Knee Deep in the Hooah!

I am passing the proverbial blog-baton to Mr. Hooah! again for a few days this week. He is going to pick up where he left off on Friday by telling us about his earliest days in OCS. He is enjoying the privilege of sharing his story. He has been busy writing this for us for the past several days, and on top of that he got to spend a good amount of time on Saturday rooting for Nate as he competed in his (and the programs!) first JROTC competition. I can tell that he was really loving being near the military ceremonies and remembering his own experiences in detail.

Emma and I missed the first part of the drill competition, but we went to the latter part and saw the awards ceremony. The JROTC program at Nate’s school is a brand new program. The kids and the Cadre jumped right into the competition to get their feet wet — they were not expecting to really place anywhere significant. The competition at this meet is fierce too. There are a few very established Marine Corp. JROTC programs from the region, and anyone who is around Marines know that they are absolutely awesome when it comes to drill and ceremony. They really are.

So, this first year Air Force JROTC program was up against a lot, and guess what? They did it! They placed first in the “elite”categories. This is a category that is given to programs that do not have enough cadets to participate in all events. This disqualifies them for all of the “over all best…” awards, but it allows them to compete at a single event level instead.

Here’s what they brought in:

First place: Elite Team Color Guard

First place: Elite Team Flight

First place: Elite Team Element

And the real surprise and huge honor that they earned was the…

Sergeant Major Michael J. Curtain Esprit de Corps Award

The Esprit de Corp award was given to them out of recognition for their display of camaraderie, military spirit, team work and respect. The story of this courageous retired Marine Officer, who was a NYC Police Officer and a first responder on 9/11 is captivating. He lost his life when the Towers fell. Our Country lost a Veteran and a Hero.

A reader was kind enough to post a link (at the end of this segment) to an official story of of this incredible Marine, police officer and fire fighter. Here’s an excerpt from the story:

Curtin was not only one of the first responders to the Sept. 11 terrorist attack. He was also one of the first to respond to the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. In addition, he received a great deal of notoriety for actions when he was deployed as a member of the NYPD Emergency Services Unit to the 1995 Oklahoma City Bombing.

During the rescue and recovery efforts in Oklahoma, Curtin was walking past an area that had been checked previously for casualties. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of some blue material with a red strip on it. He knew exactly what it was, the dress blue trouser leg of a Marine. He had discovered the remains of Capt. Randy Guzman, an officer in charge of the recruiting office at the Oklahoma City Federal Building.

Because the dangerous location, Curtin and a few others had to request special permission to endanger themselves to recover Guzman’s remains. They were granted a four-hour window and were able to recover the body. The part of the whole recovery that caught the Nation’s attention was how Guzman was carried out. A U.S. flag was draped over his body and it was ceremoniously saluted as they took it from the site.

When asked why he risked his own life to recover the remains of another Marine he simply replied, Marines don’t leave their own behind.

LINK to entire article
Hat Tip: “stuffed” for the link.

Tags: Army Mom Posts, Shack Pack news, Troop appreciation, family life, memorial, military, veterans //