American Grit
Editorial of The New York Sun | February 6, 2008
http://www.nysun.com/editorials/american-grit/70824/
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ShareHow's this for true grit? Marine Corps Sergeant Jeremy F. Boutwell was an MK-19 machine gunner deployed in Anbar province, Iraq on March 14, 2004, when he was wounded so badly by an enemy attack that he lost consciousness and had to be evacuated by helicopter. He was transferred to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, then to the National Naval Medical Center, in Bethesda, Md., then to Brooke Army Medical Center, in San Antonio, where he stayed for two years and underwent 18 surgeries.
A dispatch yesterday from the government's American Forces Press Service tells the rest of the story, in Sergeant Boutwell's own words. "I didn't want to get out of the Marine Corps, and I wanted to go back to Iraq," he said. "Headquarters tried to retire me from the Corps when I was stuck down in Texas for my surgeries. But I didn't want to get out, so I fought the decision." Finally, the Marine brass agreed to allow him to return to Iraq, this time as an intelligence specialist rather than a machine gunner. He's now at Camp Lejeune, N.C., getting ready to redeploy.
"I feel good about going back to Iraq," Sergeant Boutwell, 23, said. "I've been trying to go back for almost four years. 'I'm going to be happy to see the differences from the way it was. The last time I was there, we were in the middle of a firefight every day, and now it's a lot calmer." It's a story to remember the next time the Democrats claim we are losing the Battle of Iraq. One reason we are winning is the exceptional efforts of American soldiers, sailors, and Marines like Sergeant Boutwell.
