Something that didn't make the news..

[Squirrelhunter91]

SOMETHING THAT DIDN'T MAKE THE NEWS

Maybe you'd like to hear about something other than idiot Reservists and

naked Iraqis.

Maybe you'd like to hear about a real American, somebody who

honored the uniform he wears.

Meet Brian Chontosh.

Churchville-Chili Central School class of 1991. Proud graduate of

the Rochester Institute of Technology. Husband and about-to-be father.

First lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps.

And a genuine hero.

The secretary of the Navy said so yesterday.

At 29 Palms in California Brian Chontosh was presented with the

Navy Cross, the second highest award for combat bravery the United

States can bestow.

That's a big deal.

But you won't see it on the network news tonight, and all you read

in Brian's hometown newspaper was two paragraphs of nothing. Instead, it

was more blather about some mental defective MPs who acted like animals.

The odd fact about the American media in this war is that it's not

covering the American military. The most plugged-in nation in the world

is receiving virtually no true information about what its warriors are

doing.

Oh, sure, there's a body count. We know how many Americans have

fallen. And we see those same casket pictures day in and day out. And

we're almost on a first-name basis with the pukes who abused the Iraqi

prisoners. And we know all about improvised explosive devices and how we

lost Fallujah and what Arab public-opinion polls say about us and how

the world hates us.

We get a non-stop feed of gloom and doom.

But we don't hear about the heroes.

The incredibly brave GIs who honorably do their duty. The ones our

grandparents would have carried on their shoulders down Fifth Avenue.

The ones we completely ignore.

Like Brian Chontosh.

It was a year ago on the march into Baghdad. Brian Chontosh was a

platoon leader rolling up Highway 1 in a humvee.

When all **** broke loose.

Ambush city.

The young Marines were being cut to ribbons. Mortars, machine

guns, rocket propelled grenades. And the kid out of Churchville was in

charge. It was do or die and it was up to him.

So he moved to the side of his column, looking for a way to lead

his men to safety. As he tried to poke a hole through the Iraqi line his

humvee came under direct enemy machine gun fire.

It was fish in a barrel and the Marines were the fish.

And Brian Chontosh gave the order to attack. He told his driver to

floor the humvee directly at the machine gun emplacement that was firing

at them. And he had the guy on top with the .50 cal unload on them.

Within moments there were Iraqis slumped across the machine gun

and Chontosh was still advancing, ordering his driver now to take the

humvee directly into the Iraqi trench that was attacking his Marines.

Over into the battlement the humvee went and out the door Brian Chontosh

bailed, carrying an M16 and a Beretta and 228 years of Marine Corps

pride.

And he ran down the trench.

With its mortars and riflemen, machineguns and grenadiers.

And he killed them all.

He fought with the M16 until he was out of ammo. Then he fought

with the Beretta until it was out of ammo. Then he picked up a dead

man's AK47 and fought with that until it was out of ammo. Then he picked

up another dead man's AK47 and fought with that until it was out of

ammo.

At one point he even fired a discarded Iraqi RPG into an enemy

cluster, sending attackers flying with its grenade explosion.

When he was done Brian Chontosh had cleared 200 yards of

entrenched Iraqis from his platoon's flank. He had killed more than 20

and wounded at least as many more.

But that's probably not how he would tell it.

He would probably merely say that his Marines were in trouble, and

he got them out of trouble. Hoo-ah, and drive on.

"By his outstanding display of decisive leadership, unlimited

courage in the face of heavy enemy fire, and utmost devotion to duty,

1st Lt. Chontosh reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the

highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the United States Naval

Service."

That's what the citation says.

And that's what nobody will hear.

That's what doesn't seem to be making the evening news. Accounts

of American valor are dismissed by the press as propaganda, yet accounts

of American difficulties are heralded as objectivity. It makes you

wonder if the role of the media is to inform, or to depress - to report

or to deride. To tell the truth, or to feed us lies.

But I guess it doesn't matter.

We're going to turn out all right.

As long as men like Brian Chontosh wear our uniform.

[popgun]

Re: Something that didn\'t make the news..

It is a shame that news like this did not get around at the time .

If you remember, Pat Tillman was killed on April 22, 2004 and Capt. Brian Chontosh received this award on May 6, 2004.

I guess he didn't seem as newsworthy at the time.

I searched the archives of the Stars & Stripes and The Marine Corps Times, and still didn't see much coverage.

There are a lot of "unsung heroes" in every war.

Still, it is good to read something positive.

.....popgun

[NYBUCK]

Re: Something that didn\'t make the news..

Makes you wonder how much more we don't dont hear about.

[TreeStandBowHunter]

Re: Something that didn\'t make the news..

It was in the news. I thought I posted that in here already. Maybe not...dunno. But it was in several papers. Now CNN, probably not. He wasn't famous enough

[Orion_70]

Re: Something that didn\'t make the news..

Can't hear that kind of stuff too many times..

[va_strutstopper]

Re: Something that didn\'t make the news..

great story

thanks

[Gator]

Re: Something that didn\'t make the news..

I think I have read that before, but it is still just as good to read now as it was back then