As Luck Would Have It, Heroes and more

So I've been thinking these last couple of days, as the Republicans turn against Trump and his favorability and poll ratings tank, just how much luck matters in our lives. Luck can't be measured, can't be explained... some have it, some don't. But imagine how much better of a life one could have with lots of luck in it!

And it got me thinking about Donald Trump. What a life this man could have had with some better luck! What a glorious life, where he could have been adored by all, honored and respected by every man, woman and child, in perpetuity. Books could have been written about him, but in a good way. And it all got wiped away by a medical condition. One little case of bone spurs and everything he could have been got taken away, all his glory, all his honor, just like that. Instead, he got stuck in New York, chasing blondes and avoiding STDs in what he calls "his personal Vietnam", while men who didn't have bone spurs realized their destinies and defended his way of life.

Luck of the draw... some people get respect, some people get bone spurs. He could have even gotten a Medal of Honor had he not been struck with that horrible affliction, even though, I know, it's not such a prestigious reward and only soldiers get it, but there are those that have high respect for it. He could have been respected like that too!

In any case, what's done is done. He'll just have to make the best of the life he was given, bone spurs and all. But let's look at the last three recipients of the Medal of Honor, given for great valor and sacrifice:

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Sgt. 1st Class Christopher A. Celiz

During the initial attack, a partner force member was critically wounded, but unable to get themselves back behind cover. Chris began engaging the enemy, allowing his team time to retrieve the wounded partner member and bring them back behind cover. After waiting almost half an hour before the enemy fire subsided, the Rangers were confident enough to call in a helicopter to evacuate the injured casualty out of the area. But the helicopter was going to land in the open, which put it at risk of enemy fire.

As soon as the helicopter landed, the enemy opened up “with all they had,” White said. It looked “like the ground was boiling from the amount of rounds hitting the dust.” And as the soldiers worked to evacuate the partner force member, Chris charged ahead and used himself as a human shield, putting himself between the guys carrying the wounded soldier to the helicopter, and the enemy. He returned fire on the insurgents, standing between them and the helicopter, to “act as a physical shield to the aircraft and its crew,” the citation says.

Chris positioned himself between the enemy and the cockpit to protect the pilot before taking off, but he was shot. White, who was still on the ground, recalled seeing Chris moving away from the helicopter as it took off and towards the cover of their vehicles. He saw him get shot but thought it was in his leg — “I had a quick thought like, ‘Okay, he’s been shot in the leg, he’ll live.’” But then he saw Chris collapse.

“He looks up at the helicopter as he’s collapsing onto his hands and knees, and I see him take his hand as he’s looking up, and wave them off: ‘Don’t come back for me,’” White said. “We talked to the helicopter crew afterwards. He made eye contact with one of the crew members who saw him going down, he was like ‘No, get out of here.’ And then he collapsed.”

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Sgt. 1st Class Alwyn Cashe

After the lead vehicle in the patrol — Cashe’s Bradley — struck the IED and burst into flames, he was originally only slightly injured, but he was quickly soaked in fuel. Nonetheless, Cashe went back to the vehicle again, and again, and again, pulling his soldiers out one by one. Even as flames spread across his fuel-soaked uniform, Cashe never stopped. Not even when burns covered more than 70% of his body. Not even as the platoon took small-arms fire. He simply refused to quit until all of his soldiers were accounted for.

By the time a medical evacuation helicopter had arrived to get the soldiers to medical care, Cashe was the most severely injured. Still, Hathaway said Cashe refused to get on the helo until his soldiers had been loaded on.

“My first sergeant was trying to get Cashe in the CASEVAC, and put onto the stretcher — because he’s burned over 72 percent of his body at this point in time — he refused,” Hathaway said. “I watched him, it took my first sergeant, with some special words, we’ll say, to encourage him to get on now. He was refusing to get into the vehicle until all his boys were on and everybody was accounted for and everybody was set.”

Once Cashe was finally convinced to board the aircraft, he refused to be loaded onto a stretcher. He wanted to walk off the battlefield.

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Master Sgt. Earl Plumlee

“Plumlee left cover and continued to advance alone,” his citation says. “Moving forward, he engaged several combatants at close range. Under intense enemy fire, Plumlee temporarily withdrew to cover, where he joined another soldier.”

Plumlee said Wednesday that during the fight and by being “blown up several times” from the suicide vests, he herniated three discs in his lower back, and one in his neck. It’s “not a traumatic injury,” he said, just “a nagging one.” But at the time, Plumlee ignored the injuries and kept moving forward.

He joined a group of U.S. and coalition forces and launched a counterattack on the insurgents. Bell said they believe now that had the insurgents had planned to detonate their suicide vests inside of the bunkers that people on the base took cover in when they came under indirect fire. Dozens of people filed into those bunkers, Bell said, and had the enemy gotten to them, it would have been devastating.

“It would have been … coalition forces, U.S. forces, contractors, I mean any number of untold people that they would have subsequently killed,” Bell said. “We would have had a catastrophic event … The enemy had bad intel, they attacked at the wrong time, in the wrong place, with the wrong people there.”

When Bell saw Plumlee right after the fire fight, he was “covered in blood” and told Bell what happened. While Plumlee was injured from the blasts of the suicide vests that detonated during the fight, he was never shot by the enemy, which he still can’t explain today. He thought he would surely die, but the way he saw it, “I drove all the way down there — might as well do something.”

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Link

But you know, being able to give someone who gave you hundreds of millions of dollars in political donations a Presidential Medal of Freedom... well, that's just as good. Money always helps, everyone knows that. And it takes a lot of courage to give someone losing an election millions of dollars. Miriam Adelson is also a brave, brave soul, and she deserves that reward. Which, of course, is better than the Medal of Honor.

Your opening line ...

originally posted by: Mahogani
So I've been thinking these last couple of days, as the Republicans turn against Trump and his favorability and poll ratings tank,.

Nope. They are pretty much holding steady.

Kinda kills the premise of your thread.

originally posted by: FlyersFan
Your opening line ...

originally posted by: Mahogani
So I've been thinking these last couple of days, as the Republicans turn against Trump and his favorability and poll ratings tank,.

Nope. They are pretty much holding steady.

Kinda kills the premise of your thread.

How would you even know?

It takes more than 3 minutes to read it, and much more for the link.

Thanks for reading it, if you eventually do.


ETA: I have to run, but I'll give you a clue. The opening and the ending are like a parentheses around the rest of the OP. It ties in.

a reply to: Mahogani

So if he had been lucky he would have been blown up in a pointless war on the other side of the planet.

Got it.

originally posted by: 5thHead
a reply to: Mahogani

So if he had been lucky he would have been blown up in a pointless war on the other side of the planet.

Got it.

If he'd been luckier, he'd have the glory and respect he so much craves, but cannot get. His bone spurs cost him all that he really wants... he wants to be adored. And it's all gone, leaving him with a void he always tries to fill.

It's like a Greek tragedy or something.

a reply to: Mahogani

Check this out! STANDING OVATION!!! LMAO!!



HA! HA! HA! HAAAAAAA!!!!

a reply to: Mahogani

So I've been thinking these last couple of days

I have seen no evidence of that from you in weeks on ATS, so I just stopped there.

It just saves me time.

But you do you!

a reply to: Mahogani

And it got me thinking about Donald Trump.

Please tell me Mahogani what doesn't get you thinking about Donald Trump ?

But in reading your post I'm not sure I understand what your point is ???

Seems you forgot all of the Hero's left behind in Afghanistan ...... Is Joe Biden praying for them ?

originally posted by: Mahogani
How would you even know?

How would I know that his poll numbers are holding steady with republicans?

Cuz' I look at the polls numbers. DUH.

You falsely claimed that Trumps poll numbers and favorability with Republicans are tanking.

The truth is .. they are holding steady.

He has lost some support with independents.

But that's not Republicans like you falsely claimed and the numbers are not 'tanking' with them either.

The race is pretty much tied.

I read the whole post and I conclude….


You don’t know!

a reply to: Mahogani

This thread is weird.

I mean we have a VP pick that blew his military cred and thus his infallibility. Could have been a hero you are seeming to extol.

But no.

….you chose Trump, an American billionaire to explain what luck and a decent life could’ve looked like.

Like dude won the lottery by being born.

Is it just me or is thread completely tone-deaf?

Walz had no plans of going to Iraq. I had liberal friends run to Canada because they were cowards. Walz ran for the door too.

I remember people signed up for National Guard because they figured they would stay here, and out of the fight. They want to milk it for everything they can get, then run for the hills when danger comes knocking. That is no leader. Weve seen his belly.

Walz never took a bullet for this nation. He is not that caliber of a man, or should I say boy? How about old boy?

Now.... there was somebody who took a bullet for the entire nation, as the entire world looked on. Even small children in Africa reenacting the shooting of their newfound hero, Donald Trump. Yes, he is their hero. And he adores them in return.

You missed!

a reply to: Mahogani

It was such a small request, such a simple thing. The landlord came to the doctor and offered who knows what compensation for something so innocent, almost innocent. A little lie a small fabrication. After all, who was checking, who would know, who would care.

And the good that could come of it. One more young man spared the danger of fighting for his country. Sure, the son of a rich man for sure but that was not the young mans fault was it? It was good to help a friend, a landlord, a very very rich man.

And here is one more man, a hero, worthy of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, worthy for a small lie, a fabrication that spared a rich boys life.

Since your thread is about heroes, let me ask a question. What do you think of your hero Kamala Harris putting Tulsi Gabbard on the Quiet Skies terror watchlist, and having Tulsi and her husband harassed by air marshalls? Tulsi served as a Combat Medic while she deployed in Iraq for 2 years, and then served another 2 years as an MP Platoon Leader in Kuwait.

Jeez, it's been shown on ATS repeatedly that Trump is polling at the same time better than he did in 2016 and 2020. This information is easily found

The chaplain of Tim Walz’s field artillery regiment said there is no excuse for the Democratic VP pick to have abandoned his National Guard unit before a critical deployment

Walz intentionally dropped out after a WARNORD [warning order] was issued. That is cowardly, especially for a senior enlisted guy.

Referred to as a coward by his own chaplain? WOW!!!!!!!!

originally posted by: putnam6
Jeez, it's been shown on ATS repeatedly that Trump is polling at the same time better than he did in 2016 and 2020. This information is easily found

Go to this video and just read the comment section. m.youtube.com...
I know bots are a thing, but the utterly delusional responses are beyond astonishing. They can't ALL be bots, rt? 😯

a reply to: FlyersFan

I believe polls about as much as I believe in the Tooth Fairy.

May I suggest that all or most of the polls are being manipulated to facilitate the claim of legitimacy of another stolen election? Like in 2020, the most secure election in history, my a$$.

No mention of our current POTUS getting FIVE student deferments to avoid military service? That's funny.

Former members of the obama team are coming out and saying what a disaster kamal's policies would be. Now that she's given a few specifics on what her administration would do moderate liberals are leaving her in droves and propelling Trump to several points above her in swing state according to the latest polling.

What a sad day it is when people so full of hate for another human being turn into sheerleaders for socialims and the end of the American way of life.

Kamala is starting to draw crowds almost as large as the ones Trump draws; only problem is her crowds are protesters against her and her proposed policies.

It's beginning to look like the majority of people are patriots who love this country and the rest are anti-American Kamal supporters.

This is pretty silly lol of course republicans don't like him trump is neither Republican or democrat. He just wants to help real americans. Ironically to your post he is an actual hero. He took a bullet and is still going.