Wounded Hero has Valentine's Day Wedding

Congratulations Wesley!!! You are our Hero! We wish you a lifetime of love and happiness together!

War Hero Honored For Bravery

I'm honored to know this brave HERO! SFC Bennett...we are so proud of you! Thank you for your sacrifice and service to our great country!

FORT RICHARDSON, Alaska -- It takes a presidential order to award a U.S. soldier the Silver Star, the Army's third-highest honor, which is only given to troops who excel under fire.
Friday, one Fort Richardson soldier received the award, although he says he would gladly trade it in order to have his five brothers-in-arms that lost their lives on a late January day more than a year ago returned to him.
U.S. Army Alaska Commander Maj. Gen. Stephen Layfield said it was a very difficult day.
"It was a tough day," Layfield said. "It was a tough day for the Army. It was a tough day for everybody."
On Jan. 20, 2007, in Karbala, Iraq, five soldiers were resting and relaxing inside a provincial coordination center.
Sgt. 1st Class Sean Bennett is a member of the 377th Parachute Field Artillery Regiment.
"One soldier just had gotten off duty, one soldier was on duty and one of my (non-commissioned officers) was racked out because he had been on for about 19 hours straight," Bennett said.
Between 20 and 30 highly-trained insurgents wearing U.S. uniforms and speaking English drove through an Iraq police checkpoint and assaulted the compound where Bennett and others were staying, according to military officials.
"The gunshots that were coming through the room -- we were in a concrete room and they were just bouncing off everything," Bennett said.
Bennett was wounded. A bullet ricocheted and tore up his arm.
"Just lost that pretty little muscle that is no longer there," Bennett said.
The events of that day more than one year ago were played out Friday before hundreds on post who came to Bennett's Silver Star award ceremony.
Cpt. Daniel Mainor is a member of the 4th Brigade Airborne, 25th Infantry Division.
"While fighting to keep the door closed, the enemy tossed a hand grenade into the room and sprayed AK-47 gunfire through a small opening in the door, killing one and wounding three soldiers including Sgt. Bennett," Mainor said.
One of the men in that room, Staff Sgt. David Wallace said Bennett saved his life by keeping the Iraqi's out of the room.
"He's a hero," Wallace said. "We consider each other family, so it would be like me grabbing my kid out from the front of a car or something. Sgt. Bennett thinks of us as family. We think of him as family. It's just like saving your family."
Bennett and others were able to drive the attackers away but not before they abducted and later killed four troops who were overtaken in another room.
"When you lose one or two of them, three, four, five, it takes you a while to get back," Bennett said. "You earn things or presented things, sometimes you don't even know what you are doing as you are getting it or how it's going to be looked at by other people. It's more of a conversation piece now and I'd rather just put it behind me now."
Bennett said earning the Silver Star is likely to be a lot easier than wearing it. He is only the third soldier ever from the 4th Brigade, 25th Infantry Division to receive the award.
The others are Master Sgt. Thomas Ballard for his actions in an attack in Najaf, Iraq and Pfc. Jonathon Millican, who was killed in the same attack that injured Sgt. Bennett.

One of Michael Yon's "Photo's of The Year"

One of my favorite pictures that Michael Yon has captured. To see and read more of his work got to http://www.michaelyon-online.com/


Thanks and Praise: I photographed men and women, both Christians and Muslims, placing a cross atop the St. John’s Church in Baghdad. They had taken the cross from storage and a man washed it before carrying it up to the dome.

Wounded Marine Prepares to Return to Iraq

Face of Defense: Wounded Marine Prepares to Return to IraqBy Pfc. Casey Jones, USMCSpecial to American Forces Press Service
CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C., Feb. 5, 2008 – Marine Corps Sgt. Jeremy F. Boutwell, 23, knows a thing or two about honor, courage and commitment.

An intelligence specialist with Headquarters and Service Company, 1st Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force, Boutwell is planning for an upcoming deployment to Iraq after recovering from severe injuries suffered during an attack in Iraq’s Anbar province on March 14, 2004.

Boutwell was an MK-19 machine gunner with Weapons Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, when the attack occurred during a routine patrol. “We were going on a patrol about to cross the Euphrates River, a spot we crossed about every day, and for some reason we stopped,” Boutwell explained. “I looked to the left, and I heard a loud noise like an explosion, and everything went black after that.” The thunderous explosion caused Boutwell to lose consciousness, but he was able to regain awareness moments later. “It felt kind of weird, but everything came crashing down to reality after a while,” said Boutwell, who was a lance corporal at the time of the attack. “I could feel myself being pulled out of the truck, and I could hear my buddies yelling. I could hear and feel everything; I just couldn’t see anything. The last thing I remember was the wind from the chopper. When I woke up a few days later, I was (at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center) in Germany.” Boutwell said he was transferred from Germany to the National Naval Medical Center, in Bethesda, Md., then to Brooke Army Medical Center, in San Antonio, where he stayed for two years and underwent 18 surgeries.

But despite his physical injuries, Boutwell depicted the pain of no longer being “in the fight” with his Marine brethren as one of the toughest things to overcome in his life. “Honestly, leaving Iraq was the worst time of my life,” he said. “It was nice being around home for about the first month, because I got to see my family and friends, but then it tore me up inside knowing my buddies were still heavily engaged at the time (in Iraq).” Boutwell said he never lost his desire to be a Marine during the surgeries and his ensuing recovery, but quickly found himself in another battle: the fight to re-enlist. “I didn’t want to get out of the Marine Corps, and I wanted to go back to Iraq,” Boutwell said. “Headquarters tried to retire me from the Corps when I was stuck down in Texas for my surgeries. But I didn’t want to get out, so I fought the decision, and they finally let me lateral move to a different (military occupational specialty) and re-enlist.

You just really got to believe in being a Marine and believe in what you’re doing, and that’ll carry you as far as you want to go.” Boutwell is now preparing for a second deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. “I feel good about going back to Iraq,” Boutwell said. “I’ve been trying to go back for almost four years.” Boutwell said he is excited about seeing the positive changes between his last deployment and his upcoming deployment. “I’m going to be happy to see the differences from the way it was (in 2004),” he said. “The last time I was there, we were in the middle of a firefight every day, and now it’s a lot calmer. I know just from my experience from being over there the first time -- we definitely made a difference over there.” With the battalion’s deployment approaching, Boutwell has set a few personal goals to accomplish while in country. “I want to come home without a scratch, try to learn a lot while I am there, go out on patrols and get to see and talk to the (Iraqi people) -- you know, do something interesting,” he said. (Marine Corps Pfc. Casey Jones serves with 2nd Marine Division.)