Generations of Valor

This photograph needs no explanation....

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SFC Chuck Grist
www.AmericanRanger.blogspot.com

VFW Thank You Card

I recently returned my "Thank You" to the VFW for delivery to a group of hospitalized veterans at the Kansas City VA Medical Center. A VFW volunteer will deliver the giant Thank You Card on Memorial Day, May 30, to make sure our veterans know that we have not forgotten them and that we are deeply grateful for their sacrifices.

If you would like to add your “thanks” to these veterans, please go HERE to sign the card and help deliver the biggest Thank You Card ever.

Thanks.

SFC Chuck Grist
www.AmericanRanger.blogspot.com

Warrior Dad Dies in Baghdad

I heard from one of my new correspondents in Baghdad, Lt. Matt Belfi (see my post on Matt - "Lieutenant Matt Belfi: Philly Cop & Warrior Pilot", a member of the Pennsylvania National Guard and a helicopter pilot. From his vantage point in Baghdad’s Green Zone at the U.S. Embassy, he wrote me about the tragic loss of a comrade on March 27th. Here is part of his email:

“The embassy has been getting attacked via IDF (indirect fire – mortars or rockets) lately and, unfortunately, last week’s attack resulted in a friend of mine getting killed. Sergeant First Class Sean Thomas (pictured above with his wife and child) was walking along when suddenly an enemy rocket exploded near him. A (civilian) contractor on location was also killed. Several were wounded also.

I was nearby and rendered medical aid to the wounded. Although I am not a medic, I was a civilian EMT for years (and Matt is a Philadelphia police officer now), so the basics are still with me. It’s interesting how quickly things change. It really reminds you that this is, in fact, a war zone - not that I needed that kind of reminder.

I can’t imagine how hard it must have been for soldiers such as you who experienced events such as this with regularity during the Vietnam War. I have thought about that a lot lately. It must have really been rough.

I know Sean’s death has taken a toll on me. It has taken a bigger toll on a friend of mine who was there rendering medical aid to Sean with me. Being a civilian “first responder” has helped me, but I think Jerry, my friend who was with me, is having a harder time dealing with the tragedy. He is also the type of person who keeps things bottled up as opposed to me, who is much more outward about my feelings (for better or worse)…”

I sent an email back to Matt:

“Matt: It never gets easier. When I first stood in front of the Vietnam Memorial and looked at the names of men I knew who had been killed, it was a sobering experience. Having been in Baghdad, I know firsthand about the IDF hazards there as well…

As a cop who has been in the first aid mode as both soldier and civilian, I am glad you were there. If your friend was aware of your presence, it surely comforted him.

Some day you will also stand before a memorial in Washington to the men and women who have died in Operation Iraqi Freedom. You will stare at your friend’s name and you will remember all of it. Then you will take your loved ones in your arms and be grateful once again for all of the simple blessings of life.”

Matt’s friend was posthumously promoted to the rank of master sergeant and awarded the Purple Heart and Combat Action Badge. Sean Michael Thomas was from Walker Township in Pennsylvania and he is survived by his wife, Carrie, and daughter Alexa. The couple would have celebrated their anniversary on Easter Sunday. Master Sergeant Thomas previously served in Afghanistan where he was awarded a Bronze Star.

A memorial fund has been established in his daughter’s name. Anyone who would like to contribute to the Alexa Thomas Fund can make donations to the fund in care of Omega Bank, 2 South Main Street, Hughesville, Pennsylvania 17737.

SFC Chuck Grist
www.AmericanRanger.blogspot.com

Remembering Specialist Nichole M. Frye

As time permits, I am working on a book about my 2004 tour in Iraq. The following is an excerpt from chapter 4 of that book.

It is appropriate to remember this young warrior just before the third anniversary of her death.

She was killed on February 16, 2004.

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“On February 16th a five vehicle convoy drove through Baqubah on its way to a military base. The soldiers in the convoy only recently arrived in Iraq and were from Company A of the 415th CA Battalion, one of the units subordinate to the 350th CACOM. The convoy approached an intersection and an insurgent was hiding nearby. When one of the Humvees reached a pre-designated point, the enemy soldier detonated an IED by remote control.

Driving that particular vehicle was nineteen-year-old Private First Class Nichole M. Frye of Lena, Wisconsin. She was killed instantly as the explosion ripped through the Humvee door next to her and the unprotected window above it. The right front passenger, a major, was thrown into the passenger door by the blast. His body armor saved his life, but he was seriously wounded.

The two soldiers in the back seat of Frye’s vehicle both suffered only minor wounds from shrapnel. Their Kevlar helmets and their body armor also saved their lives. The soldier in the rear of the Hummer was standing and shrapnel came through the soft part of his vest under his right arm, missing the heavy armor plate. As the jagged metal twisted through his body, one of his lungs and his liver were punctured.

Our first soldier killed in action in Iraq was a dedicated young female warrior who likely never knew what hit her. A total of fourteen other soldiers were wounded.

Frye was posthumously promoted to specialist.”

SFC Chuck Grist
www.AmericanRanger.blogspot.com

Sal Cerniglia: A Warrior Leaves the Battlefield

“Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.”
General Douglas MacArthur

I’m off to Fort Stewart, Georgia, for a few days of mobilization activities. This is when the Army makes sure the paperwork is up-to-date, I have all my shots and my pay is squared away. This computer will go with me, so I will endeavor to continue my entries on a regular basis.

Today I attended the monthly drill for my Army Reserve unit, but it was not a usual day. This was also the occasion of the retirement ceremony for my old friend, Staff Sergeant Sal Cerniglia. (See this blog for last December 21, 2006 – “Purple Heart Medal for “Wounds” not “Injuries”. This entry tells Sal’s story from Iraq.)

Sal has done wonders as he has struggled to recover from the almost fatal wounds he suffered in August, 2004, in Sadr City, one of Baghdad’s most notorious neighborhoods. Today his friends and fellow soldiers honored him and his wife Grace in a formal ceremony in Orlando.

If you did it Sal’s way, he would still be on active duty in the middle of the fight, but eventually we all have to pack it in. After 35 total years of service as both an officer and a sergeant, Sal’s wounds brought him to his final day in uniform. It was a sad time in a lot of ways, but the room was filled with pride, courage and brotherhood.

At the end of the day, Sal will go home, take his uniform off for the last time and look once more at the medals, the plaques and the notes of good wishes given to him by his friends and fellow warriors. Then he will sit back and smile to himself.

He can rest comfortably in the knowledge that the next generation of American warriors will follow his example, pick up the banner, re-load the rifle and move into battle against the enemies of freedom.

After all, Staff Sergeant Cerniglia helped train, lead and inspire many of the very same soldiers that will follow in his footsteps.

No man could ask for a greater legacy.

SFC Chuck Grist

Post Traumatic Stress: When the War Doesn't End

When I returned from Vietnam in 1971, I was not the same young man who entered that war with determination, patriotism and a positive attitude. There is nothing glamorous about war. It is a miserable life filled with experiences of unimaginable horror, with moments of burning fear and with the crushing emptiness in your soul because of your dead friends.

Each soldier fights his own war against the enemies that face him in combat; each man brings home memories based on his unique experiences. When he tries to merge into civilian life, he discovers that he is always alone even when he is surrounded by others. They cannot understand where he has been, what he has seen and what he must carry around with him for the rest of his life.

With the memory of two wars, I have known many fellow warriors who have come home to face their families as well as the demons of the mind. Even within this last year, my job as a police officer has brought me into contact with recent war veterans. Some are doing fine; others have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and they are not adapting very well to life back here in the “world”, as we said in Vietnam.

Some of the troubled souls among us once stood tall and proud in their uniforms, they faced the enemies of their country with courage and fortitude and they did so with honor and integrity. When I meet these veterans, I try to remind them that they were once the elite members of their nation’s warrior class, that segment of society that is tasked with protecting everyone else. When they took off their uniforms, they didn’t remove the warrior spirit from their souls.

I haven’t been immune to post-war effects. My first two years after Vietnam were spent as a wanderer with little or no purpose. I lived responsibly sometimes, but I was often irresponsible. My wife Debbie came along like a rose after a storm and she helped me realize there was so much to be grateful for.

My training as a Ranger has always made me a hard-headed person. That training also taught me to never quit. Like almost everyone else, I have been knocked to the ground and I have endured both success and failure. We seldom know what we are made of until we fail or endure tragedy. Then we must get up, dust ourselves off and move on. It is this renewal that makes all the difference in life.

To my fellow warriors who cannot seem to find the way to cope with the memories of war, I ask them to remember who they were in battle. Reach into your soul and extract the essence of your warrior spirit. Put away the drugs and alcohol, stand up and move ahead with your life.

As you face a new day, you must re-awaken the pride you once had in yourself, you must stand a little taller and you must become a warrior once again. If you need help or someone to talk to, your fellow warriors will stand by you now just as they did in combat.

Nothing defeated you in battle and you will allow nothing to defeat you now.

You will never, ever quit.

SFC Chuck Grist

The Fighting First Sergeant

I received a tentative date for my mobilization, but with my long experience in and out of the military, I believe that I will just wait for the orders to be published before I really believe it.

Tonight the President will speak on national television about his “New Way Forward”. Although it appears that he may use a troop increase to take control of Baghdad and Anbar province, none of it will work if the Iraqis don’t step up and take control of their own destiny. The sectarian violence must end; the militias must be tamed.

No matter what happens in the end, the soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines who have served, fought, sacrificed and bled for Operation Iraqi Freedom can look back on their service with pride.

Here is another story of an extraordinary American:

ORANGE COUNTY CITIZEN-SOLDIER UNSUNG AT HOME
Special to the Orlando Sentinel
February 5, 2006

The concussion from the enemy rocket-propelled grenade explosion threw First Sgt. Jose Berrios to the ground. He was stunned and could not hear anything at first. Then, as his senses slowly returned, he heard the horrible sound of screaming.

This was the scene in central Baghdad in the summer of 2004 as elements of the new Iraqi Army, led by a team of Orlando Army Reservists, engaged in a bloody neighborhood by neighborhood battle with insurgents. Once again, a major action was under way that could not succeed without the unsung heroism of our citizen-soldiers.

Trying to see what was happening, Berrios realized that something was holding him down. He was surprised to discover that he was under the remains of a dead Iraqi soldier. Pushing the body away, he rose to a hellish world of death and destruction. Several Iraqi soldiers were dead and both Iraqis and Americans were wounded. The uninjured Americans and Iraqis were dragging the wounded to safety.

Razor-sharp pieces of steel shrapnel from the rocket-propelled grenade had opened a severe gash to his left leg that would eventually require more than 40 stitches to close. Still, Berrios pitched in to get the wounded soldiers to safety even as the battle continued. With communications destroyed by the attack, the only way to call for help was by cell phone. Rescue and medical assistance had to wait because American forces were involved in saving the crew of a downed helicopter only a block away.

Berrios and the other soldiers continued the firefight with insurgents. It was almost an hour before American Bradley Fighting Vehicles could make their way to the besieged position to escort the wounded to safety. Treated in Iraq for his wounds, Berrios recovered and returned to his team to complete his tour of duty.

When the call came early in 2004 for volunteers to join a Coalition Military Advisory Training Team (CMATT) in Iraq, Berrios stepped forward. As an Orange County consumer-fraud investigator and the father of five children, he had plenty of reasons to stay home. Still, Berrios was a first sergeant in the Army Reserve and he believes in leading by example. Some of his men were going, so he would go with them.

New Iraqi soldiers must first complete their basic training. Then they are assigned to their individual battalions and the real training begins. The Americans guide them as they learn small-unit tactics and prepare to conduct real-world missions. Then the Americans accompany the Iraqis as they participate in combat operations.

As the sergeant in charge of CMATT Team 11, Berrios led his soldiers as they trained members of the 4th Brigade of the Iraqi Intervention Force of the new Iraqi Army. He believes strongly in the success of their mission. He also feels that the American advisors are making steady progress, even if that progress seems slow.

When asked how he felt about the Iraqis, Berrios said, “They are brave and willing to die for their country.” He was confident when he served with them and believes they will ultimately be able to hold their own against the insurgents. Since his return from Iraq, Berrios has served in the Army Reserve with the 3rd Battalion, 347th Regiment in Orlando.

All Americans must remember the sacrifices that have been made by the National Guardsmen and reservists like Berrios who work among us each day. The Army also considers Berrios one of its most valuable assets. After awarding him a Bronze Star for his service and a Purple Heart for his wounds, the Army has given him the ultimate vote of confidence in his leadership ability.

In December he was selected for promotion to command sergeant major, the highest rank an enlisted soldier can hold. He continues to serve his community and his nation. Average Americans must begin to recognize that their neighborhoods are filled with unsung heroes like Jose Berrios.

SFC Chuck Grist