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‘Americans Will Not Make it Out Alive,’ by Sean Kimmons

September 4th, 2006 at 09:50 by MsUnderestimated

I found a heart-warming yet very sad piece from the June 14th “Stars & Stripes” edition. What a brave tale these guys tell. These heroes are never lauded in public or in the mainstream press. They are only recognized within the military, and every once in a while, an alternative-media source will outline their heroism.

This will tear your heart out, but it describes truly what our men and women in uniform are made of. From the Stars & Stripes article, from writer Sean Kimmons:

Screams from fellow Marines being attacked by insurgents in a mountainous area of eastern Afghanistan were all that 1st Lt. Stephen Boada needed to hear.

The moans from the dying Marines of Company K, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, sparked a rescue attempt led by Boada, the fire direction officer for the 1st Battalion, 12th Marine Regiment, on May 8, 2005.

In February, the 27-year-old from Bristol, Conn., was awarded the Silver Star for his actions that day.

While on a dismounted patrol through the Alisheng Valley, Boada’s unit of about 30 Marines began to pick up radio traffic between insurgents on their Icom scanners. Interpreters informed the Marines that the insurgents — concealed in the rough terrain — were plotting an ambush.

“The Americans will not make it out alive,” Boada remembers one of the insurgents saying on the radio.

But they forged ahead, and tried to get to their men out. Nothing can match the heart nor the intestinal fortitude of a U.S. Marine. The article goes on:

To keep one step ahead of their enemies, the Marines tried to call in helicopter support. However, the weather did not permit such action, so the Marines forged ahead in a movement-to-contact approach, said Boada, who was a forward air controller at the time.

A few Marines on top of a hill scanned the area and spotted 10 armed individuals walking across the valley. A single rifle shot, believe to have been fired by one of the individuals, prompted the Marines to open up machine gun fire on the enemies, about 800 meters away.

The other Marines, including Boada, pushed toward their adversaries, who were fleeing up the mountainside as the machine gun team on the hill provided supporting fire.

While making their way up the ridge, Boada called for fixed-wing air support. Four A-10 Warthogs came roaring over the valley, unleashing 30mm cannon fire and 2.75-inch rockets onto the enemy locations, as Boada, with help from the machine gun team, called in target adjustments to the aircraft.

After about eight passes by the A-10s, the Marines searched for enemies killed or injured by the barrage, he said.

Lance Cpl. Nicholas C. Kirven came across a body and called out to Cpl. Richard P. Schoener to provide security.

Boada was about 25 meters from Kirven and Schoener when he heard the bursts of an AK-47 rifle and the screams of both Marines, he said.

The rest of the Marines began to circle around Kirven and Schoener, who were lying near a cave whose mouth spat out persistent gunfire.

Using a smoke grenade for concealment, Boada and Cpl. Troy Arndt made it up to the Marines.

“Corporal Kirven was dead, but the other one was still alive and talking to us,” he said.

We take every day we live here in America, the land of the free, because we’re the home of the brave, for granted. It is only because of people like Boada and Arndt that we are able to live our lives as we do. Every American citizen owes their very freedom to Marines like these. Without them, we would have no America.

As I heard someone so succinctly say it today; “Peace at any price is no peace at all.”

God bless our troops, and God bless the U.S.A.

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