🤔 Honest question:
If a Muslim family sitting next to you at a restaurant politely asked you not to eat a particular food out of respect for their religious beliefs, how would you respond?
Some people would accommodate the request as a courtesy.
Others would say that in a public restaurant, everyone should be free to order what they choose.
Would you honor the request?
👍 YES
👎 NO
US Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Daniel Louis Hansen was an EOD Tech assigned to Marine Wing Support Squadron 171. Born in 1984, he was killed in action on 14Feb09, when he stepped on a roadside IED in the Farah province of Afghanistan. He was 24 years old.
Do you agree that Islamist extremists who refuse to assimilate, chant “Death to America,” or burn our flag should be deported immediately ?
A. Yes, absolutely
B. No
Marine Sgt. Merlin German Combat Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2005 in Anbar, Iraq. Sgt. Merlin participating in over 150 missions during their deployment. What set German apart from others in the unit was his ability to identify improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
This attribute was credited to his focus during the missions. No mission was routine to German as he visually took in everything around him. German is credited with finding eight IEDs during the first six months of his deployment.
On 21 February 2005, German's platoon was on a reconnaissance mission along an unfamiliar route from Jordan to Baghdad. En route to the Marine Corps base at Ramadi, German was in his usual place atop the turret of his Humvee with a Mk 19 grenade launcher. As the vehicle rounded a curve, it was struck by a high-explosive anti-tank charge on the left side.
The explosion threw German clear of the Humvee, his body engulfed in flames When his fellow Marines extinguished the flames, German was burned over 97% of his body. German was nicknamed the "Miracle Marine" by his doctors because of his ability to overcome his injuries. German purchased a home in San Antonio, TX, which became the center for his charity, "Merlin's Miracles."
The charity provides financial and therapeutic support for child burn victims. German was medically retired from the Marine Corps in 2007 with the rank of sergeant. Marine Sgt. Merlin German of Manhattan, N.Y., died at age 22, April 11, 2008.
Gunnery Sergeant Edwin Wayne Johnson Jr. (1977–2009), a highly decorated US Marine Corps ammunition technician and senior enlisted advisor, was killed in action on September 8, 2009, during the Battle of Ganjgal in Kunar Province, Afghanistan.
Corporal Daniel Heller was 20 years old, leading his squad through the jungle near the Laotian border, when the North Vietnamese sprung an ambush. Two of his Marines were badly wounded and lying exposed in the k*ll zone. Heller ran into the fire to reach them, an RPG detonated close enough to shred his face and shoulder.
He kept going. He pulled both men to an aid station, told the corpsman he was fine, and went back. Went straight back at the ambush. Alone. He singlehandedly charged four enemy soldiers and killed all of them. That act broke the enemy's momentum and rallied his squad to drive the NVA from the battlefield.
Corporal Heller was recognized with a Navy Achievement Medal with Valor that day. His fellow Marines believed it wasn't enough. Decades passed. His comrades kept pushing. On August 28, 2024 - 55 years after that ambush Commandant Gen. Eric M. Smith pinned the Navy Cross to the collar of a 76-year-old from Cleves, Ohio.
"I never expected anything," he said at the ceremony. "What I did that day, I didn't do it for a Navy Cross. I was just trying to do my job."