Pesky commandos - now the Taleban won't want any more of my quality grenades. And since he jumped on it, he won't have even been able to see the word "Bang!" unfurl. That just ruins the whole effect.
Awww cmon, he didnt know it was going to leave him with only a bloody nose did he? Wether the grenade would have killed him or not, it shows that he was willing to give his life to save others.
If you have ever worked with commando's or Marines it's usually the latter Won't find a closer knit or better bunch of people though and if I was in their situations they would be the ones to have next to me, thats for sure =)
I'm guessing he's not getting the Victoria Cross just for jumping on a nade, but who knows. I mean much respect to him, but compared to what others did to get the VC, that was easy.
The times have changed, people went soft, I wouldn't be surprised if an American would get a medal for valor for bravely marching 8 meters to his fridge to get a beer, and returning safely to his chair in front of TV while dying of exhaustion...
It's much more heroic than what they do on their "bring democracy to countries rich with oir resources" missions
Don't confuse politics with the state of the army. If there is one thing you can't say to the USA is that they have a "soft" army. Even with all the information warfare and air support they still need tough grunts on the ground and they certantly have them especially in special forces. What kind of an army do you think you get if you pump >200 billion dollars per year into it??
And the difference between american special forces and alot of other countries special forces is that the american ones aren't psychos, well, the majority aren't. (russian spetnaz anyone? their tactic: shoot first, shoot later, shoot some more then grab a beer)
I can't believe they're even discussing whether the guy deserves the medal or not. It takes some massive melon-sized balls of depleted uranium to jump on a grenade without thinking about the consequences. Seriously, how many people do you know whose first reaction would be to run towards the thing?
When it's not your time, it's really not your time.