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« on: July 20, 2016, 06:18:20 PM » |
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The Patriot Post - Alexander's Column 7-20-2016
From The Federalist Patriot
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To Honor Their Sacrifice
By Mark Alexander
Jul. 20, 2016
“A republic … if you can keep it.” —Benjamin Franklin (1787)
Last Saturday, thousands of Chattanooga Patriots gathered to observe a somber one-year anniversary: that of the murder of five unarmed military personnel1 in our city by an Islamic terrorist. We celebrated the lives of Sgt. Carson A. Holmquist, Staff Sgt. David A. Wyatt, Gunnery Sgt. Thomas J. Sullivan, Lance Cpl. Squire K. Wells and Petty Officer 2nd Class Randall Smith.
On Friday night, Marine Sgt. DeMonte Cheely, who was wounded but survived the attack, was an honored guest at the third annual Heroes Dinner sponsored by Honoring the Sacrifice Foundation2 (HSF).
This column is dedicated to the severely wounded post-9/11 Purple Heart recipients and their families who are served by the HSF, and all those from previous generations who have served and sacrificed more than most Americans can possibly comprehend.
In March 2012, I received word from one of our Patriot staff that a local young man, Army 82nd Airborne Specialist Andrew Smith, had been severely injured in Afghanistan by an improvised explosive device (IED). Andrew’s parents, Todd and Cathy, are widely known and respected in our community.
Andrew left for his first tour in February 2012, just a few weeks after marrying his sweetheart, Tori3. On March 8th, the future planned by Andrew and Tori took a dramatic turn. While on his first patrol near Kandahar, Andrew lost both legs and suffered severe abdominal wounds from an IED detonation.
In Vietnam, Andrew’s injuries would have been fatal, but due to improved body armor, up-armored vehicles, improved field medic capabilities and rapid evacuation, 90% of combat injuries are now survivable. Once stabilized, Andrew was transported to Walter Reed Medical Center in Maryland, where he began a long protocol of surgeries, therapy and rehab — his wife and family at his side, and his community providing support.
Since the 9/11 attack4, over the course of Operation Enduring Freedom5 and Operation Iraqi Freedom6, 6,884 Americans were killed in theater, most of them combat deaths. But more than 17,000 were severely wounded.
Among the wounded are 1,559 amputees, the majority of them double amputees like Andrew. His road to recovery presented almost insurmountable challenges, but through faith and family he would do much more than just recover.
Despite the severity of his wounds, Andrew and Tori have truly turned tragedy into triumph.
In 2013, they and a team of volunteers formed Honoring the Sacrifice. They did so to pay forward the support they’d received, assisting other severely wounded veterans by providing needed financial and material resources to them and their immediate families. The HTS Foundation also promotes community awareness and opportunities to express gratitude for the sacrifices that our military men and women make on a daily basis.
Andrew now says with humility, “I’m almost thankful about this injury.” And Tori adds, “It was terrible, but God has turned it into a blessing — to know that Andrew is here because God spared him, it’s hard to complain about anything.”
And that brings me to the keynote address for the HTS event.
Today, many Americans recognize Lt. Col. Allen West, (USA, Ret). But in 2003, that wasn’t the case when he was charged with violating Articles 128 (assault) and 134 (general article) of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
A University of Tennessee graduate and third-generation soldier with 22 years in the Army, Allen was serving near Tikrit, Iraq, in 2003, when he received an intelligence briefing of a pending plot to ambush men under his command. The reported plot involved a member of Iraqi police — the loyalties of whom were highly suspect.
In order to coerce details from this man, West discharged his sidearm within safe proximity of a bad guy’s head to convince him to divulge what he knew about the plot. In an Article 32 investigation in November 2003, West stated, “I know the method I used was not right, but I wanted to take care of my soldiers.”
Hearing about the case from friends in the Iraq theater, we used The Patriot Post’s outreach to inform the public about the charges and obtained hundreds of thousands of signatures on a certified petition7 to President George W. Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, arguing West’s case in the court of public opinion.
That campaign resulted in a letter supporting West signed by 95 members of Congress and appealing to the Secretary of the Army. Consequently, West’s charges were referred for an Article 15 proceeding rather than court-martial, and he was able to retire in 2004 with full rank and benefits. Asked in that proceeding if he would act differently in hindsight, West testified, “If it’s about the lives of my soldiers at stake, I’d go through hell with a gasoline can.” (Notably, there were no ambushes against American forces in Tikrit until after West was relieved of his command.)
After separating from the Army, West worked as a defense contractor and, most notably, became the first black Republican since 1876 elected to Congress from Florida. After serving two terms, the Democrat National Committee and Democrat Party of Florida realized that a tough and brilliant black conservative8 was a serious threat to their party’s decades-long stranglehold on the black vote, so they gerrymandered West’s district. He lost his 2012 re-election bid by 2,146 votes.
West is now CEO of the National Center for Policy Analysis9, but he was in Chattanooga on his own time in support of his fellow veterans. |
