Bruce McQuain from Blackfive joined us once again for Someone You Should Know, our weekly tribute to the troops. Bruce spent 28 years in the U.S. Army and he is a veteran of the Vietnam war. He brings a perspective and understanding to these stories that we could never match.
This week Bruce told us about Sgt. 1st Class Jarion Halbisengibbs. From the WaPost,
Meanwhile, Halbisengibbs “continued to clear the structure in complete darkness as his night vision goggles and personal radio were all destroyed by enemy gunfire at point blank range,” the official narrative said. Stumbling over a dead enemy, he was shot in the thumb and propelled to the ground by the blast; of the grenade. “Alone, he relentlessly continued to engage the concealed enemy and in a moment of intense close quarters battle killed one additional terrorist inside the now chaotic structure.
Moving into the courtyard to protect his two comrades who lay exposed there, Halbisengibbs was suddenly shot through the abdomen. “It felt like white hot lightning shooting through my stomach, and I felt my hip pop out,” he said. But even as he fell to the ground he raised his rifle and killed the fighter only 12 feet away.
Despite a serious wound, he then reloaded his M-4 rifle, and linked up with the rest of my jundis [Iraqi forces] and got them to finish the fight,” he said. During the frenzied battle, Halbisengibbs recalled the odd sensation of looking through his green night vision goggles and feeling “disassociated . . . like watching yourself do something.”
All three Green Berets said they have recovered, although they still experience pain from their injuries. Chaney and Lindsay have deployed again to Iraq. Halbisengibbs, who has a black belt in tae kwon do and joined the Special Forces after a stint as a delicatessen cook in Ann Arbor, Mich., expects to deploy again soon.
The Someone You Should Know radio collaboration began as an extension of Matt Burden’s series at Blackfive. Bruce does an incredible job with the series every week. The Pundit Review Radio Podcast RSS feed can be found here.
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On Boston’s Talk Station WRKO since 2005, Pundit Review Radio is where the old media meets the new. Each week we give voice to the work of the most influential leaders in the new media/citizen journalist revolution. Called “groundbreaking” by Talkers Magazine, this unique show brings the best of the blogs to the radio every Sunday evening from 8-10pm on AM680 WRKO, Boston’s Talk Station.