Thursday, January 05, 2006

A True Hero

I was fortunate enough last week to encounter some troops returning for Christmas from Iraq in the Dallas-Ft. Worth airport. Texans were cheering them vociferously and giving them prizes and goodies. It was a stirring but eerily jarring moment, a brief reminder amidst our post-modern consumer existence that the war is still real and our terrorist enemies are still there, but fortunately our young heroes are likewise real.

Flares blogger Julian Biggs pointed me to this page of heroes.
They are, as he says, "the root source of all our freedoms and liberties". I fear there remain many areas of the country in which that is seriously believed to be the ACLU.

Among these heroes, 1st Lt. Neil Prakash towers so boldly that his story merits special showcasing.

During the action, Prakash spent several hours under fire as the lead vehicle, taking the brunt of the attack. When enemy fire disabled his tank’s turret, he maneuvered the entire vehicle in order to engage the enemy with the main weapon system and .50-caliber machine gun.

“Looking out of the hatch, I’m just spraying guys and they’re just falling,” said Prakash. “They would just drop – no blood, no nothing. We just keep rolling, getting shot at from everywhere.”

By battle’s end, Prakash's platoon was responsible for 25 confirmed destroyed enemy and an estimated 50 to 60 additional destroyed enemy fighters. Prakash was personally credited with the destruction of eight enemy strong-points, one enemy resupply vehicle, and multiple dismounted enemy fighters.

“He led the way,” said Alpha Company Commander Capt. Paul Fowler.

At this special time of year as we contemplate the big picture, however briefly, let us bestow a few minutes of thought on Lt. Prakash and his colleagues, special seldom seen heroes in whose debt we all stand, though we little know it most of the time.

6 comments:

buddy larsen said...

Hear, hear, MHA.

Unknown said...

Very good post. I am glad to hear they got the recption they deserved.

Imagine the reaction if they had landed in Oklahoma.

The Sooners were the poor cousins but we did our best to outshine Texas whenever possible.

Eric said...

I have corresponded with Lt. Prakash. He is a really fine young man. He has/had his own blog, called Armorgeddon.

(Cute name, him being an Armor officer and all. Works on lots of levels.)

Specter said...

Gotta love our soldiers. Great post over on Power Line quoting an article by the daughter of "Black Bart" Bartholomew, Laura Armstrong. She also tries to bring some sanity to the "terrorize Iraqi women and children" mentality.

I must admit that I am a little concerned though. My son, now 17 and soon 18, has signed up for the Delayed Entry Program in the Marines and will be heading to boot camp in June. I am proud of him, but worried at the same time.

Oh well....he is the kind of kid that is more than tough enough to fight and gentle enough to care for other people....kind of like what we see in our current troops.

Specter said...

He went through that phase....LOL

ex-democrat said...

Link to Lt. Prakesh's blog: http://avengerredsix.blogspot.com/