Towards Trouble

| April 17, 2013

I wanted to write something about this.  But I couldn’t think of much to add that would be apropos.  Plus, it’s kinda hard to write when you’re having trouble focusing on the screen.

Well done, Soldiers.  Damn well done indeed.

Same is true about this story.  Well done, Mr. Arredondo.  Well done.

I’ll just add one observation:  they ran towards trouble – not away from it.

Category: Marine Corps, Real Soldiers

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Flagwaver

HOOAH! That’s what it means to be a Citizen Soldier. No matter how much your feet hurt, your back hurts, or how tired you are, when the time comes for action, you act. God Bless all of our military whether Active, Guard, or Reserve.

ANCCPT

We still have amongst our great nation people willing to do what they have to to ensure the safety and security of others. From that, we should take heart.

“A citizen accepts personal responsibility for the safety of the body politic, of which he is a member, defending it, if need be, with his life. The civilian does not.”

OWB

Sometimes the only appropriate response is, “Thank you.” Well done indeed.

Ex-PH2

Good for them.

rb325th

Dude, I have been having trouble seeing since Monday afternoon… the horror of what happened fades in the light of the selfless acts of bravery and compassion.

The Guardsman from the ToughRuck group, the Red White and Blue Team who were finishing the marathon and ran in stripping off their shirts to be used as tourniquets, doctors and nurses in the race who ran in…. Arrendodo pinching off that mans femoral artery saving him from bleeding out. All of the Boston PD, FD, EMTs and Paramedics.
Lot of heroes that day. Without them, the death toll would have been much higher.

omni

Out all the tragedy of 9/11, what makes me smile, my favorite memory is the footage from the Pentagon. The moment everyone was outside and could see the fire, they ALL ran back in.
True Hero’s!
Soldiers are truly what people should envy, not imitate.

PintoNag

They represent true excellence. Very well done, brave ones.

Jonn Lilyea

By the way, fuck Arredondo – I remember when he suckered a guy from Gathering of Eagles from behind at an anti-war protest in 2007.

Twist

That was one of the first things I noticed when I first watched the video. While most were running away, they were running towards.

2/17 Air Cav

The response by the fire dept personnel after the attack on the Twin Towers is something that renders me speechless. The men KNEW that the greatest danger lay ahead. It wasn’t a matter of rendering first aid to victims. It was a matter of their doing what they could under incredible circumstances to save as many as they could. One after another visited the chaplain for a blessing and, many times, for Last Rites. The chaplian himself died–as did nearly every one of the men who had visited with him so briefly. I wonder if their efforts are taught in grade school nowadays. God, I hope so.

PavePusher

Every time something like this happens, and heros come out of themselves, I am reminded of a clip of the often-otherwise-lamentable show ‘West Wing’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQWxgnFc1fk
That short speech always gets to me.

FatCircles0311

I don’t know if I would have done the same thing. I mean it’s not like there weren’t enough EMS/law enforcement at the event. I think I’d have just gotten in the way of more qualified people responding. If it were at any other place, not an event with so many dedicated medical people there that would be a different story.

I’m not try to discredit what they did I’m just being honest. I wouldn’t look down at anyone that didn’t do what they did in that situation either.

PintoNag

@13 It’s a normal response to want to save your own skin.

Just a thought here. There were more than a hundred people injured. If you were there and couldn’t do anything else, you could sit with someone and hold their hand and talk with them, until the trained responders could get to them. Never think, “There’s nothing I can do.” Believe me, there is. You can hold pressure on a dressing, hold a hand, offer a drink of water, offer a shoulder.

2/17 Air Cav

@13. You would have found something to do. And you are right: Sometimes getting the hell out of the way is the best thing to do.

FatCircles0311

@14: Yeah I think of it a bit differently. The area needs to be secured, so non essential unknowns just wanting to help injecting themselves into the mix doesn’t seem like the thing to do to me. I think a bit differently though so I can understand your viewpoint entirely.

USMCE8Ret

Stars and bars forward, ladies and gents! Excellent work!!!

B Woodman

The soldiers in the marathon weren’t the only heros. Anyone and everyone that rushed towards the explosions to help – troops, EMS, police, ordinary citizens (no serfs here) – all are heros by their actions. What could have been a panicked massive cluster-eff, turned into a fine example of humanity at not only its worst, but also its best.
And for those who offered of their homes to total strangers, they may not be heros (in the traditional sense), but they do show what a free and moral people can do in times of extreme stress and trouble. For those whose generosity was not taken, “They also serve who stand and wait.”

Damn! It’s dusty in here again.

1stCavRVN11B

Agree with you Jonn. Fuck Arredondo! He hung around Code Pink and all the communist/anti-war groups.

This will explain a lotto those that don’t know the asshole:

http://boston.cbslocal.com/2013/04/17/marathon-bombing-hero-questioned-by-fbi-police-at-boston-home/

Remember he set fire to a USMC Van with himself in it. Maybe he could have done something like this too?

Valkyrie

Sure an awful act of cowardness such as this shows the absolute worse as a species that humans can be towards one another but it also shows what most are made of at the heart. This is why we’ve managed to climb out of the slime and make it some what as a species. For every act of horrible evil you find, you will find at least 3 acts of unselfishness and heroics shorty followed.

I really love reading about the wonderfully brave heroes that our military has in it. I just wish that you would stop deploying your “ninja onion peelers” will I’m trying to read about them. That is all…

rb325th

Jonn, had no idea about Arrendondos past actions. Honestly did not know his history, just saw a man doing something brave. Fuck him…jumping on a veteran and repeatedly pounding on him after smashing his face into concrete? Screw him. Glad he helped save that guys life Monday, but…

Parachute Cutie

What I posted on my facebook yesterday:

“I’m not in a particularly good mood today for a myriad of reasons. It’s not helping my mood much to see a certain “peace activist” lauded all over the internet for his heroic actions at the Boston Marathon. I’ll give it to him that he did help victims but I can’t help but remember the day in Washington, DC when I was interviewed by the police because I was an eye witness to him taking a running jump from behind onto a Veteran (not in uniform) and face planting the Veteran to the sidewalk (doing huge bloody damage to the Veteran’s face, arms and legs) then punching the hell out of the Veteran’s head and back of his body as this “peace activist” sat on him doing so. Just saying……”

This was at the Gathering of Eagles in 2007 that Jonn mentioned above.