Another Story of Heroism You Probably Didn’t Know About
This isn’t a classified warfighting program, so I don’t expect to see it on the pages of the New York Times. Still, I’d consider it a story worth reporting.
Marines here say a lieutenant who was leading Marines and Iraqi soldiers through the volatile streets of Haditha, Iraq, June 14, showed uncommon valor when he ran into a barrage of enemy gunfire to pull a wounded Marine to safety.
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The mission Posselt, a platoon commander assigned to the Hawaii-based India Company, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, led the Marines and their Iraqi Army counterparts on that day was like any other – a patrol through the winding streets of Haditha.
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When Posselt came to an intersection in a marketplace, the Marines began receiving gunfire and saw Estrella, 20, fall to the ground.Shortly after the initial ‘cracks’ of enemy gunfire pelted the ground below and spit up shards of concrete around him, Posselt said his platoon was shot at from another direction.
Posselt’s first instinct was to get Estrella to safety – and he did so risking his own life in the process.
As the enemy gunfire continued, Posselt ran to the wounded Estrella and pulled him approximately 15 feet to safety, further exposing himself to more gunfire.
“I just did what my instinct told me to do,” said Posselt. “I was just trying to take care of my Marines.”
Looking back, Posselt feels any other Marine in his position would have done the same thing that day.
I expect that we’ll see a commendation in the near future for 1st Lt. Rick Posselt. I don’t expect that we’ll see that announcement in the pages of the Times either.
Publishing reports of our soldiers’ heroism isn’t in the “public interest”, apparently.
UPDATE: Neither is this story, I suppose.
UPDATE 2: Nor this one.
UPDATE 3: Nope. Not this one either.
UPDATE 4: Mr. Keller? Does this story make the needle on your Public Interest Meter twitch, just a little? Hmmm?
UPDATE 5: Oh, but I betcha this one did.
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Category: Fighting the Islamists
