Above And Beyond The Call Of Duty
By Mitch Berg
The fourth Medal of Honor of the Iraq War (CORRECTION: the third, actually) was presented yesterday, to Navy Seal Mike Monsoor.
In May 2006, Mike and another SEAL ran into the line of fire to save a wounded teammate. With bullets flying all around them, Mike returned fire with one hand while helping pull the injured man to safety with the other. In a dream about the incident months later, the wounded SEAL envisioned Mike coming to the rescue with wings on his shoulders.
On Saint Michael’s Day — September 29, 2006 — Michael Monsoor would make the ultimate sacrifice. Mike and two teammates had taken position on the outcropping of a rooftop when an insurgent grenade bounced off Mike’s chest and landed on the roof. Mike had a clear chance to escape, but he realized that the other two SEALs did not. In that terrible moment, he had two options — to save himself, or to save his friends. For Mike, this was no choice at all. He threw himself onto the grenade, and absorbed the blast with his body. One of the survivors puts it this way: “Mikey looked death in the face that day and said, ‘You cannot take my brothers. I will go in their stead.’”
His brothers in arms noticed, of course:
Perhaps the greatest tribute to Mike’s life is the way different service members all across the world responded to his death. Army soldiers in Ramadi hosted a memorial service for the valiant man who had fought beside them. Iraqi Army scouts — whom Mike helped train — lowered their flag, and sent it to his parents. Nearly every SEAL on the West Coast turned out for Mike’s funeral in California. As the SEALs filed past the casket, they removed their golden tridents from their uniforms, pressed them onto the walls of the coffin. The procession went on nearly half an hour. And when it was all over, the simple wooden coffin had become a gold-plated memorial to a hero who will never be forgotten.
Read the whole thing, of course.
Oddly, the New York Times has yet to cover the story. (UPDATE: They covered it, eventually. As of 6PM Central last night, when I originally wrote this piece, they had not).
April 9th, 2008 at 11:52 am
Peev, since you seem to hold AC in such high regard, why not heed his latest suggestion:
Hey, what say we all enjoy a nice bowl of oatmeal and put Mitchgate to rest? The record is corrected, virtue rewarded, mistakes acknowleged.
Of course, putting something to rest has never been your strong suit. At least not on this blog.
April 9th, 2008 at 11:52 am
Peev, a little unsolicited advice.
It’s not the fact that you come across as a long-winded and largely irrelevant old prune. It’s the fact that you seem to have not one ounce of graciousness or diplomacy in your composition.
I suspect that you got beat up a lot in school, and it was most likely someone like Mitch who stepped in and broke it up.
So here’s the advice: examine your extreme, bloated, out-of-control sense of self first. Then try to have conversations. Sermons are for church.
April 9th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
Peev’s the worst kind of blog vermin
So to equate him with a church sermon
Does religion disfavor.
Peev’s more of the flavor
Of a certain infamous, mustachioed German.
April 9th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
“No SNL skit,
Had a witless git
Famous for showing his butt.”
Actually, Dan Akroyd did show off his butt (crack) in an SNL skit.
I demand a retraction, a correction, an apology and a sizable sum of samoleans deposited into my bank account, for my feelings are hurt ’cause you could not remember the plumber skit!
April 9th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
Brad, consider it closed. As I said to Mitch, he’s more than free to pull it. My one comment to all you Lilliputters, hold Mitch to a standard you demand of others. Whenever I’ve been banned, or threatened, EVERY TIME it has been Mitch who lost his cool, Mitch who took off on a tangent, well I suppose except the first time when he allowed his ‘friend’ to besmirch my service, I expected better from a friend.
Kel – go smoke more crack, at this point your comments amount to nothing better. I pointed out Mitch feigns offense, or even takes offense “taking crap from Peev” and then pretends it doesn’t matter. I don’t any longer take offense, but was pointing out that Mitch’s comments have been (at times) anything but good natured, and he darned well knows it. He can respond here and say he didn’t ‘mean’ it, but, as his conduct here belied, and AC pointed out too, this wasn’t about rants, I pointed something out and asked to live up to his own standards, and at first he claimed ‘mea culpla’ then retracted it because he’s so wrapped up in not ‘losing’ that he can’t even take getting shown up.
I’ve known Mitch longer than ANY of you on this blog I suspect. I like him away from this blog, but, and I’m pretty freakin honest about my shortcomings, but, when I talk with Mitch, just like in this case, 90% of the time even a small amount of research exposes that Mitch really doesn’t have his facts in line. He can phumper all he likes, but whether it’s claiming the M1 tank had no issues (when in fact it did as it was an outgrowth of MBT70), whether it’s claiming that incorporation of the 2nd amendment is not relevant, whether it’s a whole host of things, oh like that FISA wasn’t violated, like that Iraq would be stabilized by November 2006 – he’s just wrong, and wrong for the same reason all of you Lilliputters are, because you see only what you want, research often and normally through a stilted lens.
You know damned well I’m no fan of the Democratic Party, but as compared to this kind of treatment and conduct by Mitch and by you, the Democrats are paragons of decency and civility. That’s the point Flash had made to you, I’ve made, AC’s made. Even here, I’m talking about not having double standards, while you are off in tangent land trying to (pathetically) make it about me. This is about Mitch, who, rather than admitting claiming that they a. didn’t cover b. took a long time to cover and c. left it as ‘eventually’ when it was the same day and entirely within standards, that Mitch can’t bring himself to say, ‘My accusation about the ethical/journalistic standards of the NYT were improper in this case’ or at a minimum, criticize the jackass who created the stupid blog post in the first place.
April 9th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
and with that, I’m out.. say what you like, but don’t hold your breath that it’ll be read.
April 9th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
To the best of my knowledge, Dan Akroyd is not a witless git.
At least not according to Peev’s stringent guidelines.
April 9th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
Promise? Cross your heart and hope to die?
April 9th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
People, please, a little respect.
An authentic American hero selflessly gave his life to protect his fellow soldiers and defend America.
He did not feel this sacrifice a vain or empty one, and we will not debate his profound wisdom at these proceedings.
Mitch, post something else so we can go back to pillow fighting.
/jc
April 9th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
Damn the poetic license! I still want the samoleans!
April 9th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
Wow, an M1 tank reference, another Lilliputter zing, a FISA mention, strategic placement of the word “phumpher,” and an insistence about the honesty of his shortcomings.
Is there a Peev comment “Hall of Fame” we can nominate that screed to?
April 9th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
Is there a Peev comment “Hall of Fame” we can nominate that screed to?
I swear by the ground below my feet; there shall be no such thing. Ever.
April 9th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
The night Peev drove old Mitchie down
And all the clowns were singing…
April 9th, 2008 at 1:04 pm
As of 6PM Central last night, when I originally wrote this piece, they had not
Loathe though I am to get between Peevisham and a microphone (blogophone?), fwiw, the publish date on that NY Times story, taken from their RSS feed, is “Wed, 09 Apr 2008 07:02:43 GMT”. Which, if my gonkulator is correct, is about 2 in the morning.
April 9th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
Angryclown is my name, and I ride on a tiny train.
Til Mitch’s cavalry came and shot silly-string on the tracks again…
In the winter of ought eight,
I tossed out a comment that was pure flame bait
until my logical construct fell.
It was a thread that drove the topic straight to hellllllll……..
April 9th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
I don’t any longer take offense, but was pointing out that Mitch’s comments have been (at times) anything but good natured, and he darned well knows it.
Peev, you insufferable moron, this whole thread is about how great an offense you suffered at Mitch’s hand.
while you are off in tangent land trying to (pathetically) make it about me.
this whole thread, at your insistence, is about you and how badly Mitch dissed you.
April 9th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
*looking around…*
Is Peevish really gone? Ok, closed circuit to everyone else: there’s no need for Mitch to ban the Peev; we can accomplish the same thing by simply not reading or reacting to his comments while still inducing him to waste hours of his time and energy that otherwise, without SiTD, would be directed at some hapless customer service rep or perhaps a telephone solicitor.
Peevish says he’s doing all this out of some conceit that he’s enlightening others or changing minds. That’s about as likely to happen as anyone here wedging a point through Peev’s thick skull. So. Let him back his little honey wagon up here as much as he wants, just don’t read it and, most importantly, don’t respond (which is easy to do if you don’t read him in the first place). Responses just egg him on, and until such time as he matures and discovers women, or maybe Legos, the reaction is what he lives for.
Go ahead, keep crossing swords with AC, Flash and others – it’s good sport and even useful at times. Just don’t feed the Peev.
Now, to be off-topic, allow me to offer my highest respects to the memory of Mike Monsoor and my deepest condolences to his family; we will all miss the contributions a hero like Mike could have made, but none will miss these more than they will.
April 9th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
I’m pretty freakin honest about my shortcomings…
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
Peev, you’re a riot. What a way to go out!!!
April 9th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
Mike Monsoor
A better man than I am. A better man than most of us will ever be. A sad loss in a long and horrid war.
He deserves better in a thread from a post dedicated to his memory than the small-minded, self-indulgent crap that was proffered as an attempt to “get” Mitch Berg.
I’d ask if certain individuals have no shame, but I frankly don’t care.
You aren’t worth it.
April 9th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
To wingnuts, presenting facts and correcting distortions constitute an attack. Get ready for a wake-up in November. The reality-based community will be taking over and you won’t be able to push the snooze button anymore!
April 9th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
Nice tribute, Kerm. You know, except for the part where you do exactly what you’re accusing other people of doing – shoving past the death of a hero to make petty, personal attacks.
April 9th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
While angryclown focuses on what is important?
April 9th, 2008 at 3:24 pm
Angryclown satisfies himself with disproving wingnut propaganda. It’s Kermit who appears to prefer indulging in false piety. To each his own.
April 9th, 2008 at 3:32 pm
angryclown said:
“Angryclown satisfies himself…”
TMI, angryclown.
April 9th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
If you consider this diminutive “gotcha” of Mitch to constitute “disproving wingnut propaganda,” you inhabit a pretty sad little world where self-satisfaction can be gleaned from the most miniscule of perceived accomplishments.
What is it they say about arguing on the Internet? Oh, right:
http://innerslacker.com/images/argue091204.jpg
April 9th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
It’s Kermit who appears to prefer indulging in false piety.
So enlighten us with genuine piety. Or STFU, jerk.
April 9th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
I’ll follow your example Kerm:
Mike Monsoor is a great hero who gave his life in service to his country and to protect his fellow soldiers. We shouldn’t lose focus on his sacrifice to make petty attacks on one another. That said, Kermit is a huge poopy head.
April 9th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
Yoss, you have 13 comments on this thread, which include some very, very poor limericks (“meter”: look into it). Angryclown may not have done much today, but he did shine a small flashlight of truth into the wingnut darkness.
A recap of the day:
1. Mitch slandered.
2. Peev and then Angryclown corrected.
3. Mitch censored, temporized, then backpedaled.
4. You rightwing monkeys spent the rest of the day trying to throw poop at Peev, but none of it stuck cause your aim sucks.
April 9th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
ing to throw poop at Peev, but none of it stuck cause your aim sucks
Also because he wears a poop jacket.
April 9th, 2008 at 4:30 pm
I’ll follow your example Kerm
And then you don’t. You give clowns a bad name.
April 9th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
You’re upset cause I chose Terry to be my nemesis, aren’t you, Kerm? Don’t worry, you’re plenty intelligent and wingnutty. You just lack consistency. You’re vicious only like half the time. Not even. Plus it’s hard to compete with Terry’s volcano lair and plate in his head. Very Blofeld, don’t you agree?
April 9th, 2008 at 4:46 pm
Oh no, AC has seen fit to malign my limericks. Whatever shall I do?
April 9th, 2008 at 4:50 pm
I think you are your own nemesis. You just don’t realize it.
April 9th, 2008 at 9:53 pm
Oh my ever lovin’ sore butt! I cannot believe this thread…like someone said waaaaay back there somewhere, this thread was supposed to be about the Medal of Honor winner…and, just like day follows night, it devolved (apparently fairly rapidly) into more Peevish vs everyone (except AC). Anywhere in the 85 or so posts, were there comments about the Medal and Monsoor, something? Because I got about 45 posts and stopped reading-just scrolled seeing nothing but tit for tat….but then came the limericks (which are always good, so there’s that). But still…
Anyway, may God bless a true American hero and “here’s to him”.
April 10th, 2008 at 9:19 am
I tried, Colleen. Clownie’s response was It’s Kermit who appears to prefer indulging in false piety.
April 10th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
From John 15:13…..Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
R.I.P. Michael Monsoor. Truly an American Hero. We will never forget.