Marine 1st Lt. Travis Manion may get Navy Cross
Military.com reports that Congressman Duncan Hunter has written a letter to Secretary of Defense James Mattis requesting that the Department of Defense reconsider the posthumous award of the Navy Cross for Marine 1st Lt. Travis Manion.
Manion was awarded a Silver Star for his actions in Fallujah, Iraq during a firefight on April 29, 2007 which cost him his life while he tried to extract his Marines from a building.
Even though folks on the ground recommended Manion for the Navy Cross, pencil pushers in the Pentagon downgraded the award to a Silver Star;
Now new evidence from a Marine who was on the ground with Manion in Fallujah that day “removes any doubt,” Hunter said, that those in the field had it right.
“The Silver Star is a big deal,” he told Military.com. “But I think if new information and evidence comes to light, which we think did, and it could get upgraded to a Navy Cross, then this would call attention again to his heroic actions — how he fought, how he died and his family’s sacrifice.”
Manion and his men were ambushed while searching a suspected insurgent house in Iraq. His corpsman was shot in the abdomen, and Manion and another lieutenant went into the fray to drag him to safety.
As the firefight got more intense, Manion fired a grenade and then began laying down heavy suppressive fire from his M4, according to former Staff Sgt. Paul Petty’s account, which was also sent to Mattis.
Running low on ammunition, Manion requested more and began distributing magazines to his other Marines. As he handed one over, he was mortally wounded, but not before he’d fired off up to 300 rounds at the enemy’s location, Petty wrote.
“His well-aimed precision fire, decisive leadership and selfless action aided in the preservation of life and helped counter the ambush,” Petty’s account states.
Manion was assigned to 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force at the time of his death.
Category: Marine Corps
Duncan Hunter is full of shit most of the time. I am skeptical of anything that comes out of his mouth.
He is known for hysterical pissy fits. I had to burp and change a dozen of his types during my career.
My skeptical nature tells me he is doing this more to get himself some exposure than anything else. A bunch of staffers collect polling information and tell Hunter what he should do.
On the rare occasion he is left unsupervised by his handlers he can be found goose stepping down the hallways of our capital.
I he really thinks this award should be upgraded I suggest he remove his pansy ass from the process. I have little respect for anyone who pisses all over his EGA and celebrates it.
More coffee?
Nah, nothing get me up and ready to go more than a self serving narcissist that uses veteran causes to promote himself.
Hunter attacked the work of a Beirut Veteran brother of mine, the goose stepping little shit is still hiding behind the skirts of his staffers which I understand almost never have to see him.
He is a gutless wonder and this is all about Hunter promoting himself and little else.
He is a cowardly son of a bitch, I have told him as much myself.
I’ve contemplated writing a post about how the sky is blue and water is wet just to read how you think those two concepts are stupid.
I try not to agree with you all the time, that way we are not both wrong.
Hunter pimps out veteran causes to promote himself and hides behind the shield that is created by nobody wanting to appear as if they are attacking an honorable cause.
He has been sandbagging this cause for a while, waiting to release it when it did him the most good. This is all about him and little more.
Phuck Him
Bullshy1! Duncan Hunter is a good man and supports Vets! imho
Right on! lol Methinks he protesteth too mucheth! 😉
Gutless wonder and self-serving SOB usually go hand-in-hand.
I doubt he’ll change, as long as he can “get some” out of something.
Sad thing is my brother Manion being used by Hunter.
I can almost hear Manion’s voice saying, “Bust if off in his ass bro, I am good to go”.
Thats what I would be saying.
Bear in mind that Karma is a bitch with teeth.
C’mon Dave tell us how you really feel.
I’ll take Hunter over Murtha any day.
I will take Hunter over a lot of people, he just needs to get that silver spoon out of his ass and stop playing stink finger with every skank he meets.
The only thing he ever did on his own was earn an EGA…hard to watch him pimp it out.
I would have thought he learned a thing or two from being exposed after goose stepping down the halls of the capitol like some kind of Art Nazi.
He never was a bag of brains. Went right back home to be daddy’s little errand boy.
Ok, enough about his good qualities…one day I will get around to the bad stuff.
Enough about Hunter from me. The name Travis Manion rang a bell with me and I couldn’t figure out why.
So with the help of the Oracle of Mountain View I remembered why.
He is the Marine half of the Brothers Forever book co authored by his father about him and his USNA roommate who became a SEAL and was lost in Afghanistan in 2010.
Two young men, taken far too soon, securing our freedoms.
AMEN!!!
Back to the original post; if additional evidence is provided by “boots on the ground” then the Powers That Be in the five-sided wind tunnel should at least take another look, and potentially upgrade his Silver Star to the Navy Cross, no matter who requests it.
YMMV
Agreed, if there is merit in the request it should be looked at.
Hunter should learn how to write a letter and STFU about it. I could care less if that Low IQ sister of his up the street wrote the letter, if it shows merit it needs to be followed up on.
Putting the fact that he did write the letter out there to the press is just him being the attention whore that he is, the little bitch cant help himself.
If they actually do Drain the Swamp they will find the likes of Duncan Hunter floundering in the muck gasping for attention.
I have every confidence Mattis will do the right thing with or without the likes of little Duncan Hunter.
Hardin…anyone ever tell you , you get more flies with honey than vinegar?
I despise Hunter (x forever) and regret his fingerprints are on the possible upgrade of the Silver Star for this Warrior. However, … it’s the right thing to do and unfortunately Hunter, the gutless wonder, will get some props from the process. Would that it were not so.
Ya, I know…turns my stomach.
It just goes to show us that even a pussy can do the right thing albeit for the wrong reason.
I have had a bunch of his staffers call me…he likes to hide behind their skirts. Never thought much of anyone that lets women take the ass chewing they should be getting.
Maybe one day he will grow a pair.
Spent a few hours talking to other elected officials and their staff about Hunter and his letter.
As I suspected, it seems Hunter likes going lone wolf when it comes to doing things like this. I am having trouble finding another member of the House Armed Services Committee that knew anything about it in advance.
I have been getting a lot of “who” and “did what”.
Hey HUNTER, if you or your office try to contact me again…call yourself and stop making your Daddy bail you out of everything.
What a great cause…tarnished by a shit stain.
I have to ask as an outsider. Given the number of stories about troops in the field getting recommended for valor awards, only to have those recommendations downgraded from On High, plus the number of stories I’ve seen on TAH and elsewhere about staffers who get all kinds of “meritorious” medals because they know which dicks to suck, what’s the likelihood that the officer who downgraded Travis Manion’s Navy Cross has a clipboard-sized rack of chest candy that has nothing to do with getting shot at?
Ever see a supply officer deploy to a zone and NOT get a Bronze Star? I haven’t. 🙂
SOMEONE has to provide the Beans & Bullets (and coffee & fuel & water & repair parts & aspirin & Oakley sunglasses)…
😉
TOW: You commented:
“…staffers who get all kinds of “meritorious” medals because they know which dicks to suck…”
Yep. They are stories. Another Urban Legend.😎
Like I said, asking from the outside, looking in. Please excuse my ignorance.
TOW: You are not ignorant.
Have been a recommender as well as recepient of Army awards and sat on Award Boards, both peacetime and wartime.
Too much detail to discuss here, but in my time with the US Army, recommendations for awards went before a Board composed of Senior Officers and/or NCOs for recommendation for approval by a General Officer.
Very formal, professional. Not the Urban Legend of “You scratch my back..”
There is always the “Rest of Story” as to why an award may be recommended for downgrading. Lots of factors involved. I know. I speak from experience.
Don’t they give out awards in your profession?
My department has one official award. It’s supposed to be for valor (it’s actually called the Medal of Valor) and some awards are legit, but I personally know two staff chiefs who bro-dealed eachother with mutual recommendations that resulted in awards for a campaign fire on which neither of them was on the line. You can imagine how those of us who busted our asses on that incident (including some near-death experiences) felt about that.
As for me, my sole “award” is a piece of paper that says “exemplary service” for a particular siege fire in 2003. Seeing as how it’s printed from Microsoft Word clip-art on regular Office Depot printer paper and bears the stamped “signature” of a chief who later tried to fire me on some exaggerated charges in order to cover for an asshole who was doing worse than what they accused me of, you can guess how little that’s worth. That being said, I haven’t done anything deserving of an award, anyway. Maybe I’m more cynical than I should be about it, I dunno.
Thank You for sharing, TOW. Always admire what you all do…so in reality, in your profession, you have done and still perform deeds that warrant recognition everyday. Awards are brass and paper. What you have accomplished in helping others is priceless.👍
I’m of the opinion there are a lot of heroes who, according to those who were there, should have been recognized with medals and awards but inexplicably weren’t. Was Travis Manion one of them? Very probably.
If, as Dave Hardin says this Congress critter is using the headstone of a hero to elevate himself, I’m disgusted but not overly bothered. Decades from now, the name that will be remembered is Travis Manion, not the guy who basked in his reflected glory. But, I loathe the guy for another self-evident reason.
I don’t know anything about this politician, but I can categorically state he is a know-nothing, disrespectful jerk pandering to the media for sound-bytes. “…the sacrifice of the family” is a phrase that makes me see red. Neither Manion’s nor any other family who received the Gold Star “sacrificed” anything. Sacrifice is a decision, an action, and the credit and honor for that decision lies with the one who made it. It is the family’s loss, and their hero’s sacrifice. I know, everyone uses the term, I just wish they wouldn’t.
Agree 100%, and very well stated, ma’am!
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Decency, honor, and veracity are not, and never have been, characteristics or qualities to be found in the American politician. If they are found at all among the critters, you can bet the critters are new to office and that if they wish to maintain their decency, honor, and veracity, they will not run for re-election. So, nothing Hunter or any of his fellow critters shocks or surprises me. They are all scoundrels of one flavor or another and the longer they hold office, the more adept they become at doublespeak, pandering and subterfuge.