We Are NOT All Heroes!

Major Dick Winters:  This is what a hero looks like.

On June 6, 1944, the day known around the world as D-Day, 1st Lieutenant Dick Winters of the 101st Airborne led an attack that has been celebrated and studied for the past 70 years.  Winters led attack known as The Assault on Brecourt Manor which is still taught at the US Military Academy at West Point as one of the finest examples of fire and maneuver in military history.

Just 23 American soldiers from three different companies attacked 60 German soldiers.  The Germans were dug in with emplaced machine guns covering 88 millimeter cannons.  Winters and his men destroyed the German weapons and killed or captured the enemy force.  Just three Americans were killed and one wounded.  

Winters earned the second highest award the Army gives, the Distinguished Service Cross.  Three of his men were awarded the Silver Star Medal.  A dozen more earned the Bronze Star Medal.  The important thing to note is seven soldiers did not receive a medal for valor.

Most soldiers I know make fun of war movies.  But even the most cynical express admiration for the HBO Series "Band of Brothers." In unguarded moments, I have heard some very tough men say they would die happy if they could have been with Dick Winters.

Fast Forward 65 Years

In October of 2009 I was walking into the headquarters building of Camp Adder, Iraq.  The door burst open and a sergeant stormed out muttering to herself "he's getting a Bronze-fucking-Star and his fat ass has never been outside the wire."  

The sergeant was furious about the end-of-tour awards.  A chaplain who never went outside the wire (off the main base) was going to receive the Bronze Star Medal for his service.  "Everybody above Staff Sergeant and 1st Lieutenant gets a Bronze-fucking-Star," the sergeant said.  "I hate this shit."

The same culture that has grade inflation at every level of education gives the equivalent of "everybody wins" medals to people who never faced enemy fire.  The same Bronze Star Medal presented to a dozen men who attacked 60 Germans dug in with cannons and machine guns is now routinely given to maintenance and clerical soldiers who never faced enemy direct fire.

Five More Years

Since I returned from Iraq, many people have thanked me for my service and some said I am a hero.  I am not.  In fact, no soldier I know considers himself of herself a hero.  Even the aircrews who launched MEDEVAC missions in Iraq in blackout sandstorms to save soldiers would on convoy security.  Like athletes who always know someone better than they are, these men and women who I  think of as heroes will always point to someone else who is "really a hero."

All of us who served on Camp Adder in 2009 had a chance to serve under a man we all considered a hero.  The commander of Camp Adder was Col. Peter Newell, a battalion commander and a real hero in the Battle for Fallujah in 2004.  When Rolling Stone magazine wrote about Newell, they praised him for his leadership.  Newell earned the Silver Star Medal at Fallujah.

When someone calls me a hero, I smile.  But in my head, it is like when people ask me if I would ever ride in the Tour de France.  On my best day riding, I could not last two miles with the Tour de France riders--the best in the world.  When someone calls me a hero, I think of Newell, Winters and some of the air crew members I knew in Iraq.  It's not me.

Chinook Pilot Qualifies for All Guard Marathon Team

CW2 Amanda Nesbitt and her son Dathan

Photo by Beth Cardwell Photography

CW2 Amanda Nesbitt

The Chinook is the fastest helicopter in service in the United States Army. Chief Warrant Officer 2 Amanda Nesbitt, a Chinook pilot with Bravo Company, 2-104th General Support Aviation Battalion, recently showed she is among the fastest soldiers on the ground also.

Nesbitt qualified for the All Guard Marathon Team at the Lincoln Nebraska Marathon held May 5, 2013.

“The top 15 women and the top 40 men qualified for the team,” said Nesbitt. “There was no qualifying time. The fastest runners made the team.”

Nesbitt ran the marathon in three hours and 43 minutes. She was 14th among the 15 women who qualified for the team.

“I just made it,” she said.

A feat she accomplished in with just six months of training that began less than a year after the birth of her son, Dathan.

Nesbitt is 29 years old and has been in the Army for 12 years. She enlisted in high school, first serving in a communications unit in Allentown. She earned a bachelor's degree from East Stroudsburg University in 2008. Nesbitt ran in college but did not run marathons.

After college came a succession of big events. She went to flight school in 2009 and became a Chinook pilot in November 2010. Just over a year later in February of 2012, her son was born.

“I had a baby last year so I knew it was not going to be easy to make the team,” Nesbitt said. “Sometimes I ran alone at night with my pepper spray, 18 miles around and around our neighborhood, but I was determined to make it. And the team was rooting for me.”

Her husband, Drew, also an avid runner, supported Amanda’s marathon ambition.

“Drew made it possible for me to put in the time to train,” Nesbitt said. “He supported me the whole way.”

“I tried to make the (marathon) team five years ago, but Pennsylvania did not have the running base it does now,” Nesbitt said.

Her first marathon humbled her.

“At mile 18 I was hurting,” she said.

She finished with a 4-hour, 17-minute time and put away her marathon goals until late 2012.

She signed up for the event even before she knew if Pennsylvania could take her.

“I figured I would go by myself if I had to,” Nesbitt said.

The All Guard Team includes the Army and Air Guard and represents all 50 states plus Guam, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia.

Nesbitt said the top overall female qualifier was Senior Airman Emily Shertzer of Pennsylvania who ran the 26.2-mile distance in three hours and one minute.

“Emily has been to the Olympic Trials,” Nesbitt said.

Three of the 15 women and four of the 40 men who qualified for the All Guard Marathon Team are from Pennsylvania. With seven of the 55 runners from the Keystone State, Pennsylvania has the largest team of all the states.

“Pennsylvania was also the first place team at the qualifying race,” she said.

“I went into the race wanting a 3:40 (time),” she said. “I knew it would not be easy 'post baby.' I ran a 3:43 this time. I'm OK with that. Next year I want to run in the 3:20s.”

Now that she is on the team, Nesbitt will be able to choose races she will compete in during the coming year.

“The Army Ten-Miler and Boston are on the list,” she said.

Nesbitt last competed in the Army Ten-Miler in 2011 when she was six-months pregnant.

“I was not that fast, but my time was good enough to help the Pennsylvania team win the National Guard category,” she said. “It was cool to get the trophy from a general.”

The All Guard Marathon Team goes to marathons and half-marathons around the country and represents the National Guard Recruiting Command.

“I have heard we also march in parades and run relays,” she said. “And we go to the Expos before events.”

“We have red and white running uniforms and bright yellow warm-up outfits. No one is going to miss us,” Nesbitt said.

Bravo Company, 2-104th GSAB, is currently deployed to Afghanistan. Nesbitt is a reserve pilot serving on rear detachment. She could be activated and join her unit at any time, and she is ready for that marathon, if she is called.

Read more: http://www.dvidshub.net/news/108339/chinook-pilot-makes-all-guard-marathon-team#.UbUZh_aUu3A#ixzz2VqMDCqCl