04MAR2002:  Planning to insert on a mountaintop in support of Operation Anaconda in Afghanistan,  TSgt John Chapman's aircraft was hit by enemy fire.  Buckling from the explosion, PO1 Neil Roberts was thrown from the aircraft, landing near al-Qaeda positions while the Chinook was forced to land four miles away.

Coordinating their pick up and reinsertion to the top of Takur Ghar, TSgt Chapman volunteered for the mission to rescue their stranded comrade.  As soon as they landed on the mountaintop, the entire seven man team came under heavy enemy fire.  Without regard for his own safety, T/Sgt Chapman charged forward, with Senior Chief Britt Slabinski close behind, and cleared the nearest bunker killing two enemy fighters in the process.  Now with a little breathing room for their SEAL team, Slabinski and Chapman began their assault towards the second bunker.  At this point, TSgt Chapman was shot twice and presumed dead by his teammates.  As enemy fire intensified, Slabinski made the call to begin movement back down the hillside to a more tenable position.

Approximately 30 minutes after his team moved down the mountaintop, Chapman regained consciousness and began his one man stand against at least twenty al-Qaeda fighters.  For nearly an hour, Chapman engaged the enemy positions, fending off multiple charges and engaging in hand to hand combat.  With his SEAL team still sustaining casualties and heavy enemy fire, Chapman stayed out front providing cover as best he could.  

Suffering from multiple wounds, Chapman's final act was to stand and suppress the enemy positions as reinforcements were nearly shot down and landed mere meters behind his position.  TSgt Chapman's sacrifice and continued determination allowed for the survival of his SEAL team as well as countless Rangers that landed with the QRF.  Without him bearing the brunt of the enemy attack, American casualties likely would have been substantially worse that day.  

For his actions Technical Sergeant John Chapman would be posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, the first in the war in Afghanistan. 

25NOV2001:  Johnny 'Mike' Spann was working in the CIA when al-Qaeda terrorists conducted their attacks on September 11, 2001.  Before long, Spann, a prior Marine, found himself on the ground in Afghanistan, searching for these killers.

Spann was one of the first Americans on the ground in Afghanistan and immediately set about tying in with local forces from the Northern Alliance.  Spann focused on building relationships with local military leaders, specifically General Dostum, in preparation for the arrival of American Special Forces units that would hopefully turn the tide in the fight against the Taliban and al-Qaeda.

Spann helped coordinate resources and relayed critical intelligence from the front lines as Dostum and his US advisors took the critical city of Mazar-i-Sharif in early November.  As the first major victory over the Taliban, this battle saw quite a few enemy fighters offer to surrender.  Of the new prisoners, Spann and his team pulled aside nearly 600 with suspected ties to al-Qaeda for further questioning to be done at a fortress known as Qala-i-Jangi.

The prisoners were quickly moved during the night and placed in a cellar to be interrogated the following morning by Spann and his colleague.  However, in the chaos, many prisoners were able to sneak weapons in with them.  

The following day, as Spann worked through the prisoners, asking where they were from, why they were in Afghanistan and more, shots rang out.  The armed prisoners were staging an uprising and Spann was caught right in the middle.  Fighting for his life, Spann emptied his pistol and rifle at close range before engaging dozens of al-Qaeda fighters in hand to hand combat.  Overwhelmed and outnumbered, Spann was quickly killed, the first American killed in combat during the war in Afghanistan.

The Northern Alliance guards locked down the fort and as US and British special operators arrived on scene, the retaking of the fort began.  After a few days, with the help of American airpower, only a few dozen holdouts remained holed up in a cellar.  General Dostum ordered the cellar flooded with cold water, forcing their final surrender.  In all, barely 80 of the initial 600+ prisoners would survive the uprising.  

25DEC1914:  Just a few months into the First World War, something beautiful happened.  Amidst the chaos, death and destruction, soldiers from opposing sides made time to celebrate Christmas.  With no formal ceasefire declared, the soldiers in the trenches took it up on themselves.  They began singing to one another and before long had exited the trenches to share gifts with their adversaries.  

The unofficial truce lasted in some places a day, in others into the new year but  not everyone was happy.  Many higher headquarters, upon learning of the fraternization put a quick stop to it and even ordered Christmas offensives in follow on years to prevent such a thing from happening again.  

The Christmas Truce of 1914 is one of the bright lights in the First World War, a sign of humanity amidst the horrible backdrop of war. 

11APR1966: Serving as a rifle team leader, SGT James Robinson and the rest of Charlie Company, 2-16IN were serving as Viet Cong bait during Operation Abilene in Vietnam.  The goal was to lure out the crack Viet Cong D800 battalion that was expected to be hiding in the area and when they were attacking Robinson's unit, the rest of the US, New Zealand, and Australian units would pounce.

As Charlie company moved through the rubber plantations, they quickly found themselves face to face with the VC headquarters and fire erupted from all directions.  As his men began to fall, Robinson kept his cool.  He organized his men into a defensive perimeter and assigned sectors of fire.  After knocking out an enemy sniper with his grenade launcher, Robinson noticed two wounded Soldiers cut off from American lines.  He ran into the fire, treated the two, and helped them to safety.

Again seeing a wounded Soldier, Robinson ran out into the fire to rescue him but was hit in the shoulder and leg in the process.  While patching his own wounds, he identified a nearby machine gun position that was hammering his men.  Now out of ammunition, he grabbed two grenades and charged.  He was quickly hit in the leg by a tracer round that caught his pants on fire. Robinson ripped off the pants and kept going, being hit twice more in the chest.  Before he fell, mortally wounded, Robinson lobbed the two grenades into the enemy position, destroying it.  With the machine gun silent, a helicopter lowered an Air Force Pararescueman to help with the wounded, A1C William Pitsenbarger.  

Robinson's repeated actions across the battlefield that day saved countless American lives in a fight that would produce 80% US casualties.  SGT James Robinson would be awarded, posthumously, the Medal of Honor.  

13APR2003:  Having fought with the 3rd BN 502nd Infantry all the way to Baghdad, PVT Dwayne Turner, a medic was serving on a work detail in a newly established operations center during the Battle of Baghdad.  As he and his fellow Soldiers worked, the enemy attacked.  

At close range, enemy fighters lobbed grenades into the American position and opened fire with automatic weapons.  A blast from one of the grenades wounded Turner and threw him into a nearby vehicle.  Ignoring his own wounds, Turner leapt back into the fight and began searching for any wounded Soldiers.  PVT Turner quickly found one of his brothers with an eye injury and moved him to makeshift casualty collection point.  

Rather than stay and treat the wounded, Turner handed them off to other medics and ran back into enemy fire, despite already having been wounded.  As he moved out from their covered position he was hit by enemy fire that broke his right arm but continued to bring in the wounded.  Now with the wounded Soldiers consolidated, Turner shifted to treatment and during this process was shot again, this time in the leg.  

Now with multiple shrapnel wounds and having been shot twice, Turner continued to provide care for his wounded brothers until another medic sat him down to treat the wounds.  Turner would survive the deployment and be awarded the Silver Star for treating at least 16 American Soldiers in the midst of the deadly Baghdad fight.  

08APR2003: Entering the third week of the war, Sgt. Scott Montoya and 2/23 Marines began their assault on Baghdad.  Montoya and his team moved up to support Fox company just as they were coming under intense enemy small arms fire from a sizeable enemy force.

Taking charge and deploying the Marines, Montoya noticed a vehicle caught in the crossfire with a wounded Iraqi civilian inside.  Running through the deadly fire, Montoya reached the civilian and brought him to safety.  He then noticed a wounded Marine stuck in that same street.  For a second time, Montoya disregarded his own safety and ran into the enemy fire to pull the wounded Marine out.

Twice more, in short order, Sgt. Montoya ran into the kill zone to pull wounded and dazed Marines to safety.  His daring actions that day saved countless lives as he moved between assaulting the enemy positions and pulling his wounded brothers out of the line of fire.  For his actions, Sgt Scott Montoya would be awarded the Navy Cross.  

25MAR2003:  Pushing north to Baghdad, 1stLt Brian Chontosh and the Marines in his CAAT platoon were leading the charge along Highway 1.  Expecting enemy resistance, Chontosh's platoon as well as Marine tanks, stepped out ahead of RCT-5 to clear the path.  

Nearing Ad Diwaniyah, the Marines focused on a berm alongside the road.  Before long, the enemy attacked.  An estimated battalion sized enemy force opened fire at close range with RPGs, machine guns, and small arms.  All up and down the line, RCT-5 was engaged in close combat.  

Positioned right behind friendly tanks, 1stLt Chontosh and his HMMWV were stuck in the kill zone and couldn't maneuver out.  Instead, Chontosh ordered his driver to push directly into the enemy fire coming from a nearby trench.  As the truck hit the berm, the .50 caliber gunner, Cpl. Thomas Franklin, began hammering enemy positions up and down the line.  Chontosh and two Marines leapt from truck and began clearing the enemy trench.

Firing and maneuvering down the trench, Chontosh exhausted all of his rifle ammunition before switching to his sidearm.  When that was rounds complete he ran through two more AK-47s picked up from dead enemy combatants so he could continue to clear the Iraqi fighting positions.  After firing a captured RPG, Chontosh noticed an enemy soldier playing dead while trying to pull the pin on a grenade.  Noticing some unspent rounds on the ground, Chontosh picked one up, loaded into his rifle and killed the would-be attacker.

With the trench cleared and over 20 enemy killed, Chontosh moved back to his truck to continue their advance to Baghdad.

For his actions that day, 1stLt Brian Chontosh would be awarded the Navy Cross.