COVERING GRENADES
By Andy Weddington
Sunday, 14 August 2022
Bombardment, barrage, curtain-fire, mines, gas, tanks, machine-guns, hand-grenades - words, words, but they hold the horror of the world. - Erich Maria Remarque
Is it possible to be completely objective, to strip emotion, writing about Marines?
It's an effort - why waiting days and sometime weeks to digest and think through the topic.
This one did not take so long - resolved during sleep ...
Marines protect Marines; any battlefield.
In combat, extraordinary unhesitant selflessness to cover a grenade has distinguished some Marines.
Medal of Honor oft time awarded, most posthumous.
And that deed above and beyond the call of duty, remarkable courage, has happened during the past twenty years of war.
Corporals Jason Dunham (Iraq 2004) and Kyle Carpenter (Afghanistan 2010) immediately come to mind.
Corporal Dunham did not survive.
Friday evening arrived text, "Get a bucket to throw up in," with article.
The piece was about recently retired Central Command (CENTCOM) commander, General Frank McKenzie, USMC, and his comments regarding leaving forces in Afghanistan.
In short, his advice was to not do what led to the deaths of thirteen.
The general's position was we should have stayed. He initially recommended a force of 4,500. That did not happen. Then he recommended 2,500 indefinitely, and believed if going from 2,500 to 0 the government of Afghanistan would collapse.
Forecast correct. Ugly.
What the public does not know is the goings on behind the scenes.
How many Marine generals felt similarly?
How many flag officers (i.e., Army, Navy, Marine, Air Force) in the chain of command, or not, felt similarly?
What was the intensity of discourse between brass and civilians to deviate from fundamental military doctrine and common sense?
And why?
Answers to those questions likely never to be known.
Yesterday, I read social media comment by a retired Marine officer who, senior to, trained the CENTCOM commander.
In part, " ... Throwing his stars down likely wouldn't have changed the Presidents [sic] druthers to withdraw, but would have made it know publically [sic] that it was a bad decision and the imminent fall of Afghanistan into Taliban hands ... ".
One opinion. [Lacking depth, in mine.]
One Marine can make a difference; huge sometimes - as previously cited.
There's all sorts of battlefields and combat and grenades.
Orders ...
No one orders a Marine to jump on a grenade. The act a consummate one of deep brotherly love.
The unhesitant bravery of Marines Dunham, Carpenter, et al., in combat on foreign battlefields to cover a grenade saved lives.
Orders ...
Yes, obedience.
But there's times to risk all when right.
Washington tossed a grenade (at our warriors) in Afghanistan.
The general(s), decidedly, did not cover it.
So our beloved young dead and wounded declared heroes and decorated, deservingly.
Life goes on for old stars.
Semper Fi, do or die.
Posts
2 comments:
You’re too kind Colonel. I’ve thought of McKenzie’s words every day since reading them. He’s a coward. Simple as that. He put himself before the welfare of the Marines and soldiers he was responsible for. Afraid to speak out when it was most needed. I suspect he can’t sleep at night. I hope he doesn’t. I pray it haunts him the rest of his life.
Rob
You mean "Charlie Brown". The MEU Commander who flew in to see LtCol Khan and his warriors in Afghanistan just long enough to get his Combat Action Ribbon and then fly back out. You mean the same person who fired LtCol Khan two weeks before his change of command for being "too hard on his Marine Officers and SNCOs? in 2004" You mean that coward and horrible leader? We are surprised at his actions wearing 4 stars?
I wish him a long disease followed by a painful death. The same for 99% of this horrible, anti-American administration.
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