NationStates Jolt Archive


A HUGE Eutruscan salute to SGM Brad Kasal!

Eutrusca
03-05-2006, 12:42
COMMENTARY: One hell of a Marine, and one hell of a man! Despite having taken seven gunshots, 40-plus shrards of shrapnel and losing half his blood, SGM Kasal refused to give up, using his last compression bandage on another Marine. Just as there are heroes from Vietnam, where many citizens of American thought we should not have been, so there are heros from Iraq, where many think we should not be. None of this detracts from their heroism, nor should it detract from whatever honor they are accorded.


Fallujah hero awarded Navy Cross
a day after his father dies (http://www.marinetimes.com/)


CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. — As a crowd of some 400 looked on, Sgt. Maj. Brad Kasal stood, holding a microphone, glancing at his notes, and trying to scrape together words of appreciation and gratitude.

It wasn’t easy.

At the May 1 ceremony, Kasal received the Navy Cross medal and was promoted to the highest enlisted rank of sergeant major. What made it difficult was that Kasal’s father couldn’t hang on long enough to see his son receive the nation’s second highest medal for combat heroics.

Gerald Kasal, 69, passed away the day before after battling cancer.

“It’s an emotional day,” he told the crowd, as if apologizing for his pause.

During a ceremony at Assault Amphibian School, where Kasal has been assigned as he’s continued on his recovery, the 22-year veteran received the blue-and-white medal from Maj. Gen. Mike Lehnert.

Kasal, an infantry unit leader who has become an Iraq war Marine legend for his actions during a violent urban fight against insurgent fighters in Fallujah on Nov. 13, 2004, said he was humbled by all the attention.

“Words cannot say how much I appreciate you and love you to death,” he told the crowd, which included some members of his former unit, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines.

While Kasal has deflected much of the attention given to him, several generals praised his dedication.

“This is one of our heroes,” Lehnert told the crowd, which included former 1st Marine Division commander, Lt. Gen. James Mattis, and current division commander, Maj. Gen. Richard Natonski.

Kasal led a squad of Marines with the Pendleton-based 3/1 into a house in the Jolan neighborhood where several Marines were caught in a gun battle with Iraqi insurgents. Inside, Kasal and Pfc. Alexander Nicoll took fire from the second floor as Kasal came face-to-face with another fighter, who fired his AK-47 assault rifle.

The shots missed. Kasal fired back, killing the man. Another fighter sent a burst of automatic fire from upstairs that sliced through the two Marines, knocking them to the ground. Kasal, his leg shot up with six rounds, dragged Nicoll away from the doorway, but another AK-47 round hit him in his buttocks.

With both Marines bleeding, Kasal used the only two compression bandages they had to control Nicoll’s bleeding.

It was the third time that morning Kasal thought he might die. “I thought for sure I was going to bleed out … might as well let one of us live,” he recalled, speaking after the ceremony.

The battle lasted more than an hour. In the end, Sgt. Byron Norwood, a 25-year-old Texan, was killed and about a dozen other Marines were wounded.

Kasal came out fighting, holding his 9mm pistol in his right hand as the two Marines, sans rifles, carried him by his shoulders out of the house. “They left their weapons behind so they can better carry me out … putting them at risk,” he said.

Kasal is a fighter.

He survived that day despite taking seven gunshots, 40-plus shreds of shrapnel and losing half his blood. He’s battled self-doubt at times and worried about his future. He’s endured 22 surgeries and has defied doctors’ calls to amputate his mangled right leg.

But the 39-year-old Kasal, the fourth of five brothers who grew up an Iowa boy and turned into a fighting Marine infantryman, and refused to give up. “I got more determined to prove [my doctor] wrong,” he said.

“They also said I wouldn’t walk,” he added. But two days earlier, he took to a trail near his Oceanside, Calif., home and ran 1.5 miles. “It wasn’t pretty, but,” he said, his voice dropping. “Now my goal is to pass the PFT again.”

Kasal is moving to Iowa, where he has orders for his second recruiting tour and will be the top enlisted leader at Recruiting Station Des Moines.

As for his promotion to the top enlisted rank, he promised this: “I’m going to bust my butt every day … and lead my Marines as best as I can.”
Jeruselem
03-05-2006, 12:48
Well, let's home he gets some decent on-going healthcare from the armed forces. He's going to need it.
Eutrusca
03-05-2006, 12:50
Well, let's home he gets some decent on-going healthcare from the armed forces. He's going to need it.
I don't think that's an issue at all. He, like all wounded soldiers and marines, will get the best medical care available on the planet.
Skinny87
03-05-2006, 12:52
I don't think that's an issue at all. He, like all wounded soldiers and marines, will get the best medical care available on the planet.

How can you say that old boy? There are more than a few veterans that have been screwed over by your medical system - god knows there have been enough reports on it on the forums recently. How can you be so sure?
Eutrusca
03-05-2006, 12:55
How can you say that old boy? There are more than a few veterans that have been screwed over by your medical system - god knows there have been enough reports on it on the forums recently. How can you be so sure?
Any system as large as the American military is going to have "horror stories," but I have personally seen the care that wounded soldiers and marines receive and it's top drawer, as was the care I recieved after my near-fatal parachuting accident.
Jeruselem
03-05-2006, 12:56
I don't think that's an issue at all. He, like all wounded soldiers and marines, will get the best medical care available on the planet.

Hopefully he's not a "forgotten" hero. The military sometimes has short memory.
Sdaeriji
03-05-2006, 12:56
What's an Eutruscan salute?
Eutrusca
03-05-2006, 12:59
Hopefully he's not a "forgotten" hero. The military sometimes has short memory.
Not very often, from what I've seen. As I said, it's true there are horror stories. In any system as large as the American military, there are going to be "horror stories," but they are very few and very far between.
Harlesburg
03-05-2006, 12:59
I was going to say bravo but 'Fallujah hero awarded Navy Cross
a day after his father dies'-Is that a requirment these days?

BRAVO.
Sdaeriji
03-05-2006, 13:00
For you? One of these: :upyours:

What are you, twelve? Grow the fuck up.
Eutrusca
03-05-2006, 13:01
I was going to say bravo but 'Fallujah hero awarded Navy Cross
a day after his father dies'-Is that a requirment these days?

BRAVO.
As the article noted, his father was dying of cancer and was unable to hang on long enough to see his son awarded the Navy Cross.
Eutrusca
03-05-2006, 13:01
What are you, twelve? Grow the fuck up.
Physican, heal thyself.
Sdaeriji
03-05-2006, 13:02
Physican, heal thyself.

I'm not the one using the middle finger smiley face for no reason.
Jeruselem
03-05-2006, 13:05
I wonder how much Titanium he's got in his body now ...
Eutrusca
03-05-2006, 13:09
I'm not the one using the middle finger smiley face for no reason.
It's the very first time I've ever used it.
Eutrusca
03-05-2006, 13:11
I wonder how much Titanium he's got in his body now ...
Probably quite a bit to hold that shattered leg together.
Gravlen
03-05-2006, 13:15
I'm not saying that Kasal isn't a hero, but the term "Hero" has lost it's meaning these days, and seems to be reduced to a tool of propaganda. I find that sad.

This part of the article is what's important, and should be highlighted:
Kasal is a fighter.
That, it seems, is undoubtedly true.
Tropical Montana
03-05-2006, 13:24
For you? One of these: :upyours:

THat was really uncalled for. Completely unprovoked and unnecessary.

You started out looking like a sensitive, compassionate man with your OP and then you blew it with one post. Shame, really.

And as far as vets getting good medical care--sure, when they are originally injured. But I would say 9 out of 10 of the stories I hear from individual vets about the VA are about its inefficiency, red tape, and long waits involved in going through them for medical care.
Eutrusca
03-05-2006, 13:29
THat was really uncalled for. Completely unprovoked and unnecessary.

You started out looking like a sensitive, compassionate man with your OP and then you blew it with one post. Shame, really.

And as far as vets getting good medical care--sure, when they are originally injured. But I would say 9 out of 10 of the stories I hear from individual vets about the VA are about its inefficiency, red tape, and long waits involved in going through them for medical care.
I disagree that it was "unprovoked," but you're right about it being inappropriate here. Deleted.
Carnivorous Lickers
03-05-2006, 13:31
Thats an incredible story and an incredible man.
Some men never quit.
He's a good example and role model for all US Marines.
Eutrusca
03-05-2006, 13:37
Thats an incredible story and an incredible man.
Some men never quit.
He's a good example and role model for all US Marines.
And not just military personnel. Sometimes people in civilian life go through even more in terms of difficulties and stress. Life often equates to struggle, and the only way out is through. Having a "never give up" attitude is almost a prerequsite.
Carnivorous Lickers
03-05-2006, 13:42
And not just military personnel. Sometimes people in civilian life go through even more in terms of difficulties and stress. Life often equates to struggle, and the only way out is through. Having a "never give up" attitude is almost a prerequsite.

Yep- you could certainly apply the example of his determination and will in his situation to some seemingly insurmountable situation in your own life. This soldier did say he was certain he would die more than once that day. He overcame though, mostly intact and as a hero. It looks like in his determination to save others, he wound up saving himself too.

I am betting he passes PT again too. Semper Fidelis.
People without names
03-05-2006, 13:54
THat was really uncalled for. Completely unprovoked and unnecessary.

You started out looking like a sensitive, compassionate man with your OP and then you blew it with one post. Shame, really.


LMAO

why are people so uptight?
Bejerot
03-05-2006, 15:03
Thank you so much for posting this! It's always nice to see a positive article about our fighting boys after all of the negativity in the media :/!

And thank you for what you did for our country ^_^.
Neon Plaid
03-05-2006, 15:42
As much as I'm against the war, I thought this was a pretty cool story. Thanks for posting it.
Ultraextreme Sanity
03-05-2006, 15:56
Again... he's a Marine what did you expect ?

read some of the sories of those that died doing their duty ..you will find alot of " Really good ones "

http://www.stories-of-service.org/index/news-app/story.11/title.stories-of-the-fallen-told-by-their-families/menu./sec.News%20and%20Events/home.

just for " perspective"

http://www.ksfy.com/Stories/Story.cfm?SID=3463

http://www.ballymoneyheroes.co.uk/Stories.htm



my all time favorite...

http://www.medalofhonor.com/JohnBasilone.htm
Dobbsworld
03-05-2006, 18:02
It's the very first time I've ever used it.
No, it's not:

http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=10519262&postcount=24

http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=10565852&postcount=10

and multiple times:

http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=10754475&postcount=33

Blow it out your backside, sweetness and light.

:upyours: