary, I was in both Al Fallujah and Ar Ramadi. It sickens me to see what our sacrifices are repaid with. It sickens me to see defeat snatched from the jaws of victory.
Very good point.
“It is...about the psychological impact it has on the men surrounding her.”
American men, generally speaking, are raised to believe they’re expected to protect and defend their women. This is a completely foreign idea in most of the non-western world. You can’t be bringing death and destruction on the enemy when you feel a duty to protect the women fighting along side you, regardless of whether they need it or not. Admittedly, many don’t.
War is a dirty, ugly business. Keep the women home; keep them civilized. Leave the nasty stuff to us men.
Thank you for risking everything for a cause greater then your own desires. Please do not buy into the belief that your sacrifices and the sacrifices of your brother and sisters in arms was for “nothing”. Regardless of how Bush or Obama or the Iraqi government wasted the efforts and sacrifices of warriors like you, you can say that you at least gave your best effort to give people a chance at freedom from evil and oppression and that is not “nothing”. That is perhaps the greatest gift/sacrifice a people can offer to others.