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Army Capt. Jennifer Moreno |
Some of those in danger are noncombatants: medical
personnel, chaplains, even war correspondents. The ones included in my book were
well aware of their vulnerability. But it didn’t stop them from doing their
jobs. Only death could do that.
Army nurse Captain Jennifer Moreno received a Bronze
Star posthumously for heroic actions on October 5, 2013. It was a chaotic day:
she was killed by the fifth in a series of twelve bombs (detonated by mines) in
the Zhari district of Kandahar. Four soldiers were killed and 25 wounded.
Through the years, there have been variations of what
is called the Soldiers Creed: “I will never leave a fallen comrade.” That means
you do everything humanly possible to come to the aid of a wounded soldier. And
you never, ever leave the dead behind.
Moreno was trying to help soldiers wounded in the
first four explosions, when the fifth one killed her. It wasn’t until the 11th
that Spc. Samuel Crockett (who received a Silver Star for his actions that day)
was able to retrieve Moreno’s body the only way he could: with a drag line.
In a eulogy, Captain Amanda King, commander of
Moreno’s female Special Operation support team in Afghanistan, wrote: “None of
us would have done what you did, running into hell to save your wounded
brothers, knowing full well you probably wouldn’t make it back.”
I’m not sure about that. You can look at what Moreno
did (you can read a detailed account here) and rationally say “I couldn’t do
that.” But in the heat of battle, with the lives of those you care about
hanging in the balance, would you just watch them die? Would you forget about
your own safety to do your job?
War makes people do things they never would have
done before. Some of them are horrific, others are selfless. I think most of us
believe that in a similar situation we’d do the right thing, without regard for
ourselves.
Jennifer Moreno didn’t have to think long and hard
about it. She lived the Soldiers Creed as deeply as any man with a rifle in his
hands.
There are other heroes like Moreno: doctors,
corpsmen, chaplains. All of them non-combatants, all of them vulnerable, all of
them willing to support and protect those who are doing the killing.
So this Memorial Day weekend, let’s remember that
not all heroes are armed with weapons.
Some are armed with love.
You can read a more detailed account of Captain
Moreno’s heroic actions here.
1 comment:
"..remember that not all heroes are armed with weapons. Some are armed with love." Great post!
I found your blog through the WLC Blog Follows on the World Literary Cafe. It's nice to connect.
World of C. D. Verhoff
cdverhoff.blogspot.com
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