Guardsman Spc. Dennis Weichel rescues AF girl, dies in the attempt
CNN reports that Spc. Dennis Weichel, a Rhode Island National Guardsman, lost his own life when he saved an Afghan girl from being crushed under an MRAP last week;
According to the Rhode Island National Guard and the U.S. Army, Weichel was in a convoy a week ago with his unit in Laghman Province, in northeast Afghanistan. Some children were in the road in front of the convoy, and Weichel and other troops got out to move them out of the way.
Most of the children moved, but one little girl went back to pick up some brass shell casings in the road. Afghan civilians often recycle the casings, and the girl appeared to aim to do that. But a Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected vehicle was moving toward her, according to Lt. Col. Denis Riel of the Rhode Island National Guard.
MRAPs, as they are known, usually weigh more than 16 tons.
Weichel saw massive truck bearing down on the girl and grabbed her out of the way. But in the process, the armored truck ran him over, Riel said.
These are the kinds of things that happen every day, but you never hear about because it’s not as important as Koran burnings, urination videos and a lone nut shooting 17 people.
I seriously dislike Lincoln Chaffee, the Republican Independent governor of Rhode Island, but in this case, I have to commend him;
Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee has ordered flags in the state lowered to half-staff until Weichel, who was posthumously promoted to sergeant, is laid to rest Monday.
Category: Real Soldiers
Chafee has been an Independent since 2007, when it became obvious he was unwelcome in the Republican party, since he had contemplated becoming a turncoat in order to flip the Senate to Democrat control.
Where is karzai’s press conference, groups of Afghanis in the streets or American politicians giving sound bites to the media?
Ungrateful fucks.
Agreed. Ungreatful, and undeserving of a single drop of American blood, or a single penny of American treasure.
@1, yeah, what he said.
He is also the stupidest Senator I ever had the displeasure of meeting with in an official capacity. We’re talking idiotic on a level I wouldn’t expect from anyone, much less a Senator. I could go into specifics, but trust me, dude can’t grasp even simple concepts.
I’ll admit I know nothing about Chaffee, but he seems to have grasped the concept on this quite well.
He fought until his last breath, we tried so hard to save him. By far the hardest mission this year.
@5, possibly, although I would suspect he acquiesced to someone suggesting it, rather than coming up with it on his own.
I will give him this though, if we just took the flag at half-staff issue, I’d put him up against Christie and his asinine Whitney Houston tribute.
You saved an innocent child at the cost of your own life, Sergeant. Rest in peace; you’ve earned it.
Let’s hope his unit does the right thing here and submits him for the Soldier’s Medal. It’s richly deserved.
Rest In Peace Sgt!
@6: Thank You for all your great efforts and works
“The official Pentagon news release says he died “from injuries suffered in a noncombat related incident.” But there is much more to the story. Weichel, 29, of Providence, died saving the life of a little girl.”
Read more: http://sgt-jim.blogspot.com/2012/03/rhode-island-guardsman-died-saving.html
SgtJim: agreed. Thanks for trying to save this hero, Dustoff.
“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
Spc. Weichel may not have known the little girl, but he surely embodied the sentiment in that verse. God keep you and may He watch over your family you left behind.
Dustoff….God keep you and your comrades safe…and thank you
@ 2, couldn’t agree more. @6 God Bless you for your efforts, just saying “thanks” doesn’t seem like enough. May God watch over you always.
Wow, not much in the MSM. This is a truly notable event, but doesn’t get votes for dems.
What an outstanding young man. A real hero, deserving of honors.
Where is the President and Karzai on this? “silence”
We need to get out of trashcanistan now.
RIP, SGT and God Bless.
@ 6 … No doubt he did fight. He fought to save the life of a child. He now sits at the “right hand” with Warriors of past and he can watch this child grow and hopefully proudly preside over the innocence saved.
HOOYAH SGT Dennis Weichel and Rhode Island National Guard
RIP young warrior and job well done!
Saw this first over at Ace. The comments of some got my blood pressure sky high.
Anyone who says that Sgt. Weichel life was wasted because this little girl wasn’t worth it over here will be summarily shot.
Note, I am not a very good shot yet so it may take a few rounds, if their are any left after the government orders.
Please show your support on the page created to honor his act of bravery:
https://www.facebook.com/DennisWeichelTheHero
As of now, Fox News now has the story on its front page:
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/03/29/army-sergeant-who-gave-life-to-save-afghani-child-being-flown-home-for-burial/
RIP Sgt. Weichel!
I will be attending his wake on Sunday. He is a loss to his family, the Army and the nation.
Linc Chaffee is a waist of oxygen.
Posthumously promoted to Sergeant, how about given a medal for valor for giving his life to save another?
Bah Bodenkurk: see my comment #8 above. The Soldier’s Medal is IMO apropos here, as it specifically honors noncombat acts of valor.
Yeah, I know about it. That’s tricky, though. I don’t know the exact text for the Soldiers Medal, but I always thought of it as a peacetime medal, as in not in a combat zone. Perhaps it pertains to this, too. They said there were brass casings in the road, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they were in a TIC at the time, so, yeah, soldiers medal seems like it might be appropriate now that you mention it.
Bah Bodenkurk: criteria for the Soldiers Medal indicates it’s awarded for noncombat heroism equal to or exceeding that required for award of the Distinguished Flying Cross. One source I’ve seen indicates 100+ have been awarded during OEF.
This one seems like a slam dunk to me. But if I’m reading AR 600-8-22 correctly, it will have to be approved by the US 4-star in charge in Afghanistan (don’t think we have an US 3-star commanders in Afghanistan any more, and as I read it that’s the lowest wartime rank/command authority that can approve the SM). So that may delay award to his NOK somewhat; that level of approval typically takes a bit of time.
Hopefully someone busted humps and handcarried it/called in a few favors so that it was approved quickly enough to be at least announced at his wake/funeral, even if it’s presented later.
Damn it! That should have been “(don’t think we have any US 3-star commanders . . . “.
I’ve seen this at several of the blogs I read and I can’t begin to understand how our media can spread the Bales story to every nook and cranny but virtually ignore this. The military leadership doesn’t seem to be very concerned with getting Weichel’s story any extra emphasis. I remember when the story about Sgt. Raphael Peralta was in the news it seemed everything was done to insure his actions weren’t overly praised, and that he was denied the MOH because it was determined that his action was some kind of automatic muscle contraction instead of a conscious decision.
I’m all for someone to act humbly and not overly inflate their actions but at some point a little pride is not uncalled for. Weichel’s comrades have a right to be proud that such a man was in their midst and that he shared the same ethos.
I think our country’s politicians do a disservice to the military when they push the military to apologize for having Korans that have been used to pass information between violent terrorists burned when they could have used that incident to point out such actions wouldn’t be necessary if the prisoners didn’t use their ‘sacred’ texts to wage war.
I also have to wonder what the point of continuing military presence in a country our president seems to have already thrown under the bus. Why should our military take casualties when they are completely pointless?
Sorry for swerving off-topic but it all seems of a piece to me.
@26 – I’ve seen the story on all of the cable news outlets this weekend.
RIP SPC Weichel…..
For what its worth, even the local Italian news here in Vicenza ran the story this weekend. Not just a blurb either, they did a whole segment. I thought that was amazing given the sentiment of the news outlets here.
And how many of these comments are about Weichel? or his gesture?
I wouldn’t say you’re all troglodytes, but the data points to that.
Oh, sorry, you’re not much on data. I keep forgetting.
stay well, folk
^5
[…] With all the news on the tragic killings in Afghanistan and the discussinos of PTSD and all the protests, wouldn't it be nice for someone to notice some of the things our soldiers are doing that dserves credit and praise. From the milblog, "This Ain't Hell…," […]
Andy is good to go! Speaks the plain truth!