Sgt. Dennis Weichel, 29, gave the world a measure of the bravery and humanity of our soldiers serving abroad this week. Weichel, a father of three from Rhode Island, gave his life to save an Afghan girl from being run over by a 16-ton armored fighting vehicle this week. While Afghan President Hamid Karzai has called all Americans “Demons” , Weichel did not hesitate to give his life for a little girl in danger.
Weichel, a Rhode Island National Guardsman, was riding in the convoy in Laghman Province in eastern Afghanistan when he and his comrades saw Afghan children collecting shell casings on the road. The soldiers got out of the convoy to shoo the children away for their safety. Then, one girl suddenly ran back to grab a casing that the children collect for money. Weichel looked up and saw a MRAP, or Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicle, heading toward the girl. He ran in front of the armored vehicle, grabbed the girl, threw her to safety, and was then run over himself.
A member of the Rhode Island National Guard since 2001, Weichel had only arrived in Afghanistan a few weeks ago. He previously served in Iraq.
I can only imagine the pain and sorrow of this family. However, if it is some small comfort, the entire nation is mourning the loss of this wonderful human being.
Source: ABC
Bron,
In this matter…. You’re full of shit….. A man, person gave up his life to save a child…. If you have an issue with that, you need to reevaluate your priorities….. If feel for the people that call you family……
Gene H:
if and when you have children you will understand why the man did what he did and why he shouldnt have.
If he had done this on the streets of Dallas, TX no one would be making much out of it. It would be a story in the local paper, maybe not even page 1 and the local nightly news would spend 60 seconds on the event.
http://www.katu.com/news/local/51101557.html?tab=video&c=y
here is another example of bravery, how come this didnt get any attention?
In fact you can find hundreds of these examples. Maybe you have an agenda but like to do it so you can claim no foul.
you are full of BS.
“We have shot an amazing number of people at checkpoints who really posed no threat to our forces.” — former American General Stanley McChrystal.
Sounds pretty demonic to me. Why did no American hero intervene to stop this homicidal insanity? Have we so few of them?
Had only more American heroes somehow saved more Afghans from more American demons, then perhaps President Karzai would not have such unkind things to say about Americans. Of course, without certifiable American demons like Deputy Dubya Bush and Dick Cheney, Hamid Karzai would still find himself employed as an oil company consultant, and not “The Mayor of Kabul.” He will last as “President” only as long as his patron American demons do.
Now, back to our regularly scheduled Daily Boastful Body Count. So uplifting. So heroic. So many “suspected” of so much stuff. Nothing in the slightest “demonic” about it.
“Afghan President Hamid Karzai has called all Americans “Demons”
This passing comment by Professor Turley rather detracts from his otherwise appropriate praise of the self-sacrificing American serviceman. What purpose did Professor Turley have in mind by including it?
Consider what would have happened had this one soldier not acted as he did. Obviously, another soldier barreling down the road in his enormous armored vehicle would have run over the little girl and just kept on going. So it looks to me like one American soldier saved a little Afghan girl that another American soldier would have killed without batting an eyelash. So now one of our heroes has saved an Afghan girl from one of our own demons. Without the American demon, of course, the American hero might have gone on to live a long and unheroic life. And, by the way, Professor Turley does not say what happened, if anything, to the American demon for running over and killing a fellow soldier.
Something else Professor Turley might wish to contemplate, from a former (and unheroic) crusader for Goodness and Democracy (abroad):
The Terrible Worm in His Iron Cocoon
The terrible worm in his iron cocoon:
The knight in his armor enclosed,
Has gone off again on a global Crusade
Which has left his own country exposed.
His lines of supply girdle heaven and earth;
Expenses grow terribly huge;
While folks back at home find themselves unemployed,
Yet they shrug, after them the deluge.
Or so they suppose as the flood of lost jobs
Washes over their living room floors,
While off in Iraq, and Afghanistan, too,
Their troops break in through the front doors,
Then haul off the males in the household to jail
For “being of age” to resist:
A “crime,” we insist, ‘cause our saying makes “law,”
Enforced by the gun and the fist.
The troop in his tank behind sunglasses blank,
In his man-from-mars uniform finds,
That grabbing the native oppressed by the balls
Beats winning their hearts and their minds.
Now bankruptcy rules in the land of the fools
Where the terrible worms got their start
Then charged off to do what the world would soon rue
As not worth the tiniest fart.
Michael Murry, The Misfortune Teller, Copyright 2009
Otteray Scribe, thanks for questioning and clarifying. My reference, somewhat global and sloppy, should have been more clearly expressed to refer to that “heroism” which reinforces the rather mindless invocation of “our team” vs “the enemy”, not the genuine selflessness you cite. I am aware,and I believe I am correct that a number of pacifists have, at least in the past, served as medics.
But I was never in the military, in fact fought the draft (matter of fact, not necessarily pride), so perhaps I’m not a good reporter.
RIP Sgt. Weichel. You represent the finest that our military has to offer. It would be nice if the little Afghan girl and her family attended his military burial, or at least got to know his family. I am reminded of this story about a little girl who saved her sister from a truck and lost a leg.
I’m not dissing the Sgt. He’s my hero too. Cuz I’ve been where it was tough and did not do the right thing. It wasn’t like his situatlon, but failing to take up a picket sign and parade with my black brothers outside the Wachovia Bank in Raleigh in 1957.
Just I wonder who knows who the heroes are here in America.
I think the folks who go to work, get shit every day, bad wages, suffer it all their whole lives, just to bring up their kids.
Those are also heroes.
He made a decision, and is praised by us. So would many of you too, in similar situations. So is he a hero.? Depends on how you define it. Your choice.
But it’s the utterings of hero worship which disturb me. Hero worship smacks of justifying the war. And all wars as well. We have become enamored with violence as seen throughout all our culture. I won’t list them, you know them better than I do.
Is it better here? Not when I look at the largest PM newspaper. Looks like a toy and candy shop for adults—-so-called ones.
And the lack of empathy for the millons we suppress and have suppressed and killed, again and again. And these children there. Saying we are bringing democracy for their sake is complete and utter BS.
And what have we done about the MIC that Eisenhower warned us about? Nothing. So it will continue. I am sure, in spite of all talk about politicians and their next election horizons, that there are studies that result in plans for conquest including public consensus building before each war.
Have you watched the helicopter butchery in Bagdad we can thank Wikileaks for revealing to us? Have you read a detailed account of My Lai?
Tell me more about your hero worship then.
“Many years have passed and still I wonder why —
The worst of men must fight and the best of men must die”
Sinking of the Reuben James/Kingston Trio
Well said Gene and OS. This Sgt. was a true hero in every sense of the word.
DonS, your comment about this kind of selfless heroism not being lauded by the military is wrong on many levels. As one who had a member of my extended family awarded the Medal of Honor (posthumously of course) I am aware that more MoH are awarded for giving up one’s life than for taking lives. It is no accident that combat medics are awarded the MoH in disproportionate number to any other rate.
Amen.
Thanks for the explanation.
id707,
You have misunderstood. I was pointing out the negative presumption of others by using a diametrically opposed presumption.
We’re also thinking of his children when we criticize those who would minimize his heroic actions out of their love of selfishness.
“yes, it was selfless sacrifice and for what? So this little girl can grow up and be abused her entire life by a bunch of religious zealots from the 8th century?”
No. It was a selfless sacrifice by a man in a situation not of his own making in order to save the life of an innocent little girl also in a situation not of her own making. Minimizing that heroic action to criticize those who are responsible for the situation – the politicians – is not thinking of his children. It’s thinking (such as it is) about yourself and your agenda (withdrawal). While your agenda in this instance may be a good one, your selfishness in expression is what sucks, Bron. If you were really thinking about his children, you wouldn’t try to minimize the value of his actions.
Don’t understand GeneH’s comment. but if he presumes to predict what the fate for that little girl will be in her future, and thus predict what the fate of other little girls there will be, then I can’t agree.
They may not have white racism to fight and take a stand against.
But no one demands they meet those high standards which Rosa and Martin Luther did, in order to have had better lives than their parents did.
Are you presuming Gene H. or have I misunderstood? It won’t be the first time I have, of course.
In spite of Talibans and terrorists, the feeling of the muslims I meet in Sweden is that extremism is decreasing. It’s increase is but an expression, say they, of reaction to their release from colonialism and the oppressive client regimes they’ve endured in Egypt, etc.
‘Lastly, Afghanistan is not uniform in any way. It is not 2 parts, but at least 6-8 parts. It in fact is not a nation. But then we are not either.
No one is thinking about his children. -Bron
Jonathan Turley wrote: “I can only imagine the pain and sorrow of this family.” And I agreed, in an earlier comment. Of course, we’re thinking about his children.
“think what you want.”
Judging by the response your lil’ bòn mót has garnered, it’s not just me that thinks Objectivism and its followers suck. However, I will continue to both think that and say that with or without your permission.
“Rosa Parks or Martin Luther? You are high. Can I have some?”
High? Only if empathy and compassion for others is a drug. You could have some. Unless you’re a sociopath, having empathy and compassion is a choice. It is a choice that is counter to your Objectivism though. You’ll have to choose.
“It’s my hope that she’ll remember the American who saved her and that something good will be spun from it.”
Yes I hope this young man’s death will lead to us getting out of Afghanistan. He should have been with his children and raising them. No one is thinking about his children. I hope they are very young, otherwise their hearts are broken and the small comfort of knowing he saved another life wont be enough to fill the loss they are now feeling and will feel for the rest of their lives.
@ OS 1:11
Ditto. Heroism has nothing, IMO, to do with war. The kind of heroism demonstrated here — or let’s call it the ultra compassionate response to a need — is atypical of the sort appropriated and lauded by the warrior cult. It seems to belong to the category of the best of humanity rather than the best in the military, without going too deeply into that oxymoron.
Gene H:
think what you want.
Rosa Parks or Martin Luther? You are high. Can I have some?
Sadly, this little girl will be taught to grow up and hate American soldiers and the nation they serve. -Jeff Metz
Per Gene H., there is (in some quarters) “the presumption is that this girl will grow up to be a victim instead of the Afghan equivalent of Rosa Parks and Martin Luther. It’s my hope that she’ll remember the American who saved her and that something good will be spun from it.