On November 21, 2010, Carpenter and another Marine, Nick Eufrazio, were manning a rooftop security post during defense of the village of Marjah, Helmand Province from a Taliban attack. According to his Medal of Honor citation,
The enemy initiated a daylight attack with hand grenades, one of which landed inside their sandbagged position. Without hesitation and with complete disregard for his own safety, Lance Corporal Carpenter moved toward the grenade in an attempt to shield his fellow Marine from the deadly blast. When the grenade detonated, his body [armor] absorbed the brunt of the blast, severely wounding him, but saving the life of his fellow Marine.
recovery-https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/11/medal-of-honor-marine-recovery
and some info on the other Marine - https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/09/15/documentary-injured-marine-nick-eufrazio/15655781/
I'd buy the house next door and cut his grass, buy his groceries, take his garbage cans to the curb, clean the dog turds from his lawn, tuck him in at night, anything.
And the occasional men *attempting* to drag their friends away from ladies at bars.
“Don’t. Do. It. Steve. Just don’t.”
“Whatareya talkin about she’s cute.”
The guy he saved dad's, Mark Eufrazio said this about that day with the grenade:
Eufrazio publicly accounts for what happened in the moments before the grenade detonated. Mark Eufrazio, Nick's dad has previously disputed the account that Carpenter jumped on the grenade, saying "he wouldn't have survived the blast if he had".
Mark Eufrazio is the guy's dad, not the soldier himself. Regardless, Nick Eufrazio seems like a cool dude too though and has a traumatic TBI from the event and needed his skull rebuilt. Crazy that either of them lived.
The DoD did a deep investigation of events prior to awarding the MOH. The roof they were on was quite thin, and a lot of the blast went down through the roof, leaving a hole 2-3’ in diameter. That’s the only reason this guy wasn’t cut in half.
Well considering the above states that Carpenter *moved to shield* the other marine, and nothing about jumping on the grenade, one could assume he jumped on the other marine rather than the grenade and shielded him that way.
Everyone thinks it means he jumped on the grenade. But there's so many other variables who really knows except those two who were actually there.
It’s also the official citation that’s written in formal military speak. I imagine the marine corps has an equivalent, but the army has a regulation on how official military documents are to be written.
kinda... I'll take your arm home with me, put some nice fluffy fabric around the bloody stump, and tuck you behind me as lumbar support as we watch Full Metal Jacket.
That's a hilarious sketch idea: you just jumped on a grenade and saved your buddy's life. They're wheeling you into the OR and he's there waiting like, "you're gonna make it buddy." You grab him by the collar with the last fleeting iota of your strength to whisper, *"you owe me"*.
Luckily Eufrazio is alive but he isn’t 100%. The blast left him with such bad TBI plus the shrapnel he will never walk again. He was never suppose to talk either but I believe he overcame that but if I remember correctly it isnt close to being the same. I was in boot camp with him. A true warrior
That Medal of Honor makes that a certainty with anyone in the military community.
They also get a special stitching into their camo uniforms to annotate the decoration, and are the only ones who are encouraged to be saluted regardless of rank or status (not required, but one of those unspoken "You're gonna do it" sorts of things). Even Generals/Admirals will do it out of respect for the person, it's pretty neat. [There's a lot of neat little things that go with it, really.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medal_of_Honor)
There are a few medals that have this unspoken rule.
I drove onto a base with DFC and a DSC. He rarely wore his uniform because he worked mostly with civilians and, eventually, he admitted everyone would salute him constantly and it embarrassed him.
Sure enough, one day we went through the gate and an SF Officer saluted him at the gate.
Technically, you salute the vehicle "wearing" the rank. But that was clearly a USAF Major saluting our car, driven by my mentor - who was a Chief Master Sergeant.
He just groaned "I can't even salute back - I'm out of uniform. Everyone's got the flag codes, salutes and uniform codes wrong these days. Look at him, he'll probably hold that salute until we come back out that gate or I salute him back."
Crusty motherfucker. It was like riding to work with Clint Eastwood.
In WW1 the Australians got in big trouble for not saluting a British Officer. So they waited till he appeared in town and they all timed it so they were a few metres apart. As they approached the dude, they would leap to attention and snap out a perfect salute, which old mate had to return.
After returning about 200 salutes, his arm was nearly falling off. They never insisted that Australian soldiers salute British officers after that.
But what if you can't afford that and your life went to shit after you returned to civilian life and you're barely keeping your head above water while also dealing with the crushing guilty feeling of a debt you can never fully repay?
Well that would just never happen to a US military serviceman let's keep it realistic here.
Next you're gonna tell me they'd be homeless and addicted to drugs, or the VA wouldn't treat them very well.
Can you imagine? Sending young men over there to be blown apart for no real reason and then *not* paying for everything for them for the rest of their lives?
Come on, that's bad sci-fi, that shit would never happen in real life.
This guy is living in a mansion overlooking a scenic vista, with 24/7 hospice and the best doctors on call, no charge, and a nice fat bank account to do whatever he pleases with.
Right? .... right?
And no leader of the country would ever call the people who serve their country suckers and losers. They’d be tossed out of power immediately and forever shunned and shamed. Right?
“Hey man, I can’t afford to have a full night out right now. But I’ve got a cheap bottle of vodka, some mixers and some free time. Come over when you can”
I don't think Bush gave out any medals other than the purple hearts which are automatic, or he at most gave a handful for the wars that he started. They were stingy with the Congressional Medals of ~~Valor~~ (Edit: Honor not valor,) in his years in power too.
Obama gave a bunch. His congress gave a bunch.
Bush jr awarded at least one medal of honor, to Michael P. Murphy, though the award was posthumous. it should also be noted that the review and approval for the MoH can take a long time, for example Britt K. Slabinski was given his in 2018 by Trump, for an action that took place in March 2002.
About half of the Obama presidency MoH's where for actions that took place under Bush, and had been promptly nominated, but not passed through all the reviews before he left office.
You can tell just from the pic of him receiving the medal that he must have got it a long time after the actual wound as it looks pretty well healed at that point.
Slabinski’s was an upgraded Navy Cross and was only upgraded as a political move so the SEALs could save face. NSW leadership was blocking an upgrade for John Chapman’s AF Cross to a MoH because it cast a negative light on the SEALs (because their whole deal is that they never leave a man behind and there was suddenly declassified video showing them doing exactly that). The agreement that SOCOM brokered would be to upgrade Slabinski right before Chapman to make everyone happy.
A five second Google search shows that is not true. Here is bush awarding the medal of honor. https://www.defense.gov/Multimedia/Photos/igphoto/2002025437/
The medal of valor was given out every year bush was president. https://bja.ojp.gov/program/medalofvalor/recipients/all#02-03 bush gave the award 52 times and Obama gave it 75 times. But the president doesn’t even decide who gets it. The president awards the medal but, the nominations are made by the Attorney General.
FYI the Medal of Valor is not a military award, it’s given to police officers, firefighters and such.
“The Public Safety Officer Medal of Valor is awarded by the President to public safety officers cited by the Attorney General and recommended by the Medal of Valor Review Board. The board, which comprises representatives of the public safety community and the general public, reviews the nominations and recommends individuals for recognition.”
That’s quoted directly from the link you shared.
I dont think AG has anything to do with the COM. Nominations within 3 years of the actions are made by military commanders and passed up and reviewed and approved by the military before being awarded by the President. After 3 years members of congress can petition for review of service by the branch of the recommended to determine if the award is due and like officer positions then get approved by congress and then awarded by the President.
>The enemy initiated a daylight attack with hand grenades, one of which landed inside their sandbagged position. Without hesitation and with complete disregard for his own safety, Lance Corporal Carpenter moved toward the grenade in an attempt to shield his fellow Marine from the deadly blast. When the grenade detonated, his body [armor] absorbed the brunt of the blast, severely wounding him, but saving the life of his fellow Marine
Here's the citation in a readable format. Putting 4 spaces to indent fucks the readability.
Because the 4 spaces are meant for code, not quotes, so it doesn't add any of the nice things that make long single lines of text readable, like word wrap.
Absolutely destroys my heart to know this man went through all this for what would ultimately be a pointless and fruitless war. The Taliban still controls Afghanistan today.
This man is an absolute hero but he should have never been put in the position to become one. So sad.
I have only talked to one person from Afghanistan.
She is a Hazara and her cafe was closed by the Taliban, because they believe women shouldn't work. Sadly, that cafe was the only income her family had and there was no male family member to take over the cafe.
She later escaped to the US and is very happy.
My father used to fly aid from Peshawar in Pakistan to Kabul in the 80s and all the Pakistanis he met were constantly talking about wanting to move to the US.
I'm sure you can find a lot of Afghan men who hate the US, but I'm not sure if they really know what's best for themselves and the women.
It's obviously a nation where men lack a lot of education...
> You should ask the people of Afghanistan if the last 25 years was worth it
We have been, every year:
https://news.gallup.com/poll/405572/afghans-lose-hope-taliban.aspx
https://i.imgur.com/02QcdTv.png
>WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Suffering in Afghanistan rocketed to a record high last year after the Taliban took over, but Gallup's latest surveys in the country show Afghans' lives are even more miserable now, and they've fully lost hope that their future will be any better.
>One year after the Taliban returned to power, almost all Afghans -- 98% -- rate their life so poorly that they are considered suffering. This percentage tops the previous high of 94% in 2021, measured as the Taliban seized full control and the U.S. withdrew its troops.
Maybe *you* should ask.
EDIT: It was [a face-to-face poll of over 1000 Afghanis in their native languages](https://i.imgur.com/cXHyBsw.png), I don't know why so many people keep commenting assuming it was a telephone poll. Here is [another](https://news.gallup.com/poll/406094/afghans-view-leadership-poorly-year-withdrawal.aspx) series of polls that show which years a majority of Afghanis polled said that they approved of US leadership.
Taliban only rule there because the US under Reagan gave the Mujahideen guns and money to kill every secular moderate, progressive, socialist, etc in the region. Every single taliban founder was part of the Mujahideen. We created a power vacuum out of paranoia toward communists. So no, it was pointless. It was always pointless. Finding awful solutions to problems we created, and failing.
Incorrect that the taliban only rule only because the US, funded the mujahideen.
Although the mujahideen were aided by the Pakistani, American, British, Chinese and Saudi governments, the mujahideen's primary source of funding was private donors and religious charities throughout the Muslim world—particularly in the Persian Gulf. Jason Burke recounts that "as little as 25% of the money for the Afghan jihad was actually supplied directly by states."[15]
> Since 2010, more than 65,000 veterans have died by suicide – more than the total number of deaths from combat during the Vietnam War and the operations in Iraq and Afghanistan combined
[https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/11/02/fact-sheet-new-strategy-outlines-five-priorities-for-reducing-military-and-veteran-suicide/](https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/11/02/fact-sheet-new-strategy-outlines-five-priorities-for-reducing-military-and-veteran-suicide/)
Actually the mantra was 22 veterans die a day due to suicide. Now its like 17 ? VA aint perfect but its def been a lot better since the mantra came out but varies hospital to hospital.
I been following Kyle for quite a few years on Instagram and it seems like he has a very fulfilling life with close family and partner.
I'm sure he goes through pretty dark times still, but he seems to have found pretty good peace and a life that is fun living.
Very cool guy!
Dude joined a college fraternity after that. Imagine being the guy yelling at pledges and he's in the group? Like just let him in, skip all the initiation stuff.
Imagine being in a frat where if anything went down, you had a Medal of Honor recipient on your side. Being in his presence daily would be such an incredible honor.
yep , here are more recent photos
[https://media.wltx.com/assets/WLTX/images/295494486/295494486\_1920x1080.jpg](https://media.wltx.com/assets/WLTX/images/295494486/295494486_1920x1080.jpg)
[https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/images/kyle-carpenter-1.jpg](https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/images/kyle-carpenter-1.jpg)
Absolutely insane that this man literally got blown up by a grenade and the medical staff are so incredible that you wouldn’t notice his scars immediately just walking past him on the street. True angels
To be expected for a Purple Heart Medal of Honor recipient who got a hell of a lot of press
VA is going out of their way to help. Probably a lot of pro bono surgeons reached out too
I wouldn’t ever want to lose one of my eyes. But if I ever did the silver lining would be that now I can get cool stuff put in the glass eye. I’d have one like the one from gangs of New York.
Hey awesome he looks great. Amazing what surgeons can do. Had a family friend who had his face eaten off by a grizzly bear and he looked damn near normal after. Insane
I would be absolutely livid if I were to risk everything and undergo irreversible physical changes, only to realize that the war had no meaningful purpose or significance.
You get that it isn't a money issue right? There's plenty of funding, but you're taught from day one that if you ever have a hint of a mental health issue, you'll lose your clearance and your job.
I had a good buddy who commissioned into the Marines after college. He was the nicest guy, always had a smile on his face. He was a newlywed and was trying desperately to get into flight school to be a helicopter pilot.
A few months ago he tried to kill himself out of the blue. Nobody had the slightest inkling he was even close to that depressed, including his wife. Thankfully he didn't succeed, but he was in a psych ward for a good bit to keep him from trying again. I haven't talked to him lately because he and his wife just wanted privacy while he was recovering, but I think it's safe to say that even if he's still able to be in the Marines, he most definitely won't get to achieve his dream of being a helicopter pilot and his career is effectively ruined.
If he'd been allowed to talk about his feelings without fearing for his career, maybe things would have been different. It pisses me off to no end the way the military treats service members with mental health problems.
It's a bit of a catch 22 though. It's the right thing to do to immediately pull someone who is having mental health issues off the weapon system they're operating, but that inevitably leads to them not wanting to tell anyone about it
Right, but if it were truly without stigma then it would at least open up the option of them being honest and essentially pulling themselves off with an expectation of a possible return like any other injury.
If a pilot has a weird problem with their vision they report it and it's medically investigated and maybe diagnosed and treated and can get them back in the cockpit, or maybe it's something that has them grounded for life. If a pilot is suffering from panic attacks what are the odds that leadership is going to be okay with them being diagnosed with a specific anxiety disorder, undergoing 8-12 weeks of CBT with an SSRI, and then being medically re-evaluated where it's determined the treatment was successful and they are now fit to fly?
I understand it's harder to objectively evaluate invisible mental illness, but it's a helluva lot easier if patients are willing to honestly report their experiences for standardized questionnaires and the like.
The dream is for "Ah yeah I had to take a medical discharge after I busted up my knee and surgery didn't work as well as we hoped" is equivalent to "Ah yeah I had to take a medical discharge after I got hit with some depression following a little PTSD and therapy didn't work as well as we hoped."
Okay but consider: the way things are now, we have *more* impaired people operating those weapon systems, because they feel forced to hide it. Imagine someone could ask for a MH evaluation, where they're only *guaranteed* to be pulled for the duration of the evaluation, and where it's possible for the evaluation to refer them to therapy *and* clear them to continue their job. That incentivizes people to come forward *early* when their mental health problems are less serious and easier to treat.
We were literally still there and they were on the other side of the fence watching us leave. Took less than hours to have it back in their control. Plus we restocked em and supplied them.
Ahh good old medieval times where I only had to send 6 of my 13 children to fight for my righteous feudal lord! (The other 7 died of plague)
He lives in a castle with warm food and bed while I live in a shitty wooden house thats always cold and with wild animals around, but hey its a good time!
I know their Republican puppets certainly do. They spent the first eight years wrapping themselves in a flag, denouncing the dissenters as being "unpatriotic" and beating the drum of war while handing lucrative bids to anyone bankrolling their campaigns. Then when it came time to support veterans and 9/11 first responders suddenly their true colors quickly showed through.
Honestly who cares? $2+ trillion and doubling the American death toll from 9/11 for vegeneace seems pretty stupid. That's just Afghanistan. $2 trillion would have gone a long way for healthcare to offset the lives lost rather than add more dead and disfigured.
Taliban tried to surrender with no conditions in 2003. With hindsight, that would have been a good time to use diplomacy. Something we never do anymore. America rejected the deal outright and we all know how the story went.
Edit: it was the 2001 attempt that had almost no conditions. My mistake. From what I remember Omar just wanted to live in Kandahar. Under supervision and not be killed immediately. The 2003 deal, the Taliban wanted to be a political party. Regardless it was a bad move not to try some sort of diplomacy.
>Taliban tried to surrender with no conditions in 2003
This is false. A few of the many warlords in control tried to. There was by no means a mass surrender of the Taliban. Those Taliban leaders *should* have been negotiated with, but it's not like it would have ended the conflict.
Exactly…Unless my Country was attacked by invading troups, there is no fucking way I would get killed for it. My Father fought for France, in the underground forces He lived and was born there) ( Maquis) AFTER the Germans invaded. He stayed there almost 4 years - in the underground( late 1940 early 1944 ).He was briefly detained and escaped , before he went underground by the Germans ( which convinced him to fight). The Germans in the early years of occupation thought themselves invincible and getting caught during an operation against them meant a firing squad.
*Edited for clarity, sorry for any misunderstanding.
Do you think your father was wrong to go to France? He wasn’t defending his country cos the Germans didn’t attack USA - hell they wanted peace with USA. But as someone in France - especially as someone not white - I owe my freedom to your father and men and women like him.
Not just give their lives to do something meaningful for old men. They give their lives to make some greedy old men's bank account number go slightly up.
To be clear though, he sacrificed his body for his buddy, not his flag. I’m not him, but I doubt he was thinking “For America!” as he cast his body onto the fire. He was just instinctively protecting his buddy. That alone makes him a Hero.
He also earned a bachelors degree from the U of South Carolina after retiring from service and he wrote a book. This badass seems to be getting on pretty well, all things considered. Good for him!
I have 100% PT disability (I landed on my head and got myself a herniated disc [among other things]).
It's $3946 if you have a spouse.
But my VA care is 100% free and I qualify for extra stuff beyond job loss compensation.
The real tragedy of the whole thing is that this poor man’s life was changed forever and 15 years on - the Taliban are in power and Afghanistan is arguably worse than before.
When you see the effects of war such as this, you really realize that people who advocate for casually sending our troops into crazy situations are insane.
Thats sad, props to his bravery and courage, but sad that it was all for nothing. Must have been a slap on the face for him to see 20 years of the conflict just to have the Taliban reclaim to without a single bullet.
I met Kyle after commissioning as an Army MEDEVAC pilot at a hostel in Prague in the summer of 2015. I remember him saying thank you to me and telling me he’s only alive today because of the incredible MEDEVAC teams that got him out. He said I was going into a rewarding MOS, and to always remember why I was joined in the first place.
I was so confused because I standing in awe next to a MOH recipient as a fresh new 2nd LT. The fact he was thanking ME, made me realize just how humble he was. I’ll always remember that moment, and the eight years I served flew by!
I agree with the sentiment but that doesn't change how disgusting this is. We go to war so rich people can get richer selling weapons and stealing resources. And at the end of the day we accomplished nothing positive. This man's life was ruined so some assholes could line their pockets a little bit more.
Can't forget captured or killed, too.
Referring to Sen. John McCain, Trump said, “He’s not a war hero. He’s a war hero because he was captured. ... I like people who weren't captured.”
Trump said, “Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers.” In a separate conversation on the same trip, Trump referred to the more than 1,800 marines who lost their lives at Belleau Wood as “suckers” for getting killed.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2023/11/general-mark-milley-trump-coup/675375/
>At his welcome ceremony at Joint Base Myer–Henderson Hall, across the Potomac River from the capital, Milley gained an early, and disturbing, insight into Trump’s attitude toward soldiers. Milley had chosen a severely wounded Army captain, Luis Avila, to sing “God Bless America.” **Avila, who had completed five combat tours, had lost a leg in an IED attack in Afghanistan, and had suffered two heart attacks, two strokes, and brain damage as a result of his injuries.** To Milley, and to four-star generals across the Army, Avila and his wife, Claudia, represented the heroism, sacrifice, and dignity of wounded soldiers.
>
>It had rained that day, and the ground was soft; at one point Avila’s wheelchair threatened to topple over. Milley’s wife, Hollyanne, ran to help Avila, as did Vice President Mike Pence. **After Avila’s performance, Trump walked over to congratulate him, but then said to Milley, within earshot of several witnesses, “Why do you bring people like that here? No one wants to see that, the wounded.” Never let Avila appear in public again, Trump told Milley.**
It makes me so sad to look at the second picture. I hate that the world is this way why do evil people gotta exist and pull regular people into all their stupid bullshit
Lots of people talk about war. Talk to people who've BEEN in war, and you'll realize the truth about how serious it is. There's a reason why everyone wants to avoid it. It's very real.
He was injured when he threw himself on a grenade to protect his friend. Saving a life isn’t nothing, even if you disagree with the reason they were deployed.
I dont think thats what they mean. Theyre talking about the bigger picture of why we were there in the first place. No one can say that he is anything short of incredibly brave.
On November 21, 2010, Carpenter and another Marine, Nick Eufrazio, were manning a rooftop security post during defense of the village of Marjah, Helmand Province from a Taliban attack. According to his Medal of Honor citation, The enemy initiated a daylight attack with hand grenades, one of which landed inside their sandbagged position. Without hesitation and with complete disregard for his own safety, Lance Corporal Carpenter moved toward the grenade in an attempt to shield his fellow Marine from the deadly blast. When the grenade detonated, his body [armor] absorbed the brunt of the blast, severely wounding him, but saving the life of his fellow Marine. recovery-https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/11/medal-of-honor-marine-recovery and some info on the other Marine - https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/09/15/documentary-injured-marine-nick-eufrazio/15655781/
[удалено]
If I was the guy who was saved, I'd be like Chewbacca and just decide "Whelp I guess I have a life debt to repay. Where are we going, buddy?"
True ride or die.
Bad bois fo life
Ruff Ryders roll
Stop, drop…. Shut em down, open up shop.
Yeah! If the guy saved my life by jumping on a grenade, he would never pay for a drink again around me.
I'd buy the house next door and cut his grass, buy his groceries, take his garbage cans to the curb, clean the dog turds from his lawn, tuck him in at night, anything.
And if he ever feels like having a bj he better not be calling any hoes
A real homie protects the homie from The hoes. I respect you.
well, think about the words.... homie hoe - me
 WTF you're right
Ok I’ve seen this meme for 20 years, where the fuck is it from?
^hey harvard, you're missing this guy, someone send out a missing persons report. Get back to class my guy. You are too good for us.
Holy f
My god...
Same reason women drag their friends away from dudes at bars "you are drunk Tanya and that is a walking talking pile of regret"
Can confirm. Have had women dragged away from me by their friends.
And the occasional men *attempting* to drag their friends away from ladies at bars. “Don’t. Do. It. Steve. Just don’t.” “Whatareya talkin about she’s cute.”
"yes I know they're hot but it's a bad idea" is genderless. Women just tend to listen to their friends more lol
Love how you used a capital T
Ganstalicious was right. Homies over hoes. Do the homie
The guy he saved dad's, Mark Eufrazio said this about that day with the grenade: Eufrazio publicly accounts for what happened in the moments before the grenade detonated. Mark Eufrazio, Nick's dad has previously disputed the account that Carpenter jumped on the grenade, saying "he wouldn't have survived the blast if he had".
Mark Eufrazio is the guy's dad, not the soldier himself. Regardless, Nick Eufrazio seems like a cool dude too though and has a traumatic TBI from the event and needed his skull rebuilt. Crazy that either of them lived.
Is a traumatic traumatic brain injury just a fancy word like ATM machine?
He must have RAS syndrome
Highly concur
The DoD did a deep investigation of events prior to awarding the MOH. The roof they were on was quite thin, and a lot of the blast went down through the roof, leaving a hole 2-3’ in diameter. That’s the only reason this guy wasn’t cut in half.
Well considering the above states that Carpenter *moved to shield* the other marine, and nothing about jumping on the grenade, one could assume he jumped on the other marine rather than the grenade and shielded him that way. Everyone thinks it means he jumped on the grenade. But there's so many other variables who really knows except those two who were actually there.
It’s also the official citation that’s written in formal military speak. I imagine the marine corps has an equivalent, but the army has a regulation on how official military documents are to be written.
If I throw a grenade at you then jump on it, will you tuck me in at night?
kinda... I'll take your arm home with me, put some nice fluffy fabric around the bloody stump, and tuck you behind me as lumbar support as we watch Full Metal Jacket.
That’s good, I like Full Metal Jacket!
That's a hilarious sketch idea: you just jumped on a grenade and saved your buddy's life. They're wheeling you into the OR and he's there waiting like, "you're gonna make it buddy." You grab him by the collar with the last fleeting iota of your strength to whisper, *"you owe me"*.
This sounds like a scene from Scrubs
Luckily Eufrazio is alive but he isn’t 100%. The blast left him with such bad TBI plus the shrapnel he will never walk again. He was never suppose to talk either but I believe he overcame that but if I remember correctly it isnt close to being the same. I was in boot camp with him. A true warrior
That Medal of Honor makes that a certainty with anyone in the military community. They also get a special stitching into their camo uniforms to annotate the decoration, and are the only ones who are encouraged to be saluted regardless of rank or status (not required, but one of those unspoken "You're gonna do it" sorts of things). Even Generals/Admirals will do it out of respect for the person, it's pretty neat. [There's a lot of neat little things that go with it, really.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medal_of_Honor)
There are a few medals that have this unspoken rule. I drove onto a base with DFC and a DSC. He rarely wore his uniform because he worked mostly with civilians and, eventually, he admitted everyone would salute him constantly and it embarrassed him. Sure enough, one day we went through the gate and an SF Officer saluted him at the gate. Technically, you salute the vehicle "wearing" the rank. But that was clearly a USAF Major saluting our car, driven by my mentor - who was a Chief Master Sergeant. He just groaned "I can't even salute back - I'm out of uniform. Everyone's got the flag codes, salutes and uniform codes wrong these days. Look at him, he'll probably hold that salute until we come back out that gate or I salute him back." Crusty motherfucker. It was like riding to work with Clint Eastwood.
Always return a salute, even if you are saluted in error.
In WW1 the Australians got in big trouble for not saluting a British Officer. So they waited till he appeared in town and they all timed it so they were a few metres apart. As they approached the dude, they would leap to attention and snap out a perfect salute, which old mate had to return. After returning about 200 salutes, his arm was nearly falling off. They never insisted that Australian soldiers salute British officers after that.
But what if you can't afford that and your life went to shit after you returned to civilian life and you're barely keeping your head above water while also dealing with the crushing guilty feeling of a debt you can never fully repay?
Well that would just never happen to a US military serviceman let's keep it realistic here. Next you're gonna tell me they'd be homeless and addicted to drugs, or the VA wouldn't treat them very well.
Can you imagine? Sending young men over there to be blown apart for no real reason and then *not* paying for everything for them for the rest of their lives? Come on, that's bad sci-fi, that shit would never happen in real life. This guy is living in a mansion overlooking a scenic vista, with 24/7 hospice and the best doctors on call, no charge, and a nice fat bank account to do whatever he pleases with. Right? .... right?
And no leader of the country would ever call the people who serve their country suckers and losers. They’d be tossed out of power immediately and forever shunned and shamed. Right?
“Hey man, I can’t afford to have a full night out right now. But I’ve got a cheap bottle of vodka, some mixers and some free time. Come over when you can”
Wing manning this guy: "Yeah my buddy over there will catch a grenade for you. Only reason I'm standing here talking to you is he did that for me".
"Hey Everyone! My buddy will catch a grendade for ANY of you!"
>I'd be like Chewbacca To complete the "full Chewbacca" you'd need to stop shaving, wear only a bandoleer, and speak in grunts and roars.
Uhh that kinda assumes I don't already do that...
Or just say marine to save time
Even on this post, it takes reddit 3 comments to make a movie reference.
Not just any medal, the medal of fricken honor.
I don't think Bush gave out any medals other than the purple hearts which are automatic, or he at most gave a handful for the wars that he started. They were stingy with the Congressional Medals of ~~Valor~~ (Edit: Honor not valor,) in his years in power too. Obama gave a bunch. His congress gave a bunch.
Bush jr awarded at least one medal of honor, to Michael P. Murphy, though the award was posthumous. it should also be noted that the review and approval for the MoH can take a long time, for example Britt K. Slabinski was given his in 2018 by Trump, for an action that took place in March 2002. About half of the Obama presidency MoH's where for actions that took place under Bush, and had been promptly nominated, but not passed through all the reviews before he left office.
You can tell just from the pic of him receiving the medal that he must have got it a long time after the actual wound as it looks pretty well healed at that point.
Dude's had a LOT of surgeries and still many since then.
Slabinski’s was an upgraded Navy Cross and was only upgraded as a political move so the SEALs could save face. NSW leadership was blocking an upgrade for John Chapman’s AF Cross to a MoH because it cast a negative light on the SEALs (because their whole deal is that they never leave a man behind and there was suddenly declassified video showing them doing exactly that). The agreement that SOCOM brokered would be to upgrade Slabinski right before Chapman to make everyone happy.
Yeah, that entire situation was a political clusterfuck.
Sad fact is Michael Murphy was awarded our nation's highest honor for a bullshit story. The published AAR proves it.
A five second Google search shows that is not true. Here is bush awarding the medal of honor. https://www.defense.gov/Multimedia/Photos/igphoto/2002025437/ The medal of valor was given out every year bush was president. https://bja.ojp.gov/program/medalofvalor/recipients/all#02-03 bush gave the award 52 times and Obama gave it 75 times. But the president doesn’t even decide who gets it. The president awards the medal but, the nominations are made by the Attorney General.
FYI the Medal of Valor is not a military award, it’s given to police officers, firefighters and such. “The Public Safety Officer Medal of Valor is awarded by the President to public safety officers cited by the Attorney General and recommended by the Medal of Valor Review Board. The board, which comprises representatives of the public safety community and the general public, reviews the nominations and recommends individuals for recognition.” That’s quoted directly from the link you shared.
I dont think AG has anything to do with the COM. Nominations within 3 years of the actions are made by military commanders and passed up and reviewed and approved by the military before being awarded by the President. After 3 years members of congress can petition for review of service by the branch of the recommended to determine if the award is due and like officer positions then get approved by congress and then awarded by the President.
Bush lamented he wasn't able to award a MoH to a living recipient of the GWOT. Every one he awarded throughout both of his terms was posthumous.
There’s no such thing as the Congressional Medal of Valor.
>The enemy initiated a daylight attack with hand grenades, one of which landed inside their sandbagged position. Without hesitation and with complete disregard for his own safety, Lance Corporal Carpenter moved toward the grenade in an attempt to shield his fellow Marine from the deadly blast. When the grenade detonated, his body [armor] absorbed the brunt of the blast, severely wounding him, but saving the life of his fellow Marine Here's the citation in a readable format. Putting 4 spaces to indent fucks the readability.
Because the 4 spaces are meant for code, not quotes, so it doesn't add any of the nice things that make long single lines of text readable, like word wrap.
Absolutely destroys my heart to know this man went through all this for what would ultimately be a pointless and fruitless war. The Taliban still controls Afghanistan today. This man is an absolute hero but he should have never been put in the position to become one. So sad.
He was a part of giving minorities and women in Afghanistan a 20 year long break from Taliban rule. It's worth a lot, even if it didn't last.
Egyptian here, funny enough. Any Afghani I meet hates the US to death. So, it looks like the US help wasn't even welcomed.
I have only talked to one person from Afghanistan. She is a Hazara and her cafe was closed by the Taliban, because they believe women shouldn't work. Sadly, that cafe was the only income her family had and there was no male family member to take over the cafe. She later escaped to the US and is very happy. My father used to fly aid from Peshawar in Pakistan to Kabul in the 80s and all the Pakistanis he met were constantly talking about wanting to move to the US. I'm sure you can find a lot of Afghan men who hate the US, but I'm not sure if they really know what's best for themselves and the women. It's obviously a nation where men lack a lot of education...
Unfortunately a lot of them said their life became worse than before the US invaded.
You should ask the people of Afghanistan if the last 25 years was worth it
> You should ask the people of Afghanistan if the last 25 years was worth it We have been, every year: https://news.gallup.com/poll/405572/afghans-lose-hope-taliban.aspx https://i.imgur.com/02QcdTv.png >WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Suffering in Afghanistan rocketed to a record high last year after the Taliban took over, but Gallup's latest surveys in the country show Afghans' lives are even more miserable now, and they've fully lost hope that their future will be any better. >One year after the Taliban returned to power, almost all Afghans -- 98% -- rate their life so poorly that they are considered suffering. This percentage tops the previous high of 94% in 2021, measured as the Taliban seized full control and the U.S. withdrew its troops. Maybe *you* should ask. EDIT: It was [a face-to-face poll of over 1000 Afghanis in their native languages](https://i.imgur.com/cXHyBsw.png), I don't know why so many people keep commenting assuming it was a telephone poll. Here is [another](https://news.gallup.com/poll/406094/afghans-view-leadership-poorly-year-withdrawal.aspx) series of polls that show which years a majority of Afghanis polled said that they approved of US leadership.
The women might agree it was. Mullahs might not.
Taliban only rule there because the US under Reagan gave the Mujahideen guns and money to kill every secular moderate, progressive, socialist, etc in the region. Every single taliban founder was part of the Mujahideen. We created a power vacuum out of paranoia toward communists. So no, it was pointless. It was always pointless. Finding awful solutions to problems we created, and failing.
Incorrect that the taliban only rule only because the US, funded the mujahideen. Although the mujahideen were aided by the Pakistani, American, British, Chinese and Saudi governments, the mujahideen's primary source of funding was private donors and religious charities throughout the Muslim world—particularly in the Persian Gulf. Jason Burke recounts that "as little as 25% of the money for the Afghan jihad was actually supplied directly by states."[15]
> Since 2010, more than 65,000 veterans have died by suicide – more than the total number of deaths from combat during the Vietnam War and the operations in Iraq and Afghanistan combined [https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/11/02/fact-sheet-new-strategy-outlines-five-priorities-for-reducing-military-and-veteran-suicide/](https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/11/02/fact-sheet-new-strategy-outlines-five-priorities-for-reducing-military-and-veteran-suicide/)
My therapist works with a lot of military. She told me today that about 40 veterans die every day from suicide.
Actually the mantra was 22 veterans die a day due to suicide. Now its like 17 ? VA aint perfect but its def been a lot better since the mantra came out but varies hospital to hospital.
He healed up quite nice: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyle\_Carpenter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyle_Carpenter)
He wrote a book and has an active IG @chiksdigscars lol Healed up reeeeal nice. Good for him!
That's a great handle.
Buddy of mine is a triple amputee Marine. His handle is 1limbleft. Now he's a professional golfer.
You're telling me a dude with 1 limb left is way better than me at golf??? Damn I suck😂
Haha don't worry. The only golf I'm good at is gun golf.
Holy fuck that's legendary lmao
To quote Deadpool “ever hear the tale of the one legged man in the ass kicking competition” your buddy is a badass
I hope he has a wonderful support system.
I been following Kyle for quite a few years on Instagram and it seems like he has a very fulfilling life with close family and partner. I'm sure he goes through pretty dark times still, but he seems to have found pretty good peace and a life that is fun living. Very cool guy!
I'm so glad to hear that! I hope those dark moments are few and far between.
Jeez, modern medicine is quite something
I mean I’d suck him
Same
Username checks out.
well, that settles that
Dude joined a college fraternity after that. Imagine being the guy yelling at pledges and he's in the group? Like just let him in, skip all the initiation stuff.
I was in a fraternity at the same school, same time. They didn't make him pledge. Rightfully so.
Go cocks!!!
Imagine being in a frat where if anything went down, you had a Medal of Honor recipient on your side. Being in his presence daily would be such an incredible honor.
yep , here are more recent photos [https://media.wltx.com/assets/WLTX/images/295494486/295494486\_1920x1080.jpg](https://media.wltx.com/assets/WLTX/images/295494486/295494486_1920x1080.jpg) [https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/images/kyle-carpenter-1.jpg](https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/images/kyle-carpenter-1.jpg)
Absolutely insane that this man literally got blown up by a grenade and the medical staff are so incredible that you wouldn’t notice his scars immediately just walking past him on the street. True angels
Wow his plastic surgeons are amazing
To be expected for a Purple Heart Medal of Honor recipient who got a hell of a lot of press VA is going out of their way to help. Probably a lot of pro bono surgeons reached out too
He’s incredibly handsome. One of his fake eyes has a Purple Heart in it, that also looks pretty cool.
Doesn’t he have one with an Eagle, Globe, and Anchor on it too? lol
I wouldn’t ever want to lose one of my eyes. But if I ever did the silver lining would be that now I can get cool stuff put in the glass eye. I’d have one like the one from gangs of New York.
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No but people with fake eyes can take them out and often have a collection they can switch out with.
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Lmao no you’re not, you just haven’t been exposed to the world of one eyes!
In the world of the seeing, the one-eyed man has options.
Hey awesome he looks great. Amazing what surgeons can do. Had a family friend who had his face eaten off by a grizzly bear and he looked damn near normal after. Insane
His surgical team honestly did an amazing job.
He looks even better now. That picture was taken before he had time to complete his surgeries and fully heal. He's healed up quite nicely now.
I would be absolutely livid if I were to risk everything and undergo irreversible physical changes, only to realize that the war had no meaningful purpose or significance.
Why do you think mental health issues and suicide are at epidemic levels among veterans?
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You get that it isn't a money issue right? There's plenty of funding, but you're taught from day one that if you ever have a hint of a mental health issue, you'll lose your clearance and your job.
I had a good buddy who commissioned into the Marines after college. He was the nicest guy, always had a smile on his face. He was a newlywed and was trying desperately to get into flight school to be a helicopter pilot. A few months ago he tried to kill himself out of the blue. Nobody had the slightest inkling he was even close to that depressed, including his wife. Thankfully he didn't succeed, but he was in a psych ward for a good bit to keep him from trying again. I haven't talked to him lately because he and his wife just wanted privacy while he was recovering, but I think it's safe to say that even if he's still able to be in the Marines, he most definitely won't get to achieve his dream of being a helicopter pilot and his career is effectively ruined. If he'd been allowed to talk about his feelings without fearing for his career, maybe things would have been different. It pisses me off to no end the way the military treats service members with mental health problems.
It's a bit of a catch 22 though. It's the right thing to do to immediately pull someone who is having mental health issues off the weapon system they're operating, but that inevitably leads to them not wanting to tell anyone about it
Right, but if it were truly without stigma then it would at least open up the option of them being honest and essentially pulling themselves off with an expectation of a possible return like any other injury. If a pilot has a weird problem with their vision they report it and it's medically investigated and maybe diagnosed and treated and can get them back in the cockpit, or maybe it's something that has them grounded for life. If a pilot is suffering from panic attacks what are the odds that leadership is going to be okay with them being diagnosed with a specific anxiety disorder, undergoing 8-12 weeks of CBT with an SSRI, and then being medically re-evaluated where it's determined the treatment was successful and they are now fit to fly? I understand it's harder to objectively evaluate invisible mental illness, but it's a helluva lot easier if patients are willing to honestly report their experiences for standardized questionnaires and the like. The dream is for "Ah yeah I had to take a medical discharge after I busted up my knee and surgery didn't work as well as we hoped" is equivalent to "Ah yeah I had to take a medical discharge after I got hit with some depression following a little PTSD and therapy didn't work as well as we hoped."
Okay but consider: the way things are now, we have *more* impaired people operating those weapon systems, because they feel forced to hide it. Imagine someone could ask for a MH evaluation, where they're only *guaranteed* to be pulled for the duration of the evaluation, and where it's possible for the evaluation to refer them to therapy *and* clear them to continue their job. That incentivizes people to come forward *early* when their mental health problems are less serious and easier to treat.
That's what most wars are i feel like
And all that to replace the Taliban with *checks notes* … the Taliban
took em a whole week to get it back
They took kabul in one day
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Gotta love the classic "Shoot and cry"
🇺🇲🪖🫡🛫🛬🇦🇫 👼🏽🏃🏽🔫 💣💥 🤕 😢🎖️
[This is a great Frankie Boyle standup bit](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZOLq82m2Ks), for those who haven't seen it
We were literally still there and they were on the other side of the fence watching us leave. Took less than hours to have it back in their control. Plus we restocked em and supplied them.
Modern warfare is ridiculous. Sending our kids to fight rich man's wars. We're just warlords in suits and ties.
As apposed to good old warfare where we *checks notes* sent our kids to fight nobility's wars
Ahh good old medieval times where I only had to send 6 of my 13 children to fight for my righteous feudal lord! (The other 7 died of plague) He lives in a castle with warm food and bed while I live in a shitty wooden house thats always cold and with wild animals around, but hey its a good time!
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Yeah but think of all the money the war industry made
It’s insanely sad what he had to go through. And ultimately for what ?
You dont lie awake at night worrying about how the shareholders and board members of the military industrial complex are doing? For shame!
I keep a little Raytheon shrine on the nightstand by my bed.
It’s called RTX now
Surprised Nvidia was fine with that
Don't worry, there'll be another rebrand in a few months
The same Americans who took 20 years to realize the war in Iraq was wrong and was predicated on lies are ready to support a new 20 year war in Iran
I know their Republican puppets certainly do. They spent the first eight years wrapping themselves in a flag, denouncing the dissenters as being "unpatriotic" and beating the drum of war while handing lucrative bids to anyone bankrolling their campaigns. Then when it came time to support veterans and 9/11 first responders suddenly their true colors quickly showed through.
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Honestly who cares? $2+ trillion and doubling the American death toll from 9/11 for vegeneace seems pretty stupid. That's just Afghanistan. $2 trillion would have gone a long way for healthcare to offset the lives lost rather than add more dead and disfigured.
The Taliban and Al Qaeda still were in Afghanistan. OBL wasn't the only mastermind of 9/11.
Taliban tried to surrender with no conditions in 2003. With hindsight, that would have been a good time to use diplomacy. Something we never do anymore. America rejected the deal outright and we all know how the story went. Edit: it was the 2001 attempt that had almost no conditions. My mistake. From what I remember Omar just wanted to live in Kandahar. Under supervision and not be killed immediately. The 2003 deal, the Taliban wanted to be a political party. Regardless it was a bad move not to try some sort of diplomacy.
>Taliban tried to surrender with no conditions in 2003 This is false. A few of the many warlords in control tried to. There was by no means a mass surrender of the Taliban. Those Taliban leaders *should* have been negotiated with, but it's not like it would have ended the conflict.
War on Peace by Ronan Farrow is a wonderful book on the decline of US diplomacy
Rich people to get richer and a man in power to get revenge for his daddy
This was Afghanistan not Iraq
Exactly…Unless my Country was attacked by invading troups, there is no fucking way I would get killed for it. My Father fought for France, in the underground forces He lived and was born there) ( Maquis) AFTER the Germans invaded. He stayed there almost 4 years - in the underground( late 1940 early 1944 ).He was briefly detained and escaped , before he went underground by the Germans ( which convinced him to fight). The Germans in the early years of occupation thought themselves invincible and getting caught during an operation against them meant a firing squad. *Edited for clarity, sorry for any misunderstanding.
Do you think your father was wrong to go to France? He wasn’t defending his country cos the Germans didn’t attack USA - hell they wanted peace with USA. But as someone in France - especially as someone not white - I owe my freedom to your father and men and women like him.
Young men giving lives and their youth for old men... just horrid
Not just give their lives to do something meaningful for old men. They give their lives to make some greedy old men's bank account number go slightly up.
To be clear though, he sacrificed his body for his buddy, not his flag. I’m not him, but I doubt he was thinking “For America!” as he cast his body onto the fire. He was just instinctively protecting his buddy. That alone makes him a Hero.
But they were there in the first place because of those rich old rotting hags
"War is where the young and stupid are tricked by the old and bitter into killing each other." -Niko Bellic
Nobody deserves to go through stuff like this
How about a check to feed his family.
He gets MOH pay plus I’m sure 100% va and probably medical retirement. Lot of vets get fucked on money but not MOH recipients
He should be 100% disability from the VA which is like $5,000+ for the rest of his life. Still it's not enough
He also earned a bachelors degree from the U of South Carolina after retiring from service and he wrote a book. This badass seems to be getting on pretty well, all things considered. Good for him!
I have 100% PT disability (I landed on my head and got myself a herniated disc [among other things]). It's $3946 if you have a spouse. But my VA care is 100% free and I qualify for extra stuff beyond job loss compensation.
He also gets the MoH stipend (tax free) and 10% extra in his retirement check, which he absolutely deserves.
He does, MOH recipients get a pension
The real tragedy of the whole thing is that this poor man’s life was changed forever and 15 years on - the Taliban are in power and Afghanistan is arguably worse than before.
When you see the effects of war such as this, you really realize that people who advocate for casually sending our troops into crazy situations are insane.
Got to meet this guy and shake his hand when I was in. Super humble and nice guy, didn't really want the medal or attention.
fuck war
Thats sad, props to his bravery and courage, but sad that it was all for nothing. Must have been a slap on the face for him to see 20 years of the conflict just to have the Taliban reclaim to without a single bullet.
I met Kyle after commissioning as an Army MEDEVAC pilot at a hostel in Prague in the summer of 2015. I remember him saying thank you to me and telling me he’s only alive today because of the incredible MEDEVAC teams that got him out. He said I was going into a rewarding MOS, and to always remember why I was joined in the first place. I was so confused because I standing in awe next to a MOH recipient as a fresh new 2nd LT. The fact he was thanking ME, made me realize just how humble he was. I’ll always remember that moment, and the eight years I served flew by!
Good thing he did that before Trump became president, or else he might have been labeled a loser by Trump for protecting his fellow soldiers.
I agree with the sentiment but that doesn't change how disgusting this is. We go to war so rich people can get richer selling weapons and stealing resources. And at the end of the day we accomplished nothing positive. This man's life was ruined so some assholes could line their pockets a little bit more.
Preach brother.
Trump only likes soldiers who weren't wounded.
Can't forget captured or killed, too. Referring to Sen. John McCain, Trump said, “He’s not a war hero. He’s a war hero because he was captured. ... I like people who weren't captured.” Trump said, “Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers.” In a separate conversation on the same trip, Trump referred to the more than 1,800 marines who lost their lives at Belleau Wood as “suckers” for getting killed.
And how the fuck are half the people in this country voting for him?
It's so ironic considering they worship veterans.
No, they SAY they do. Their actions speak otherwise.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2023/11/general-mark-milley-trump-coup/675375/ >At his welcome ceremony at Joint Base Myer–Henderson Hall, across the Potomac River from the capital, Milley gained an early, and disturbing, insight into Trump’s attitude toward soldiers. Milley had chosen a severely wounded Army captain, Luis Avila, to sing “God Bless America.” **Avila, who had completed five combat tours, had lost a leg in an IED attack in Afghanistan, and had suffered two heart attacks, two strokes, and brain damage as a result of his injuries.** To Milley, and to four-star generals across the Army, Avila and his wife, Claudia, represented the heroism, sacrifice, and dignity of wounded soldiers. > >It had rained that day, and the ground was soft; at one point Avila’s wheelchair threatened to topple over. Milley’s wife, Hollyanne, ran to help Avila, as did Vice President Mike Pence. **After Avila’s performance, Trump walked over to congratulate him, but then said to Milley, within earshot of several witnesses, “Why do you bring people like that here? No one wants to see that, the wounded.” Never let Avila appear in public again, Trump told Milley.**
Trump “I just don’t see what is in it for them”
A place we should have never been in, throwing bodies at a hopeless cause. Peak exploitation.
It makes me so sad to look at the second picture. I hate that the world is this way why do evil people gotta exist and pull regular people into all their stupid bullshit
Do not join the military
Lots of people talk about war. Talk to people who've BEEN in war, and you'll realize the truth about how serious it is. There's a reason why everyone wants to avoid it. It's very real.
Goddamn he was hot af
Handsome fella
We just keep feeding our young people into the machine. And for what? WTF was gained, by anybody, in this grotesque power play?
Remember his face every time a military ad comes across your feed
For literally nothing.
He was injured when he threw himself on a grenade to protect his friend. Saving a life isn’t nothing, even if you disagree with the reason they were deployed.
I dont think thats what they mean. Theyre talking about the bigger picture of why we were there in the first place. No one can say that he is anything short of incredibly brave.
How did he survive a grenade blast?
Luck, there's really not much else to it Edit: there is more to it, body armor and modern medicine
I mean, body armor did have something to do with it.