CPT Will Swenson: MOH nomination

One of the guys at Ruptured Duck Blog wrote to let us know that one of his former team mates at 2/22 Infantry, of the 10th Mountain Division has been nominated for a Medal of Honor for the same action which Marine Cpl. Dakota Meyer was awarded his MOH yesterday in the White House. The Army Times says;

Swenson worked with Meyer under heavy enemy fire to recover the bodies and gear of four U.S. military trainers who had gone missing in the battle. Uncertain whether they were all dead, Meyer charged through enemy fire alone and on foot to find them. He found them shot to death and in a hillside trench at the outskirts of the village, in volatile Kunar province’s Sarkani district. Swenson assisted him in carrying the bodies and gear back to their Humvee.

Meyer and Swenson already had braved enemy fire repeatedly in the battle while working to save other U.S. and Afghan forces, even after Army officers at a nearby tactical operations center repeatedly denied fire support they requested. On the last trip into the village to get the bodies, they rode a Humvee under fire with Marine 1st Lt. Ademola Fabayo and Marine Staff Sgt. Juan Rodriguez-Chavez, both of whom received the Navy Cross in June for their actions that day.

Swenson, who left the Army in February, could not be reached for comment.

Our friend at Ruptured Duck relates that Swenson is notoriously hard to get a hold of, even when he was a platoon leader.

As an aside, Swenson also served with Dan Choi when they were both Platoon Leaders in the Triple Deuce, only Swenson never punched anyone in the chest.

Category: Military issues