A real hero

[Mr. I-MAN]

Maybe you'd like to hear about something other than idiot Reservists and naked Iraqis.

Maybe you'd like to hear about a real American, somebody who honored the uniform he wears.

Meet Brian Chontosh.

Churchville-Chili Central School class of 1991. Proud graduate of the Rochester Institute of Technology. Husband and about-to-be father. First lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps.

And a genuine hero.

The secretary of the Navy said so yesterday.

At 29 Palms in California Brian Chontosh was presented with the Navy Cross, the second highest award for combat bravery the United States can bestow.

That's a big deal.

But you won't see it on the network news tonight, and all you read in Brian's hometown newspaper was two paragraphs of nothing. Instead, it was more blather about some mental defective MPs who acted like animals.

The odd fact about the American media in this war is that it's not covering the American military. The most plugged-in nation in the world is receiving virtually no true information about what its warriors are doing.

Oh, sure, there's a body count. We know how many Americans have fallen. And we see those same casket pictures day in and day out. And we're almost on a first-name basis with the pukes who abused the Iraqi prisoners. And we know all about improvised explosive devices and how we lost Fallujah and what Arab public-opinion polls say about us and how the world hates us.

We get a non-stop feed of gloom and doom.

But we don't hear about the heroes.

The incredibly brave GIs who honorably do their duty. The ones our grandparents would have carried on their shoulders down Fifth Avenue.

The ones we completely ignore.

Like Brian Chontosh.

It was a year ago on the march into Baghdad. Brian Chontosh was a platoon leader rolling up Highway 1 in a humvee.

When all hell broke loose.

Ambush city.

The young Marines were being cut to ribbons. Mortars, machine guns, rocket propelled grenades. And the kid out of Churchville was in charge. It was do or die and it was up to him.

So he moved to the side of his column, looking for a way to lead his men to safety. As he tried to poke a hole through the Iraqi line his humvee came under direct enemy machine gun fire.

It was fish in a barrel and the Marines were the fish.

And Brian Chontosh gave the order to attack. He told his driver to floor the humvee directly at the machine gun emplacement that was firing at them. And he had the guy on top with the .50 cal unload on them.

Within moments there were Iraqis slumped across the machine gun and Chontosh was still advancing, ordering his driver now to take the humvee directly into the Iraqi trench that was attacking his Marines. Over into the battlement the humvee went and out the door Brian Chontosh bailed, carrying an M16 and a Beretta and 228 years of Marine Corps pride.

And he ran down the trench.

With its mortars and riflemen, machineguns and grenadiers.

And he killed them all.

He fought with the M16 until it was out of ammo. Then he fought with the Beretta until it was out of ammo. Then he picked up a dead man's AK47 and fought with that until it was out of ammo. Then he picked up another dead man's AK47 and fought with that until it was out of ammo.

At one point he even fired a discarded Iraqi RPG into an enemy cluster, sending attackers flying with its grenade explosion.

When he was done Brian Chontosh had cleared 200 yards of entrenched Iraqis from his platoon's flank. He had killed more than 20 and wounded at least as many more.

But that's probably not how he would tell it.

He would probably merely say that his Marines were in trouble, and he got them out of trouble. Hoo-ah, and drive on.

"By his outstanding display of decisive leadership, unlimited courage in the face of heavy enemy fire, and utmost devotion to duty, 1st Lt. Chontosh reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the United States Naval Service."

That's what the citation says.

And that's what nobody will hear.

That's what doesn't seem to be making the evening news. Accounts of American valor are dismissed by the press as propaganda, yet accounts of American difficulties are heralded as objectivity. It makes you wonder if the role of the media is to inform, or to depress - to report or to deride. To tell the truth, or to feed us lies.

But I guess it doesn't matter.

We're going to turn out all right.

As long as men like Brian Chontosh wear our uniform.

[technocoy]

i don't agree with this war. I bet brian doesn't either. but i actually agree with you one hundred percent that there is not enough positive news about how these (majority) of brave men and women go about their duties and risk their lives for this country, whether they agree with it or not.

here here!

i salute you brian chontosh. thank you for serving in a military for a country that gives me the right to disagree with it's policies.

and thank you Mr. I-man for an inspiring piece of news.

david

P.S. all the countries that talk trash are the first ones to wimper out to the US of A when they need help. it's a catch 22 to be the USA.

[Heraclid]

I must disagree because I bet Brian does agree with this war. Other than that, I would certainly like to join in saluting our brave men and women in uniform. They are the best among us. Thanks for posting the story.

[t2p]

I don't agree with the war either .... or any war for that matter.
.
But the days are over when we can sit back and 'wait' for something bad to happen.
.
Recent history (past 20 years) has shown that diplomacy has not been effective. The UN - (also) ineffective.
.
S. Hussein put a hit out on George Bush (#1) ...... did we really need any other reason to topple his regime ?
.
And I also salute Brian Chontosh - and all the allied forces.
.

[technocoy]

but there are alot more countries that have a better economy, health system and overall benefitial environment because of the UN. and all that was done in the past twenty years.

I have a brother in the marines, a best friend in the army, and a friend in the air force. the first two have been to iraq twice, and tell me that while they feel they must perform their duty that most men and women in the service feel as though they would be better serving their country by fighting the war on terror, not going overkill on a war that is now being proven to have been justified with false information and emotional reactions.

yes, saddam hussien was evil, yes, he should have been taken out for his crimes against humanity. thousands upon thousands of completely peaceful (buddhist even) tibetans have been oppressed, beaten, tortured, and killed for nothing by the chinese gov't. the chinese gov't has weapons of mass destruction, and they are a regime.

sounds familiar, but how did we justify our war with them? we didn't because they are bigger and make everything we buy. so there was no war. it's economy. plain and simple. it's evil and it sucks, but it's fact of life.

i believe in diplomacy, as well as justified pre-emptive strikes. but all in their place. and this is not the place and time for iraq. this is the place and time for the war on terror, and to be making friends, not enemies.

just my two cents.

[Joe_Black]

Peace is a process brought on by war, and not often revisited until the horrors of its forebear forgotten.

[Heraclid]

Joe is absolutely right. Force begets peace. There's nothing like some nuclear weapons to make people play nice.

would be better serving their country by fighting the war on terror, not going overkill on a war that is now being proven to have been justified with false information

That just struck me as pretty odd. What in the world are they doing over there then? Knitting? And "overkill"? If you think we're beating a dead horse here, that dead horse is still out cutting off the heads of American civilians, and I hope and pray they do not kill any of your family and friends, military or otherwise. They'd love to, you know. Sure, war royally sucks. I'd rather there were no wars too. Anyone in their right mind does. But that is a pipe dream. They brought the fight to us. They've been killing us for a long time. They'll keep doing it until they're stopped, and if we lay down and take it they'll just kill even more of us. It's time something was done and it needs to be seen through to completion, no matter how long it takes.

This is no time for half-measures. If you ever do run into some Al Qaeda goons, they aren't going to just half kill you. And if you had a knife and one of them had a knife and the terrorist was going to kill you, I don't think you'd drop your knife and say you just wanted to be friends and let him slit your throat. That is what you are asking us to do.

Would you be happier if we did go to war with China? You'd probably be very tempted to overlook the deaths of thousands of Tibetans when millions of Americans and Chinese started dying. And that is what war with China would mean. Would that war be justified in your eyes? Neither sounds good, but when push comes to shove, far better to wage a war to save millions at the cost of thousands of lives than vice versa, if you ask me. And I believe China will change for the better from the inside out. Al Qaeda and others like them will require nothing short of extermination, on the other hand.

All that said, if you ever need any help with your VX, I'm there for ya buddy. :-)

[Dallas4u]

Please take this to the 'Chit-Chat' forum. This thread shouldn't have been posted here in the first place.

[technocoy]

heraclid? did you read my post? you basically just repeated everything i was saying. the only difference is that the iraq war is NOT the war on terrorism. and iraq had done not one thing to us. of course they did attack our ally kuwait, but why are we allies with kuwait? not for their humanity and foreign relations i can tell you that. everything else was in agreement. i do think we should be fighting the war on terrorism, the problem is that it isn't in iraq, or at least it wasn't until we rolled in there again and pissed of every muslim there to the point that NOW they are joining terrorist organizations. so now all our friggin troops are over there, getting killed in a farce of a war, when in fact if our men are going to be dying it should be for a more terrorism oriented cause, such as combing the hills between pakistan and afghanistan, etc. and i'm saying that the ousting of saddam hussien did need to be done, but that now (when we should be more concerned with al Qaeda) is not the time. and no i don't want to go to war with china, which is exactly what i was saying. as well as saying that the iraq war is about as justifiable as a war with china.

and as for the slaying of innocent americans in iraq, there were virtually no american casualties in iraq before we invaded their country and beat, raped and killed their civilians. as a matter of fact thousands of americans lived and worked in iraq peacefully before we went to war there. i guess it's ok that we killed their civilians with napalm and misguided missiles, because that's what happens in war, innocent people sometimes die, right? well, what's good for the goose is good for the gander.

I appreciate the conversation here, it's good to hear from different people about this, as i think about it alot. and heraclid, don't worry, no hard feelings, we're all friends here, and everyone is entitled to their opinion. I just thought that you should know that mine isn't much different than your own.

sorry that i seem to have opened a can of worms, i just wanted to show support for I-mans point of view and our soldiers all around the globe. no controversy intended.

david

[SGT.BATGUANO]

And who put Saddam in power? Remember the Shah of Iran?

And who trained Afghanis and likely Al-Quieda durring the Soviet invasion into Afghanistan?

And who provided Saddam with Anthrax and other biological samples?

Sometimes, we are our own worst enemy when it comes to politically-motivated meddling in foreign affairs.

Oil is the only reason we are there. It is a 100 year old technology that's had little change or improvement. Screw the oil giants. We should've had alternative power 30 years ago, after the first oil embargo.

Then those pricks, both here and abroad, would be cutting eachothers throat's (literally) to sell their swill.

Wealthy businessmen and politicians make the wars and young middle-class men die fighting them.

I still favor the idea of placing the conflicting leaders on a remote island and let them settle their petty inadequacies between themselves.

Let's see how much courage they have in their convictions, when their own butt is on the line. Have a nice day!

[Mr. I-MAN]

Looks like somebody got a conspiracy phobia. They got pills for that. My wife is a shrink Sgt. do ya need some couch time or are you going keep babbling about your fantasy world where you are being oppressed by the " EVIL GOVERNMENT". Hey SGT. Love or Leave it. It seems clear you never put your time in to protect it.

[Green Dragon]

"Better to live one more day as a Lion then a Thousand more Years as a Sheep"

This thread is somewhat anologous to the guy who searched all his life for the perfect woman & when he finally found her, much to his dismay discovered she was looking for the perfect man.

All kinds of second guessers in this world, providing after the fact solutions. Lest we forget, 2800 + people died on Sept 11 and more to come. The President of the US is responsible for the defence of the USA, if that means killing and I do mean killing those fanatics deemed responsible then kill them we must, kill them we will. Peace terms with religous Zealots are usually non negotiable, it is kill or be killed. That is the new face of war, that is reality.

As for other countries with Better economys & Health care. I for one have lived (lived, not just visited)in Europe & Asia & a lot of places in between & there is no better place than the USA

Bob F
Korea- Vietnam Vet.

[Mr. I-MAN]

Rock on Bob!

[Heraclid]

I typed a long post on all of this. But I know it probably won't do any good so to hell with it. Got it off my chest a bit at any rate. Some of you people couldn't have handled it any way. The best and most concise way to get my point across would have consisted of just a few words and would have really pissed some of you off. The plain truth tends to do that. But it is not my job to save you from yourselves. I will hope and pray you don't get your way, I will fight against your false notions until I breathe my last breath, and I will bite my tongue and call you friend all the way. But damn you make it hard sometimes. God bless you all.

<shakes head and walks away>

[SPAZZ]

I didn't know Marines say "Hoo-ah" I just served 8 years and Marines say "Hoo-Rah"...but not "Hoo-ah"!!!!

anyways..we should have killed em all long ago.....Prior Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance...save us some grief later(like 911) by killing em all sooner...when we know they will be trouble.




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