Sgt Haines of Hope Ak, deployed to Iraq with the Army National Guard's Company A, 1-153rd Infantry of the 39th Brigade Combat Team. And on May 20th he was awarded the Soldier's Medal; the nation's highest awards for non-combat related bravery.
He earned the honor for his actions in the aftermath of a car bomb explosion at a military checkpoint in Baghdad, Iraq, May 6, 2004, while he was deployed with the 39th.
After getting word of the detonation, Haines (then a staff sergeant) led his squad to the scene and quickly secured the site. Disregarding his own safety, Haines dove into a burning vehicle to extract an Iraqi citizen who was seriously injured and on fire. Haines pulled the person away from the raging fire and carried him 50 yards to safety before immediately administering medical aid. He transferred the citizen to more qualified medical personnel, ultimately saving the man's life, and then went right back to work, directing his troops and extending the area perimeter.
As is often the case with real heros, he credits others
"I'm very honored and proud to have this award," Haines said as his wife Linda, daughter Emily and son Austin stood by his side at a reception following the ceremony. "But, it wasn't just me, you know, my whole squad was there and they were doing just as important work. So, for them and the entire Guard, this is an honor."
You're going to hear a lot of bad stuff about our men and women in combat in the next few days and weeks because a few appear to have acted less than honorably in combat. But the fact of the matter is, the vast majority of our soldiers do selfless and heroic things every single day and their stories rarely get into the headlines because, well you know, to many only the bad and the ugly get reported.
And what's worse, it doesn't matter how many atrocities the enemy perpetrate, it always our fault.
But here's the truth of the matter, in our military, atrocity is a crime.
In theirs, it's doctrine.
