Former Marine to be awarded Medal of Honor
By Joby Warrick and Greg Jaffe
A former Marine corporal who repeatedly braved enemy fire in attempting to rescue four comrades in Taliban-infested eastern Afghanistan has been selected to receive the Medal of Honor, the highest award given to members of the armed services, the White House announced Friday.
Dakota Meyer, a former turret gunner and scout sniper from Kentucky, is only the third living veteran of the Afghan and Iraqi conflicts to be chosen for the honor, and the first living Marine to designated for the award since 1973.
Meyer, 23, will be honored at a White House ceremony next month for “courageous actions” while serving in Afghanistan’s eastern Konar Province in Sept. 8 2009, according to a statement issued by the White House.
Marine Wins Medal Of Honor
At first I intended to just skip mentioning this. I moved onto other reports I had to read this morning, among them, the deaths of Florida soldiers. Local news lead off with the Republicans running for the Presidency instead of leading off with these soldiers lives.
No national news station is doing justice to the men and women serving in the military.
You'd think that the number of suicides would be newsworthy to report on especially when the media getting this stunning tragedy into the public's attention could very well move the American people to hold Congress accountable would be worth the time to report it. So why isn't it on every news station?
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"Shoeicide" but not military suicide? What's wrong with these people? Weren't they supposed to be all about the troops and supporting our veterans? After all, they pride themselves on their patriotic agenda. Don't they? Isn't it patriotic to report on what is happening to the troops when they come home? Isn't it patriotic to report on the veterans suffering in this country or their families? Why aren't they covering these suicides everyday until the government does something to actually prove they have a plan that will work? What happened to the days when the media was non-policial? When every station has politics as their focus everything else gets lost and in the process the divide in this nation grows deeper. What happened to them was allowed by the rest of us not demanding higher standards from all of them. They didn't get the message when viewers just shut off the news all the way around and America's Got Talent pulled in higher ratings!
Last night on NBC Nightly News these were the top stories. What "we've missed this week" actually had avoided some really important news.
NBC Headlines for August 12, 2011
Video: What we’ve missed this week
Yesterday, 7:13 PM
Don’t miss Brian’s take on the week that was: all the stories you may have missed as the week flew by. From baguettes in vending machines and hyper-sonic flying, to Bert and Ernie and Vladimir Putin – we’ve got it all. (Nightly News)
Video: Rachel’s fund hits 1 million
Yesterday, 7:11 PM
When 9-year-old Rachel Beckwith lost her life in a car accident last month, friends and family kept her clean water drive going. Word spread, and Friday morning, exactly two months after Rachel's ninth birthday, the total raised hit 1 million dollars. Brian Williams reports. (Nightly News)
Video: World War II Medal of Honor recipient dies
Yesterday, 7:09 PM
Charles Murray, 89, died on Friday. He was a recipient of the Medal of Honor from World War II. Murray served in Europe, Korea and Vietnam. Brian Williams reports. (Nightly News)
Video: Perseid meteor shower to dazzle on Sunday
Yesterday, 7:08 PM
Make sure you look up on Sunday night to watch the annual Perseid meteor shower, considered optimal this year because there won't be a moon in the sky. It’s best viewed with the naked eye. Brian Williams reports. (Nightly News)
Video: Soldier to receive Medal of Honor in September
Yesterday, 7:04 PM
Dakota Meyer will receive the Medal of Honor from President Obama in September for his actions in combat in Afghanistan. Brian Williams reports. (Nightly News)
Video: Rebuilding lives in the aftermath of UK riots
Yesterday, 7:00 PM
In England, police raids on alleged rioters have led to at least 1700 arrests. Now the cleanup has started, but so has the fightback. NBC’s Jim Maceda reports. (Nightly News)
Video: Bratton in talks for UK riots advice
Yesterday, 6:58 PM
William Bratton, the former chief of police in New York, Los Angeles and Boston has been asked by Britain's Prime Minister to come on board as a consultant, to work with the British government on controlling mob violence. Brian Williams reports. (Nightly News)
Video: Bloodshed continues in Syria
Yesterday, 6:53 PM
Defiant protests continue in the streets of Syria, even in the face of a brutal crackdown by the regime of Bashar al-Assad, who is ignoring growing international pressure to step down. NBC’s Richard Engel reports. (Nightly News)
Video: Health care requirement unconstitutional
Yesterday, 6:52 PM
A federal appeals court panel on Friday struck down the requirement in President Barack Obama's health care overhaul package that virtually all Americans must carry health insurance or face penalties. Brian Williams reports. (Nightly News)
Video: For many, dental care is a luxury
Yesterday, 6:49 PM
Hundreds of people waited in line for hours in a suburb of Atlanta on Friday, hoping to get free dental care. NBC’s Mark Potter reports. (Nightly News)
Video: Consumers ‘pessimistic about the economy’
Yesterday, 6:45 PM
CNBC’s Sue Herera discusses the stock market’s wild swings with Brian Williams. (Nightly News)
Video: In Iowa, political showdown
Yesterday, 6:44 PM
The knives came out last night in Iowa. The first legitimate debate of the 2012 presidential race was notable for the numerous harsh exchanges between candidates, as they jostled to break out ahead of Saturday's highly anticipated straw poll. NBC’s Chuck Todd reports. (Nightly News)
Video: Is Bachmann ‘submissive’ to her husband?
Yesterday, 6:41 PM
A frontrunner in Iowa, Michele Bachmann was hit with a personal question about her husband in a political debate on Thursday night. NBC’s Andrea Mitchell reports on how Bachmann handled the question. (Nightly News)
Video: Solar car runs on power it takes to use a toaster
Yesterday, 5:40 PM
Students at Stanford University built a solar-powered car to race in the Solar Power Challenge in Australia. The car can reach 60 miles per hour running on just sunlight. (Nightly News)
Video: No summer break for aspiring ballerinas
Yesterday, 12:38 PM
A group of American high school ballet dancers are spending their summer at the legendary Bolshoi Ballet Academy in Moscow, training at least three hours a day and studying just as long. NBC’s Yonatan Pomrenze reports. (Nightly News)
Thursday it was a little better when it came to reporting on what was happening in Afghanistan but then again, it was a big week for reporting on deaths.
Video: 41 Americans killed this week in Afghanistan
Thursday, 6:48 PM
Six more Americans were killed in Afghanistan on Thursday, in addition to the 30 shot down in the Chinook helicopter over the weekend. In all, 41 Americans have died in Afghanistan just this week. NBC’s Richard Engel reports. (Nightly News)
While this is a great piece done by NBC, the problem is, it was a twist on the truth. Since when does a week begin on Saturday? The Chinook was shot down on Saturday, the 6th of August. This week began on the 7th, on Sunday, as it always does. So why did they do it? Because it grabs a lot more attention than just saying 11 more lost their lives? I don't know what was behind this but at least they were reporting on Afghanistan.
It must not be newsworthy enough to report on something like this so they have to twist a report on combat deaths instead of reporting on an almost equal number of suicides this month in the military alone. 32 soldiers took their own lives in July and 4 Marines committed suicide in July, 13 more attempted it. We had 36 needless deaths, at least 13 attempted suicides just from the Army and Marines. None of these reports include the reported 18 suicides a day of veterans. But then again, there are more we won't know about because when they have been discharged from the military and not yet entered into the VA system, no one is paying attention to their deaths unless it hits the local media or involved a police standoff.
Army suicides hit record in July at 32
Friday, August 12, 2011
For all the talk this proves yet again, they still don't get it and 32 more soldiers have had a military funeral they didn't have to have. What will it take for the Army to stop repeating the same mistakes over and over again? How many more times does a family member have to plan a funeral because of combat but not during it?
Army suicides hit record in July
By Greg Jaffe
So far the efforts have not resulted in a significant change in the suicide rate in the Army. Over the first seven months of 2011, about 160 active duty and reserve soldiers have committed suicide, which is about on par with the number of troops taking their own lives during the same months in 2009 and 2010.
The U.S. Army suffered a record 32 suicides in July, the most since it began releasing monthly figures in 2009.
The high number of deaths represents a setback for the Army, which has put a heavy focus on reducing suicides in recent years. The number includes 22 active duty soldiers and 10 reservists. The previous record was 31, from June 2010.
According to ICasualties.orgthere were 53 deaths of US troops in Afghanistan in July and 57 so far for August. 5 died in Iraq in July. When the news came out a week ago about the Chinook being shot down, it was news across the entire nation but when we lost more last month to suicides, no one cared to report on them. We let it happen. When will we hold the news stations accountable and get them to stop putting politics above everything else?
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