Where do we get such men?

       Every once in a while I read a book that makes me proud to be an American. In this case it is the book about the most recent USMC Medal of Honor recipient, but it could be about many young Americans.

            And good on the Mom and Dad and any other adults who helped grow them!

            By the way, the book is called Into the Fire: A Firsthand Account of the Most Extraordinary Battle in the Afghan War.  It is by the recipient, Dakota Meyer, and co-written by Bing West, who has been over there a lot, and an old Marine, too.

          Here's a summary from Amazon.com:

                    In the fall of 2009, Taliban insurgents ambushed a patrol of Afghan soldiers and Marine advisors in a mountain village called Ganjigal. Firing from entrenched positions, the enemy was positioned to wipe out one hundred men who were pinned down and were repeatedly refused artillery support. Ordered to remain behind with the vehicles, twenty-one year-old Marine corporal Dakota Meyer disobeyed orders and attacked to rescue his comrades.

With a brave driver at the wheel, Meyer stood in the gun turret exposed to withering fire, rallying Afghan troops to follow. Over the course of the five hours, he charged into the valley time and again. Employing a variety of machine guns, rifles, grenade launchers, and even a rock, Meyer repeatedly repulsed enemy attackers, carried wounded Afghan soldiers to safety, and provided cover for dozens of others to escape—supreme acts of valor and determination. In the end, Meyer and four stalwart comrades—an Army captain, an Afghan sergeant major, and two Marines—cleared the battlefield and came to grips with a tragedy they knew could have been avoided. For his actions on that day, Meyer became the first living Marine in three decades to be awarded the Medal of Honor.

Into the Fire tells the full story of the chaotic battle of Ganjigal for the first time, in a compelling, human way that reveals it as a microcosm of our recent wars. Meyer takes us from his upbringing on a farm in Kentucky, through his Marine and sniper training, onto the battlefield, and into the vexed aftermath of his harrowing exploits in a battle that has become the stuff of legend.

       I think the profits from this publication will go to charity, by the way.

       And my understanding is that this young man later got out of the USMC, and as gone on with his life. Most do.

       Either way, he makes me proud to know such young men still grow up in America.

       And by the way, I have a son at West Point, so I think I understand the concern parents have when their child goes in harm's way.