Hero Stripped Of His Silver Star Because He Killed A Terrorist
By Robert Gehl, March 19, 2015.
After hearing his Silver Star was unilaterally stripped from bonafide hero Maj. Mathew Golsteyn, Congress is moving to remove the military’s ability to retroactively revoke a military commendation.
As reported in the Washington Times, Maj. Golsteyn received the military’s third-highest honor for his bravery on Feb. 20, 2010:
Maj. Golsteyn performed his heroics when a crow’s nest at Forward Operating Base McQueary took sniper rounds. Then a captain and leader of Special Forces A-Team, Maj. Golsteyn organized a combined 80-man Green Beret/Marine Corps/Afghan force to find and destroy the snipers.
The force quickly came under fire in a muddy poppy field. The officer ran more than the length of a football field under heavy fire to coordinate the evacuation by ground of a bullet-pierced Afghan soldier.
“Captain Golsteyn was alone running in the open through enemy gun fire that had over 80 men pinned down, and from the crow’s nest on top of FOB McQueary it looked like Captain Golsteyn was alone fighting 30 enemy fighters out in the poppy fields,” the narrative says.
Dodging fire, he ran to a spot from which he could unleash rifle fire to provide cover for the medical evacuation. Enemy reinforcements of about 80 Taliban arrived, increasing a barrage of small arms fire. The Green Beret again exposed himself to fire to gain positive identification of the target, which in turn allowed a Navy F-18 Hornet to hit the compound with two 500-pound satellite-guided bombs.
Next, he moved on foot to identify the next target.
“With blatant disregard for his own personal safety, Captain Golsteyn exposed himself again to heavy enemy fire and moved 200 meters from the center of the patrol to the eastern flank in order to establish a position of advantage from which to engage the enemy,” the narrative said.
He then relayed positions so a mortar team could put rounds on the second target. Next, he provided the site for a Predator drone to fire a Hellfire missile. After four hours of intense fighting, the enemy was subdued.
“His razor sharp focus and emotionless decision-making under extreme duress kept the combined patrol a step ahead of a skilled and prepared enemy,” the narrative stated.
None of those facts are in doubt or in question. Apparently, what happened next is what caused Army Secretary John McHugh to strip Maj. Golsteyn of his medal: after the attack was over, Golsteyn encountered a terrorist who was manufacturing the improvised explosive devices and killed him. The Major faced no prosecution and no criticism for killing the terrorist.
Still, McHugh had Golsteyn’s Silver Star revoked.
As a result, Sen. Duncan Hunter, a Republican from California is sponsoring a bill that wound simply read: “The secretary of a military department does not have the authority to revoke any combat valor award.”
http://downtrend.com/robertgehl/hero-stripped-of-his-silver-star-because-he-killed-a-terrorist
