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 Staff Sgt. Conrad Begaye, via the amazing Soldiers Angels Germany blog,
Ambushed near Aranas, Afghanistan, on Nov. 9, 2007, the soldiers were caught in a well-planned crossfire and needed to find cover.
Though he had been shot in the arm, Begaye took a minute to consider his options.
“It was almost like time stood still,” he said Tuesday after receiving the Silver Star for his efforts that day. “The only real option I had was over the cliff.”
So he started down into a steep ravine, telling his men to follow.
“We were sliding down and the whole time we were still taking accurate fire,” he said.
Several soldiers were wounded on the way down and one was killed. But the rest survived to fight on.
Once Begaye and his men found adequate cover, he treated the wounded, called in mortar support and rallied other soldiers who were farther back in the convoy to hold their positions. Mortar fire and reinforcements eventually drove the enemy from the field.
Five soldiers and one Marine died in the battle. Begaye, the ranking soldier after his platoon leader [then 1LT Matt Ferrara] was killed in the initial attack, said he’ll wear his medal in honor of those who didn’t make it.
“I really don’t know how I feel about getting a medal for just doing my job,” he said. “So this medal’s not for me, but for the guys who died that day.”
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.
What is Pundit Review Radio?
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.