Rift between Medal of Honor recipients Meyer and Swenson reported

Rift between Medal of Honor recipients exposed
Army Times
By Dan Lamothe
Staff writer
Oct. 14, 2013

Army Capt. Will Swenson and Marine Cpl. Dakota Meyer fought side-by-side in a vicious 2009 battle in Afghanistan, working together to recover the bodies of four U.S. service members who were slain on the battlefield and stripped of their weapons and armor.

Both men have been recognized by the military for their heroism. As a sergeant, Meyer became in 2011 the first living Marine in 38 years to receive the Medal of Honor, recognized for braving enemy fire repeatedly to save service members trapped in a hail of gunfire. Swenson will receive the nation's top valor award Tuesday in a White House ceremony, following a long delay and Meyer lobbying publicly on the Army officer's behalf.

But a rift between the two war heroes exists, according to a front-page Washington Post story published Sunday. Swenson "remains skeptical of Meyer and the publicity he has sought," and "engaged in a lengthy and bitter dispute with the military over the narrative of one of the Afghan war's most notorious firefights." The Army officer, who left active duty in 2011, pushed the service to produce a website outlining the battle, and told the Post it "is not going to mutually support other stories" — namely, Meyer's.

"Are you familiar with Pyrrhic victories?" Swenson, 34, told the Post, using a term that originated in Greek history to describe a victory that is so costly, it is tantamount to a loss.

"That's what I specialize in."

Three Marines and a Navy corpsman were killed in the battle, which began around dawn Sept. 8, 2009, when somewhere between 60 and 100 insurgents launched a vicious U-shaped ambush on a patrol that included U.S. Marines and soldiers and the Afghan army and police units they were training.

Swenson's senior enlisted adviser on trip, Sgt 1st Class Kenneth Westbrook, sustained gunshot wounds and died about a month later.
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