Silver Star awarded (again)

Marine Who 'Wouldn't Quit Fighting' Is Honored
Aaron Austin died in Fallouja repelling an attack. His Silver Star will go to his parents.By Tony Perry
Times Staff Writer

July 22, 2005

On the last night of his life, Lance Cpl. Aaron Austin joined a prayer session with other Marines hunkered down in a bullet-riddled neighborhood in Fallouja, Iraq.

Austin, a 21-year-old machine-gunner, asked God for protection not for himself but for his fellow Marines of Echo Company of the 2nd Battalion, 1st Regiment, 1st Marine Division, based at Camp Pendleton.

The next morning, insurgents attacked from three directions, firing thousands of rounds from AK-47s and other firearms and hurling dozens of grenades.

With the Marines in danger of being overrun, Austin exposed himself to enemy fire in order to throw a grenade at their position 20 meters away. The grenade helped repel the attack, but Austin was mortally wounded.

For those who knew Austin, his action was no surprise. Today, in a simple ceremony at the Texas Panhandle War Memorial in Amarillo, Austin's parents will receive the Silver Star, awarded posthumously to their son.

Sgt. Maj. William Skiles, who was with Austin that brutal morning in Fallouja, will present the award ? the nation's third-highest medal for bravery in combat.

"All the Marines stepped up, and Aaron led the way," Skiles said.

Austin's mother, De'on Miller, said she understood her son's actions during the firefight on April 26, 2004. Loyalty, she said, was at the core of her son's personality.

"He loved the people he was with," Miller said from her home in Lovington, N.M. "That was Aaron: When he was loyal, he put his entire heart into it. He wouldn't quit fighting."

Austin's Silver Star is the third for a Marine from the "Two-One," one of the units that led last year's assault on the insurgent stronghold.

Lt. Ben Wagner remembered the prayer session the night before Austin was killed. "Aaron was praying for the safety of the other Marines," he said. "That was his personality, concerned with others, not himself."

The Marines were searching buildings in the war-torn Jolan neighborhood when they came under attack in one of the bloodiest clashes between the U.S. military and insurgents that spring.

Austin helped evacuate the wounded and led other Marines onto a roof to operate a machine gun. When the insurgents kept advancing, he took a grenade from his vest and moved into the open for a better throwing position.

"Several enemy bullets struck Lance Cpl. Austin in the chest," said the official Marine Corps account. "Undaunted by his injury and with heroic effort, he threw his hand grenade at the enemy on the adjacent rooftop."

The grenade hit the bull's-eye and forced the insurgents to halt their attack.

When the battle was over, Marines erected a makeshift memorial to Austin in one of the buildings they had fought to defend.

Austin joined the Marines after graduating from high school, which had been marked by his love of parties and football (although he quit the team in solidarity when his cousin had a run-in with the coach).

His parents supported the decision, deciding the Marines would give him discipline and direction.

When he would call home from Iraq ? where he was also part of the 2003 assault that toppled Saddam Hussein's regime ? Austin avoided talking about combat and the chances of death. But his voice had a tone of foreboding, his parents said.

"All I ever wanted was for Aaron to come back. That's all I wanted," said his father, Doug, who owns a small grocery store.

Aaron Austin was buried near his father's Amarillo home.

Among fellow Marines, Austin was known for his laugh and his confidence.

"There's no place I'd rather be than here with my Marines," Austin told the Los Angeles Times two days before the firefight. "I'll always remember this time."

Lt. Gen. James Mattis, who commanded the 1st Marine Division during the spring 2004 offensive, said this week that Austin "represented the very best of us."

"They don't write the foreign policy," Mattis said of Austin and other Marines, "but they faithfully serve our country, even at their peril."

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"The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return." -- Toulouse-Lautre, Moulin Rouge

See, I could never do something like that. I'd be crouching in a
corner crying and frieking out. I'll always admire someone who
has enough courage to knowingly sacrifice themselves for the betterment
of others.

It got kinda sappy at the end though...

So basically instead of ducking while the "insurgents" were firing, he stood up and got shot while throwing a grenade...to kill people. Man...what a hero.

I will never understand war.

Why did he stand up to throw the grenade I wonder? He could have
chucked it from behind their cover being an area-suppresion weapon.

I feel more sorry for his parents.

Just tossing a granade in the general direction does no good.
Haven't you played HLDM? You should know that you need to see
your target before you can throw your granade and do any good.
Random throwing could get your own guys killed...

I think this guy was brave.

Until Later...

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Dark_Kilauea
DVS Administration
http://www.dvstudio-production.com/

Hi, new here. I was in the military for a short while so I wanted to say a bit on the topic.

Tossing a grenade has nothing to do with standing up if thats what you chose not to do. The weight of a grenade is so much that the tossing technique is unique in itself. You cannot throw it say, like a baseball. You could toss it underhanded like a softball, but thats just to inaccurate. Unless you have actually taken a course in properly tossing a grenade, I could not possibly explain it graphic enough to be envisioned, but when done properly, you can hit marks the size of a loaf of bread from 50 or 75 feet.

It might help if someone looked up the weights of the type grenade used. Each has its own poundage.

What I am trying in my weak way to say is, you can toss a grenade without exposing your body to incoming rounds.

Nice site by the way.

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There is no history until something happens, then there is.

From my understanding of the story, he had to get out of cover to throw the grenade because the adjacent rooftop was too far away from where they were located.

I am sure he's smart enough to toss it in a safe way if it's possible.

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"The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return." -- Toulouse-Lautre, Moulin Rouge

I was commenting with respect to the conversation about tossing. I have not read the article yet. Sorry to mislead.

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There is no history until something happens, then there is.

I agree it was a brave thing to do. He was somewhat lucky he had time to arm the grenade and to throw it before being hit.

Sniper debate?

What? Ressurect a dead thread?

<DIV class=quote>
<DIV class=quotetitle>? quoting Dark Tree</DIV>
<DIV class=quotetext>So basically instead of ducking while the "insurgents" were firing, he stood up and got shot while throwing a grenade...to kill people. Man...what a hero.</DIV></DIV>I know I've been lurking for a while, but here, now - just for you, Dark Tree - I break the pattern.

I do so to let you know that you are the hugest dick in the universe. Let me break it down for you.

<DIV class=quote>
<DIV class=quotetitle>? quoting Dark Tree</DIV>
<DIV class=quotetext>instead of ducking... he stood up and got shot</DIV></DIV>Doubtless, your experiences in Counter-Strike have taught you more about live combat than any Marine could ever know - but please, for the moment, spare us your judgment on his tactics. Especially when he died. Especially when he died trying to save other people. Especially when he died at 21 thousands of miles from his mourning parents. If you think he, being a casualty of war, died in vain, why insult him?

<DIV class=quote>
<DIV class=quotetitle>? quoting Dark Tree</DIV>
<DIV class=quotetext>the "insurgents"</DIV></DIV>So, we can't rightly apply "insurgent," the mildest of terms, to men who wilfully kill well-meaning people? - so, we can insult a Marine for dying trying to protect his fellow soldiers, but we can't insult the terrorists who killed him?

In fact, wait a second -

<DIV class=quote>
<DIV class=quotetitle>? quoting Dark Tree</DIV>
<DIV class=quotetext>to kill people.</DIV></DIV>- the people who attacked him where he was and who he only retaliated against are innocent in the matter?

Insulting a man who just died is a terrible thing to do. Insulting a 21 year old boy who just died is worse. Insulting a 21 year old boy who just died trying to save other people is worse. Insulting a 21 year old boy who just died trying to save other people who were attacked by, rather than attacking, an enemy, is worse. Insulting him for his "technique" is worse. Insulting him, once a real, breathing, flesh-and-blood human being who I sincerely doubt you could ever so much as mumble your insults to face to face, because of the war he was in, is worse.

Add these things together, and what do you get? - a trophy, awarded unanimously by the Cassius Asshole Evaluation Board to Dark Tree, for Huge Dick of the Century. I hope and pray that I will never have to meet anyone as wilfully insensitive as you for as long as I live.

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[Im_invisible] "I would suck a man off, but only for sustenance."

God, this is some heavy reading for a gaming board.. I was going to post a question on how best to proceed in starting a first map but, now I am not sure I am even in a mapping site anymore.

Maybe I will come back later.

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There is no history until something happens, then there is.

Here's a tip, if you want mapping stuff, stay out of the general banter...

Until Later...

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Dark_Kilauea
DVS Administration
http://www.dvstudio-production.com/