Last night on the Military Channel Wounded Warriors program they covered the story of Pvt. Channing Moss.
http://military.discovery.com/video/wounded-warriors.html
By RICHARD HALICKS, MIKE LUCKOVICH
The Atlanta Journal-ConstitutionPublished on: 05/21/06
RICK MCKAY/Staff
Pvt. Channing Moss of Gainesville is assisted by technician Cameo Atkins in a recent physical therapy session. Pvt. Channing Moss stood in the gun turret of the Humvee, wary and watchful. His truck was No. 5 in a column of five Humvees rumbling through the eastern mountains of Afghanistan, near the Pakistan border.It was about 10:30 a.m. on March 16, a Thursday. Staff Sgt. Eric Wynn, sitting in the front seat, checked out the ridgeline above them and judged it perfect for an ambush. "I would have used it myself," he said later.The Taliban came at the Americans with AK-47 rifles and rocket-propelled grenades.Moss, 23, had a wife and a family back home in Gainesville; in Afghanistan he had a Mark 19 grenade launcher, a vicious weapon that can fire more than 300 grenades per minute. Moss began raining hell on their attackers.Up front, Wynn was trying to get his troops out of the kill zone. "A bullet hits my windshield," he said, recounting the attack nearly two months later. "Then the RPGs came in. Three of them. One hit my door and two hit my windshield."Something tore away half of Wynn's upper lip and left it hanging down over his mouth. The tip of his nose was blown off, and he was bleeding heavily. "I'm like, 'What the hell happened?' I start to look around the truck. It was then that I see Moss."Moss was down, blood erupting from his middle. But he was conscious, and he couldn't quite believe what was going on in his own gut.An RPG had hit him in the left side just above the hip, plowed across his abdomen and was poking out the skin at his right hip. It had snapped off a piece of hip bone, fractured his pelvis, lacerated his colon. The only thing it hadn't done was the one thing it was meant to do: explode."I could see the tail fins sticking out of me," Moss said weeks later from his hospital bed at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. "I was thinking: I am going to die this way."
Finally, the battered Humvee lumbered out of the kill zone. Moss was pulled from the vehicle and laid out on the ground. He had the thought that someone might "sandbag" him, he said — move him a safe distance away and just let him bleed out and die. He had become UXO — unexploded ordnance — dangerous to himself and anyone nearby.But a medic worked hard to stabilize Moss. He stripped off the tall private's body armor — "everything except my helmet" — gave Moss a morphine shot and covered the RPG with tape.
go here for more of this
The bravery of the men in his unit, the flight crew taking him to receive medical care and the sheer courage of the medics, was simply amazing. With the RPG embedded in the Moss, they were fully aware they could all be blown up at any minute but they didn't care. All they cared about was that Moss could die if they did not act. This is what America is missing.
Combat is horrific, but within the horrifying carnage, there are moment of magnificence. We cannot dismiss this fact. While the great majority of the American people still fully support the troops despite the fact we no longer support the Bush Administration, they have no right to stop the public from being aware of the actions of the men and women we do support. The events they endure must be made public if we are ever going to approach being able to understand them and what they have gone through.
Some will argue that it was the nightly coverage of the Vietnam War behind the lack of support the Vietnam Veterans received when they came home. Others will argue this was precisely the reason for the public to become aware of the abysmal attitude we took toward them. We are no longer that nation simplistically lumping in those we send to fight with the people in charge giving the orders.
On this blog, as posting of their suffering is brought to the attention of the readers, within the post are stories of courage, loyalty to their brothers and sisters and acts of human kindness. While most of us are fully aware of the excuses used to send the troops into Iraq and the ambivalence of the Administration toward those they send, as well as the suffering of the Iraqi people, we do not look at Iraq or Afghanistan through blinders unable to see the amazing actions our troops display on a daily basis. Still these stories are hard to find.
When the media, the few remaining in Iraq and Afghanistan, are censored, it keeps the public detached from the heroic efforts like the story of Pvt. Moss, as well as the bad news. Is it the intention of the Administration to have us detached from both occupations? Do they really want us to be unaware of all the stories of the men and women risking their lives?
Read the following and think about what is being censored.
Received by email
IRAQ: Journalist Charges Censorship by U.S. Military in Fallujah
By Dahr Jamail
SAN FRANCISCO, Jul 3 (IPS) - U.S. journalist Zoriah Miller says he was censored by the U.S. military in the Iraqi city of Fallujah after photographing Marines who died in a suicide bombing.
On Jun. 26, a suicide bomber attacked a city council meeting in Fallujah, 69 kms west of Baghdad, between local tribal sheikhs and military officials.
Three Marines, Cpl. Marcus Preudhomme, Capt. Philip Dykeman, and Lt. Col. Max Galeai, were assigned to 2d Battalion, 3d Marines, 3rd Marine Division, Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.
The explosion also killed two interpreters and 20 Iraqis, including the mayor of the nearby town of Karmah, two prominent sheikhs and their sons, and another sheikh and his brother. All were members of the local "awakening council," one of the U.S.-backed militias that have taken up arms against al Qaeda in Iraq, according to U.S. and Iraqi authorities.
Miller was embedded with Marines on a patrol one block from the attack when it occurred. He had originally turned down the option of going to report on the city council meeting that was bombed.
Miller ran with the Marines he was with to the scene of the attack. "As I ran I saw human pieces...a skull cap with hair, bone shards," he told IPS during a telephone interview from the so-called Green Zone in Baghdad. "When we arrived at the building it was chaotic. There were Iraqis, police and civilians running around screaming. Bodies were being pulled out of the building."
"I went in and there were over 20 people's remains all over the place," Miller continued, "Of the Marines I jogged in with, someone started to vomit. Others were standing around, not knowing what to do. It was completely surreal."
"At that moment I realised this was far beyond anything I'd experienced, and I realised I wanted to focus and make sure I could capture what it felt like, and the visual horror," Miller explained.
"I thought, 'Nobody in the U.S. has any idea what it means when they hear that 20 people died in a suicide bombing.' I want people to be able to associate those numbers with the scene and the actual loss of human life. And to show why soldiers are suffering from PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder]," Miller told IPS.
Miller was taken out of the building by Marines, but then allowed back inside where he took one last photo of the carnage before they closed the scene to him.
"We spent most of the rest of the day as Marines picked up body parts and put them in buckets and bags," he said.
In an Iraqi Police station in Karmah, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) was brought in to investigate the bombing. Millers' photos were the only ones of the scene, so the NCIS team asked for them.
"I made them copies, but then one of the Marines came in and told me to delete my memory card after I give them the photos, and I refused," Miller told IPS, "I told the NCIS that if they forced me to delete them, I would stop sharing them. So they stopped pressing that issue."
Miller said that he was following the rules for embedded journalists. "That evening, during the debriefing, the guys [Marines] I was with told me that the higher-ups had said I was a stand-up guy and behaved well and to treat me well. The guys I was with were all very much on my side."
Miller explained to IPS that he meticulously showed his photos to the Marines he was with to make sure he was not going to show any photos that would upset the family members of the deceased Marines. "They were all okay with them, so then about 96 hours after the bombing I published the photos on my blog."
Then things got interesting.
"Tuesday [Jul. 1] I awoke to a call in their combat operations centre, and the person on the phone told me they were a PAO (Public Affairs Officer) at Camp Fallujah, and he wanted me to take my blog down right away," Miller told IPS. "I asked them why, and was told then called back after five minutes by a higher ranking PAO who claimed I had broken my contract by showing photos of dead Americans with U.S. uniforms and boots."
Miller said the PAO claimed he was not allowed, by the embed contract, to show dead or wounded U.S. citizens or soldiers in the field. "I never signed any contract for that," Miller said.
He was called back after another five minutes and told his embed was terminated and they would send him back to Baghdad on the next flight. He was then taken back to Camp Fallujah where he said, "Everyone was extremely angry and fired up at me."
Nevertheless, the lower ranking Marines he had embedded with "were on my side, and they told me they thought that what was happening was wrong."
Miller explained that he grew nervous when the flight was cancelled due to a sandstorm, and then a security guard was assigned to him.
"I started to feel uncomfortable with this," Miller explained. "The next day, Gen. Kelly, [Major General John Kelly, who is the Commanding General of the I Marine Expeditionary Force] wanted to have some words with me. I was to meet with him at 3 pm, and we sat outside in the sun for two hours and he never showed."
Miller was told he would be flown out that night, but he was deleted from the flight and told that General Kelly wanted to see him, so he waited again until Thursday, Jul. 3. Again the general did not appear, so Miller was given an official letter about the grounds for the termination of his embed, signed by Gen. Kelly, and flown to Baghdad.
"Now, as I think about it, I think they needed the extra time to figure out what they were going to say about my dismissal," Miller said. "Their original reason ended up being bogus, so they had to figure something else out."
The letter he was given stated reasons for his dismissal as "you photographed the remains of U.S. soldiers", "you posted these images along with detailed commentary", and "by posting the images and your commentary you violated 14 H and O of the news media agreement you signed".
In addition, the letter, which Miller read to IPS, stated, "By providing detailed information of the effectiveness of the attack and the response of U.S. forces to it, you have put all U.S. forces in Iraq at greater risk for harm."
Miller feels the reason for his dismissal is otherwise.
"The bottom line is that the thing they cited as the reason for my dismissal was 'information the enemy could use against you'. They realised, probably from keeping track of my blog, that I was not showing identifiable features of a soldier...and they couldn't find a reason to kick me out. Because it was a high ranking person who got killed, they were all fired up."
Miller concluded, "Up to that point they said it was because I showed pictures of bodies with pieces of uniform and boots. The letter, though, doesn't mention that at all. I checked the document I had about ground rules for media embeds, and I followed them."
The Pentagon would not comment on the story when contacted by IPS, saying they had no information on Miller's case beyond what Central Command had already posted.
(END/2008)
While reports like this are censored, there are many more as well. The DOD claims to be reporting all the casualties and fatalities, yet if you look on ICasualties.org, these deaths are not counted. They use the information from the DOD to track the deaths of the troops.
Spc. Estell L. Turner succumbs to wounds from bomb blast
4th BCT soldier dies in Afghan IED blast
Clarksville Leaf Chronicle - Clarksville,TN,USA
The Leaf-Chronicle • July 4, 2008A 101st Airborne Division soldier with 4th Brigade Combat Team died Wednesday of injuries suffered in Afghanistan.Spc. Estell L. Turner, 43, of Sioux Falls, S.D., died at the National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, Md., of wounds suffered June 28 in Malikheyl, Afghanistan, when his vehicle encountered an improvised explosive device, according to a news release today from the Department of Defense.
Spc. Joseph Patrick Dwyer dies after PTSD struggle
Soldier in photo dies after PTSD struggle
By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writerPosted : Thursday Jul 3, 2008 15:56:51 EDT
During the first week of the war in Iraq, a Military Times photographer captured the arresting image of Army Spc. Joseph Patrick Dwyer as he raced through a battle zone clutching a tiny Iraqi boy named Ali.The photo was hailed as a portrait of the heart behind the U.S. military machine, and Doc Dwyer’s concerned face graced the pages of newspapers across the country.
But rather than going on to enjoy the public affection for his act of heroism, he was consumed by the demons of combat stress he could not exorcise. For the medic who cared for the wounds of his combat buddies as they pushed toward Baghdad, the battle for his own health proved too much to bear.
On June 28, Dwyer, 31, died of an accidental overdose in his home in Pinehurst, N.C., after years of struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder. During that time, his marriage fell apart as he spiraled into substance abuse and depression. He found himself constantly struggling with law, even as friends, Veterans Affairs personnel and the Army tried to help him.
Or this story of Sgt. Webster who was in the Warrior Transition unit.
Sgt. Sean K. Webster found dead at Camp Pendleton
VA Marine Killed (10:31 pm)CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. (AP) - Marine Corps authorities investigating the death of an Iraq combat veteran at Camp Pendleton say they have not ruled out the possibility of homicide. The Marine Corps said the body of 23-year-old Sergeant Sean K. Webster of Fairfax, Virginia, was discovered Saturday. Webster was twice awarded the Purple Heart.
As of today, only one death has been attributed to the occupation of Iraq for this month.
07/06/08 MNF: MNC-I Soldier dies of non-battle related causes
A Multi-National Corps - Iraq Soldier died of non-battle related causes in Baghdad July 5. An investigation into the cause of death is under way.
Why aren't all the deaths counted? Why aren't the deaths of the ones who make it home counted in the numbers the DOD releases? What about the ones who die as a result of the wound of PTSD when they take their own lives because of the enemy they have within them? Thousands of them are not included in the true accounting of the lives lost because of service to this country. Their stories are not on the nightly news. The stories of their families suffering are not the focus of any of the media or daily talk shows.
Are they hard stories to cover? Absolutely but they are harder to live through. While various day time shows focus on teenage sex or if a man is actually the father of a child, they will not cover something as important as what is happening to the troops when they come home wounded. While the radio talk shows love to focus on trivial matters like Senator Obama wearing a flag pin or Cindy McCain plagiarizing a cookie recipe, they ignore the suicides of our veterans or the fact we already have a reported 2,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans homeless joining the ranks of the older veterans without any place to live. They ignore the fact we have military families on food stamps and National Guards and Reservists families struggling to make ends meet when they have to go without the incomes from civilian jobs these families base their budgets on. The very fact we have women deployed into Iraq and Afghanistan being sexually assaulted to the point where they are stopping themselves from taking in fluids just to avoid having to use the latrine at night out of fear has left people in shock when they learn of this.
While the media may tout the Warrior Transition Units and the suicide prevention hot line, none of them are reporting on the failures of either program when they still die of drug overdoses, car accidents and motorcycle crashes or when they call the suicide prevention hotline only to be told to call back in the morning. While there are successes and the VA as well as the DOD have been making changes in the way they treat the troops, they still have far to go but with the lack of true reporting, the public assumes the problems are fixed when they are in fact far from it.
Preventing the media from reporting all of this prevents awareness of all of it. It's time the muzzles came off and time for the public to demand reporting, the bad as well as the good, for the sake of the men and women, our countrymen risking their lives on foreign lands. It is the only way the ambivalence will end.
Senior Chaplain Kathie Costos
Namguardianangel@aol.com
www.Namguardianangel.org
www.Woundedtimes.blogspot.com"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation." - George Washington
Chaplain Costos:
ReplyDeleteCensorship is a serious charge and you are using it frivolously (and in contravention of the facts). The media do report these stories. I will be writing about this (how on earth do you think I found out about it if the news is being "censored")? It certainly wasn't from some silly blog.
Do you ever stop to think how upsetting it is to the families of Marines and soldiers who are deployed to read irresponsible charges like this? Mothers and wives of deployed soldiers are worried enough without thinking that the government is censoring the news they hear. The truth is that there were over 800 embeds at the beginning of the war. There are far fewer than 100 now. BY THEIR OWN CHOICE. My husband just got back from a year in Iraq. Thank God I didn't read the kind of nonsense you wrote in this post while he was gone. I had enough to deal with.
I allowed your narrow minded comment in order to show exactly how self-centered some people are. Do you know how they felt when the majority of the people in this nation were shocked to find out Afghanistan was still claiming lives? Or when most cannot even find either occupation on the map? Do not know how many were wounded or killed? Do you know how it makes them feel when they come home to an ambivalent nation? In all other wars, the pictures were published, stories were reported and the public was involved. While only a fraction of the American public seems to care, you need to actually step back and wonder why that is. Apparently you can only see what is right in front of your face. As for the censorship title, guess you also missed what that was about and where the report was found as well. If my blog is so "silly" then you need to ask yourself why on earth you thought it was vital you put in your two cents. You should also take a look at how little news is being reported by the media on Iraq and Afghanistan.
ReplyDelete