208 Silver Stars

[Annie]

http://www.qando.net/details.aspx?Entry=2944

208 Silver Stars
Posted by: McQ on Thursday, November 17, 2005

Silver Stars, as in the award for valor. It's the third highest award for valor. Did you have any idea that there had been 208 of them awarded for action during Afghanistan and Iraq?

I'm sure, however, that you know within 10 or so how many of our soldiers have been killed there, don't you? With the relentless body count from the media it's rather hard to miss.

But the other side of that, the bravery, the heroes? Well apparently Silver Stars and the valor they entail just doesn't measure up when it comes to the news cycle. Apparently, when it has the option to report on the drip, drip, drip of daily casualties, this sort of story just doesn't make the cut:

On Dec. 3, 2003, 35 Iraqi insurgents ambushed U.S. Army Sgt. Tommy Rieman and his seven-man squad near Abu Ghraib prison, firing AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades at the team's unarmored humvees. Rieman returned fire as his driver sped out of the kill zone. Away from the ambush, the squad started to assess their injuries only to come under another attack by 15 fighters. Taking cover behind his humvee, Rieman launched grenades and emptied his magazine clip. When the firefight ended, Rieman called in a medevac helicopter. One squad member lost a leg to an enemy grenade; another had been shot in his buttocks. Rieman himself took bullets in the arm and the chest and shrapnel in his chest, head, and legs. But the ambush had been repelled, and a total of 35 insurgents had been killed in the two engagements. To the Army, Rieman's actions embodied the warrior ethos of a true hero: accomplish the mission, save your soldiers, and kill the enemy.​

That's from US News & World Report, and they don't even get it all right.

A much better description of the action SGT Rieman was in is found here.

SGT Rieman was awarded one of those 208 Silver Stars, and I don't know about you but I find his story to be riviting and newsworthy.

But, as USN&WR mentions, his story essentially went nowhere:

Although Rieman, now 25, received a Silver Star for his actions that day, there was little public recognition other than an Army press release and a passing mention of the award on CNN last summer. A LexisNexis database search turns up no other press mentions of Rieman's heroism under fire.

USN&WR says the Army is planning on doing something about that. Now you may not agree with their method of changing this lack of visibility concerning the heroes of Iraq and Afghanistan, but it is good to see that they want to make their stories known. Obviously, given their methods, they have come to the conclusion that it isn't going to happen in the MSM.

For those of us in the blogosphere who support our troops and want to see their stories of heroism receive the proper exposure, it's important that we seek them out and, if the MSM won't do it, give them as much visiblity as we can (and which they deserve). We may not be the MSM, but there are a lot of us and this is worth the effort.

COL Kenneth Tovo speaking of the award of the Silver Star to three members of his 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne):

"These characteristics of heroism are timeless and universal. A Spartan hoplite, a Roman centurion, an American Continental and a D-Day paratrooper would all recognize, and respect, the action of the men that we decorate today. These qualities run like a common thread through the actions of every hero throughout history. The men who were awarded today epitomize the ideals of the Soldier, and of the warrior."​

We need to make sure those qualities get the exposure they deserve because they tell an important story ... a story that isn't getting told as it should.

So link, cut-and-paste, spread, whatever, but tell SGT Rieman's story. And tell the story of any other hero you come across ... and email me a copy ... I'll post it or link to it. Call it "Project Hero", call it their just dues. But above all, just do it.