Marine Acts on Determination to Share His Story

By Meghan Vittrup
American Forces Press Service

Aug. 3, 2007 - A Marine combat engineer who has served in Iraq is determined to help Americans understand the situation there as servicemembers see it. Second Lt. David Bradt said he "became a Marine to serve something greater than myself." "I joined to fight for this country and to lead Marines in combat, which I have done," he said in a recent interview. "I want to know that those whom I love sleep safely at night because of what I and the rest of the Marines do. There is no greater honor than being a U.S. Marine and fighting for your country."

Since October 2005, Bradt has been deployed to Iraq twice. His company worked to discover and destroy weapons caches.

"We completed numerous different kinds of missions, most often being weapons-cache sweeps," the combat engineer said. "The unit I was with discovered and subsequently destroyed thousands and thousands of pounds of explosives, ensuring they could not be used against coalition forces."

Destroying the weapons caches helped prevent insurgents from creating more improvised explosive devices and helped further secure the Iraqi people, as well as fellow Marines and coalition forces.

Bradt is one of eight servicemembers who have served in Iraq, Afghanistan or the Horn of Africa who have been selected to speak to American community groups and businesses across the nation as a part of the Defense Department's "Why We Serve" public-outreach program.

The Why We Serve program was the idea of Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The program began in the fall of 2006. Eight servicemembers, two from each service, are chosen to participate in the program quarterly.

"It is my turn to sort of fight a new fight," Bradt said, "to tell my story and tell the story of my Marines who couldn't be here."

Bradt said he is excited to meet and talk to new people and about sharing his experiences to describe of the realities of war.

He feels that Americans cannot truly understand the situation in Iraq if they only pay attention to the news. He said he wants to use personal experiences to broaden people's views of the war in Iraq.

"This is what is known as (the) fourth dimension (of) warfare, and the enemy attacks popular support for the war at home," Bradt said. "We need to be the ones that are fighting that fight and fighting the negative broadcasting that we are inundated with so much during the day, all day by telling our own story and showing that there are so many positive things that are happening in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"The only reason why people don't know about it is because they aren't told," he added. "It seems like nobody will tell them, but I will."

National Anthem Project Concludes With Grand Finale Events

By Samantha L. Quigley
American Forces Press Service

June 15, 2007 – In the shadow of the Washington Monument, with its 50 American flags snapping in the breeze, the "President's Own" U.S. Marine Band helped kick off the grand finale of the National Anthem Project here yesterday. The National Association for Music Education's multiyear project to get America singing its anthem again began when a poll showed two-thirds of Americans didn't know the words to "The Star-Spangled Banner."

"It wasn't just the words, it was not knowing anything about who Francis Scott Key was," said Earl Hurrey, the association's assistant executive director. "We had kids that didn't know what the name of the national anthem was. They thought it was just the 'National Anthem.'"

The staggering results of the poll prompted the National Association of Music Education to launch the National Anthem Project on the steps of the U.S. Capitol on March 10, 2005. The project was intended to re-teach Americans the words to "The Star-Spangled Banner" and to emphasize the importance of music in school, Hurrey said.

"We created the National Anthem Project to make people aware that music education in schools is far more important than just 'Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star,'" Hurrey, a former Marine master gunnery sergeant and member of the "President's Own" said. "The songs of our heritage are an important part of our culture, and when you cut music from schools, you're also cutting those lessons about our music and our heritage."

The students from Patterson Elementary School in Gilbert, Ariz., who were part of the nearly 5,000 music students from 42 states who gathered on the National Mall for the program, don't have that problem. Their music teacher, Diane Walker, makes sure her students know the words to the multiple verses.

"I was excited for the kids to learn all of (the verses). We talked about the words and what the words mean," she said. "I think when they sing those words today, being in this setting, it'll mean more than it ever has before."

Her students agreed. With red and blue bands on her braces, Kelsi Helfrich, 11, said she appreciated her teacher's zeal for "The Star-Spangled Banner."

"I only knew the first verse of the national anthem, and I didn't really know the rest," she said. "There's a lot of history behind it, and it probably took a long time to write it."

Helfrich admitted that until recently she thought there was just one verse to the song. "Apparently there's four," she said with a grin.

Yesterday's events began the grand finale capping the two- year project. When the Marine band's musical salute to American culture ended, the Oak Ridge Boys took center stage and, along with Mrs. America representatives, led the crowd in singing the national anthem.

The celebration concludes tomorrow at the U.S. Naval Academy's Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium with a musical festival. A drum corps competition will end the day's festivities.

Wounded Marine Makes New Discoveries at Winter Sports Clinic

By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service

April 5, 2007 – U.S. Marine Staff Sgt. Nick Bennett said he'll take away lifetime memories and new discoveries from his experience here at the National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic. He said the experience will steel him through his upcoming-and 27th--surgery since he was wounded in Mamadiyah, Iraq. The 37-year-old Marine Corps Reservist said he'll always remember the thrill of skiing down Snowmass Mountain and trying out all the other winter sports opened to him here. He'll remember the friends he made here and the support of people who made this clinic possible. The clinic is co-sponsored by the Department of Veterans Affairs and Disabled American Veterans.

But the most important takeaway of all, he said, will be his chance to prove to himself, and to his family, what he can still do despite extensive shoulder, spinal, hand and leg injuries.

Bennett acknowledges he's lucky to be alive after a 107mm rocket came careening over his Indianapolis unit's base wall, only partially detonating. It should have flattened everything within a football field's distance, he said.

While living through the blast, Bennett said a piece of him died that day-ironically, Veterans Day of 2004.

As he went through surgery after surgery to repair what medical officials call "polytrauma injuries," it wasn't the pain or the tedious rehabilitation that troubled him the most. It was thinking about what he could no longer do.

He remembered the joy he felt as a young boy playing softball with his dad, and realized he would never share that with his own children.

"To rob that of my kids just killed me," he said. "It's easy to sit around and feel sorry for yourself and feel like your life is over."

His family rallied around him and did everything they could to care of him as he went through the long, difficult healing process. In some ways, he said they tried too hard to protect him.

"I liken it to a flower in a flowerpot," Bennett said, turning philosophical. "At first, the people who love us the most don't want to transfer us to a bigger pot. But our roots are still growing, and if we don't move into that bigger pot, we're going to end up dying."

Coming here to the winter sports clinic was part of Bennett's transplant into that bigger flowerpot.

As he swooshed down the mountain in his adaptive ski equipment, his 17-year-old son was on the same slope, learning to snowboard. "This is great because now I've found an activity that we can do together," Bennett said.

Now he sees all kinds of possibilities ahead and activities he can share with his family. "Just because I'm injured doesn't mean there aren't things we can do together as a family," he said. "There's still a whole lot I can do."

That's a revelation Bennett knows he's sharing with other severely wounded troops and disabled veterans here, particularly those recently back from Iraq and Afghanistan.

"They don't have a clue how much they will change this week, or how many doors are going to open for them," he said.

Three years after his injury, Bennett said he's still overwhelmed by the "fragility of life."

He said he knows he and the other wounded troops here still have a long road ahead as they go through the healing process and face the next step in their lives.

"I'm taking one day at a time because nobody can predict what the future holds," Bennett said. "I am going to wait and see what doors open up."

As he prepares for April 13 surgery at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., Bennett said he'll take his experiences from the winter sports clinic along with him.

"This is my last big adventure for a bit," he said as he rested on the slopeside, awaiting his next run down the mountain. "That's why it's pretty cool."

Article sponsored by criminal justice online leadership as well as police officers and military personnel who have authored books.

U.S. Marines Thank Lebanese Military for Efforts

By Carmen L. Gleason
American Forces Press Service

March 28, 2007 – The commander of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit today honored the Lebanese army for its assistance in the largest evacuation of U.S. civilians from a foreign country. In a Pentagon ceremony, U.S. Marine Col. Ron Johnson expressed his appreciation to the Lebanese armed forces for their assistance in evacuating 15,000 Americans from the country in July following an eruption in violence when the militant group Hezbollah kidnapped an Israeli soldier.

"The Lebanese armed forces and international security forces performed superbly and gave us everything we needed to get our mission accomplished," Johnson said. "I thought it important that our Lebanese friends know just how much we appreciate their cooperation during the evacuation."

Due to the heightened tension following the kidnapping, the U.S. ambassador to Lebanon authorized the departure of embassy personnel from the country July 15. Since Beirut International Airport had been bombed, military assistance was required to transport U.S. citizens to safety by other means.

Johnson, whose unit was conducting a training exercise in the Jordanian desert at the time, sent a detachment of more than 100 Marines and three helicopters to the island of Cyprus to lay the groundwork for the arrival of the rest of the unit to assist in civilian evacuation efforts.

Within 24 hours, the Marines secured the U.S. Embassy and airlifted the first group of citizens to Cyprus.

The Lebanese military's assistance was imperative, Johnson said. "We didn't have access to a port, but the Lebanese not only secured a beach for us, they assisted by providing security along evacuation routes and debarkation points."

By working with embassy officials and using a combination of aircraft and sea vessels, the 24th MEU and the USS Iwo Jima Expeditionary Strike Group worked to assist 15,000 U.S. citizens to safety within two weeks of the start of evacuation efforts.

"Thanks in no small part to (Lebanese) efforts, the operation concluded without a single loss of life or serious injury," Johnson said.

"I am very proud to hear such praise from a U.S. officer," said Brig. Gen. Abdul Hamid Darwich, Lebanese defense attache to the United States. "It was our duty to get all our American guests out of the country to safety."

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Marine Receives Distinguished Flying Cross at Buckingham Palace

By Gunnery Sgt. Donald E. Preston, USMC
Special to American Forces Press Service

March 23, 2007 – A U.S. Marine appeared before Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace March 21 to receive the United Kingdom's Distinguished Flying Cross for saving lives and in recognition for his bravery during combat operations in Iraq. Marine Maj. William D. Chesarek Jr., is the first U.S. servicemember to be so honored since World War II.

Assigned as an exchange officer with the Royal Air Force's 847th Naval Air Squadron, Commando Helicopter Force, based at Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton in Somerset, England, the U.S. Marine flew the RAF's Lynx Mk7 helicopter -- the aircraft he used to dodge insurgent's bullets and rocket-propelled grenades.

Through flight school training at Pensacola, Fla., and Corpus Christi, Texas, he mastered the Marine Corps AH-1W Super Cobra helicopter -- a two-seater armed with Hellfire, Sidewinder and Sidearm missiles.

When he joined the RAF squadron in 2005, he traded in the Super Cobra for the Lynx.

"It's a very agile aircraft," said Chesareck, whose call sign is "Punchy." "Its maneuverability is significantly enhanced, compared to a Cobra. It's like comparing a Mustang to a Porsche. They're both great, but different." Flying the evening of June 10, 2006, Chesarek was providing radio communication relay for British ground troops conducting a company-sized search operation near Amarah, Iraq. Listening to radio transmissions, he overheard that a vehicle involved in the operation had became disabled and a crowd of insurgents was firing small arms and rocket-propelled grenades at the company.

According to his award citation, "Chesarek elected to fly low over the area in an attempt to distract the crowd and if possible, to engage the insurgents." Because the crowd was so close to the ground troops, instead of engaging his machine gun, he "opted instead to provide bold, harassing, very low level flight over the area in an attempt to disperse the crowd."

However, radio traffic from the ground told Chesarek he was now the target and was drawing small-arms fire, and that a rocket-propelled grenade had just passed the rear of his aircraft.

This was not his first time in combat. He and his wife, Christine, a U.S. Navy nurse, had served simultaneously in Operation Iraqi Freedom during the initial stages. But now in a different aircraft, with a different purpose, things were different. Last month, Chesarek's RAF commander and his crew had been shot down flying in the same type of aircraft.

"I had been in a couple of situations with troops in contact before," the 32-year-old Chesarek said. "I had a good idea of the kind of potential danger involved, but now I was listening to the individual commander on the ground. Someone was injured; what can we do?"

Using his view from above, Chesarek applied his training as an airborne forward air controller to coordinate, designate and control fixed-wing assets in conducting close air support, resulting in the dispersing the insurgents.

Chesarek made the unconventional move - what's considered an "implied mission" in military parlance -- to conduct a medical evacuation with the Lynx to help a British soldier with a life-threatening head injury. As the only aircraft available to assist, he landed the Lynx near the company in distress as his door gunner and another crew member jumped out.

"My door gunner jumped out and picked up the injured soldier and put him in the helicopter," Chesarek said. "My other crew member had to stay, or we would have been overweight to fly."

Now, nine months later, Chesarek's name echoed throughout the ballroom of Buckingham Palace as he was called before the queen to be recognized and credited for "having a pivotal role in ensuring the rapid evacuation of (a) badly injured soldier and the safe extraction of the Company."

Wearing his ceremonial uniform, Chesarek stood before the queen and hundreds in attendance, including his parents, his wife and their 2-year-old son, William. After Chesarek bowed, the custom when in front of the queen, the British monarch placed her kingdom's level-three award for gallantry in the air while on active operation against the enemy on his chest.

Chesarek reflected on his lost comrades and brothers in arms.

"I am greatly honored and would like to accept this prestigious award for 847 NAS in memory of Lt. Cmdr. Darren Chapman (Royal Navy), Capt. David Dobson (Army Air Corps), and Marine Paul Collins (Royal Marines), who were killed in action over Basrah in May 2006," Chesarek said. "The awarded actions were only possible due to the combined effort of my combat crew; Lt. David Williams (Royal Navy) and Lance Cpl. Max Carter (Royal Marines). My greatest sense of achievement that day is in knowing the ground troops all made it home."

(Marine Corps Gunnery Sgt. Donald E. Preston is assigned to U.S. Marine Corps Forces, Europe.)

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