Two Soldiers posthumously named honorary Green Berets
SSG Jeremiah Johnson and SGT David Johnson were made honorary Green Berets. (ARMY)
Two Soldiers, who died during an ambush were named honorary Green Berets. This ambush took place in Tongo Tongo, Nigeria. These Soldiers were overwhelmed but applied their training and experience to deal with this challenge. The families of the Soldiers were not happy with how the Army managed the investigation into the ambush. Both Soldiers received valor awards for their actions.
From the Army Times:
Jeremiah Johnson, Black and Wright were outside the same vehicle fighting off militants together as the ambush unfolded. The decision was made to pull back to avoid being flanked by the larger enemy force, but Black was shot and killed as the truck drove slowly forward.
Wright and Johnson fought on, remaining with Black’s body and unable to reenter their vehicle.
As the enemy encroached onto their position, they were forced to bound away by foot. During the maneuver, Johnson was shot and fell. Wright returned and fought over the body of his comrade until succumbing to his own wounds.La David Johnson, who had been pursued by a vehicle-mounted DShK machine gun, made his final stand under a single thorny tree — the only cover in the area.
Aside from La David Johnson and Jeremiah Johnson, only 10 people have been made honorary members of the Special Forces Regiment, Task and Purpose reported.
Elsewhere, La David Johnson had been separated from the larger U.S. team alongside two Nigerien partners when they were unable to reenter their vehicle due to concentrated enemy fire.
Dozens of militants pursued the lone American and the two Nigeriens as they evaded together by foot through open desert.
Both Nigeriens were killed during the run, according to a collection of medical forensics, terrain analysis and other evidence cited in the investigation.
La David Johnson, who had been pursued by a vehicle-mounted DShK machine gun, made his final stand under a single thorny tree — the only cover in the area.
Aside from La David Johnson and Jeremiah Johnson, only 10 people have been made honorary members of the Special Forces Regiment, Task and Purpose reported.
The Army Times has the full article here.
A huge day in the annals of US Army Special Forces which I was honored to witness: USASOC commander LTG Fran Beaudette presented posthumous Green Berets to ODA 3212 support soldiers SFC Jeremiah Johnson and SGT LaDavid Johnson, KIA in Tongo Tongo, Niger in 2017. Rarely ever done. pic.twitter.com/fJnmnyZL9h
— James Gordon Meek (@meekwire) July 20, 2021
The story from Army Times noted that La David Johnson, a wheeled vehicle mechanic, was awarded the Silver Star while Jeremiah Johnson, a CBRNE specialist, was awarded the BSM w/V. You can’t know where your military career might take you regardless of what MOS you sign up for and any service member had better take warfighting seriously. These two refused to leave a fallen comrade in a desperate situation and payed with their lives, they deserve every accolade given to them.
“You can’t know where your military career might take you regardless of what MOS you sign up for and any service member had better take warfighting seriously”
Word.
Young SGT Poe went to Vietnam as a battalion CBR NCO, a chairborne warrior, but spent almost the whole first half of his tour as an infantry NCO in a rifle company.
First couple of weeks damned near killed his out-of-shape ass, but by the time he finally got his job at battalion he was a lean, green, fighting machine.
I have preached this sentiment continuously over the last 37 years. You might be any MOS, AFSC, or Rate, but you must be prepared to defend your position if required. If you are doing your version of The Alamo, at least do it facing your foe, and be prepared to cross over. All military members need to live this, I am a pog, but also as a support troop get stuck doing stand to, the aviation group get a pass on it, and don’t have a Clue. Everyone may be the one person on the spot who can do what needs to done, are you trained and ready or soft and spongy.
Damn, what a sad loss and sad they seemed to have been under supported, apparently (OK, Armchair warrior).
I always say, whenever we need to go into a combat action, we need to go in with the attitude and technical fortitude of absolute and overwhelming firepower, the ability to “salt the fucking earth” and kill everything and everyone around, and if not, then fuck it. Don’t go.
Then again, I’m not a dictator/Commander/General/JCOS/President/God.
If we’re in a war, I don’t give a fuck about you and all that stand for you and with you. Women, Children, Pets, Cows, Corn, fuck it.
Burn it all to the ground, Kill everything,…I’ll just leave this meme here…
http://i.imgur.com/MWNc07m.gif
Oderint Dum Metuant
The Romans had that part correct early on…they forgot it in their later years and it cost them dearly.
“That such men lived…” More Warriors lost in a sh^thole country not worth one drop of the blood spilled there. Never saw a follow up from the earlier story on this fight about how the bad guys were told how and when to ambsh our troops.
As pointed out above, and on other threads…Bring every weapon to bear. Maybe we need to go back to the “Cump” Sherman and “Little Billy” Sheridan method of total, scorched earth policy warfare.
Official video recreation of the incident. I have not seen this et, but I did see the first official video of the ambush. It did not give me much confidence in the competence of our “special” forces. I did watch the first two minutes of this newer video–note the location of the top THREE echelons of command.