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May 02, 2006
Sgt. Major Brad Kasal - An American Hero
On November 13, 2004, (then) 1st Sgt. Brad Kasal led his 3/1 Marines into a Fallujah firefight. Before it was over, he would receive 47 wounds and lose sixty percent of his blood supply. 40 of those wounds were from shrapnel - he shielded a wounded Marine, LCpl Nicoll from a grenade with his own body - and the other 7 were from enemy bullets. And he walked out of the fight, pistol in hand.
Yesterday, he received the Navy Cross - this nation's second highest award for valor and bravery - in a ceremony held at Camp Pendleton. He was also promoted to Sgt. Major - his career goal.
From Col. B.B. Yarborough, USMC Ret. (father of Yarbz from Juggernuts), who attended the ceremony:
The order of the ceremony today was the award of The Navy Cross, promotion to Sergeant Major, reenlistment, and oath of office.The SgtMaj will head up the recruiting territory headquartered in DesMoines, Iowa, near his hometown.
A point of interest is that his father died last night, following a long illness. The father was saluted today by Maj Gen Lehnert in his comments following the award. I sat behing Kasal's brother.
In Kasal's comments, following those of the General, Kasal said he had been advised by surgeons to amputate his right let below the knee, but he was guided only by one thought, to get back to duty and complete his career. He said he would go to Iraq again, that he would go 1000 times if needed. Also said that he ran 1 1/2 miles last Saturday morning, that it wasn't pretty, but he did it. He still walks with a slight limp.
In an interview last year, Kasal stated:
"I don't believe in war. I believe in a just cause - and I believe what we are doing over there is a just cause"
And in yesterday's ceremony, he reaffirmed that belief as he reenlisted to serve his country and his Corps.
1st Sgt. Kasal's heroism under fire was chronicled by one of the other Marines in the house, Cpl Robert Mitchell:
During their movement, Mitchell's first sergeant and another one of his Marines had been hit. Unable to make it the room with Mitchell, they remained on the ground in a room slightly behind the stairs. Mitchell ran from the room he went in to the first sergeant and the other injured Marine. The first sergeant had been shot in the right leg and still conscious. He told Mitchell that he had taken a few shots in his calf. The blood around the area was evidence enough. Mitchell's other Marine had been shot in the leg as well, but the first sergeant thought the Marine might have been shot in the gut as well."I was getting ready to help the first sergeant out, but he told me to take care of the other Marine first," said Mitchell. "I went over to the Marine and started stripping his gear off. I was looking around for a wound. I thought for sure that I was going to see just his guts spilling out all over the place but that wasn't the case. He hadn't been shot in the gut. He did receive a shot to the left center of his back though. I thought that maybe he had taken a lung shot. He wasn't bleeding to bad."
The Marine he was tending to happened to be one of Mitchell's best friends. Seeing his injured friend hit Mitchell pretty hard. Despite his feelings, Mitchell knew he had to do something. "I had (medical) gear and went through the squad medic's course. I was pretty much prepared for whatever," said Mitchell. "I ended up just slapping a dressing on his back and throwing a tourniquet around his leg to stop the bleeding. After that, there wasn't much I could do for the first sergeant because I was out of dressings and tourniquets."
Although Mitchell didn't have enough tourniquets to use on the first sergeant, he noticed that the wounds were not bleeding too excessively, and he knew the first sergeant was a tough Marine. "I mean, it was 1st Sgt. Kasal, the guy that was the epitome of Marines," said Mitchell.
And Bing West wrote of his exploits in the book No True Glory
Kasal pulled Niccol to his left into the room. He propped Niccol's shattered left leg on his stomach, trying to tie a pressure bandage as a tourniquet. His hands were sticky with blood and he kept fumbling, worrying that Niccol was going to bleed to death due to his clumsiness. He heard a thump to his right and turned his head to see a pineapple grenade laying just out reach. He rolled left on top of Niccol and bear-hugged him as the explosion went off. He felt sharp pressure in his legs and buttocks and knew he had been hit again. When his head stopped ringing, he shoved his rifle out the door so the Marines would know which room they were in. He didn't want to be hit by friendly fire and he knew they would be coming for them.
The key quote in that paragraph is "he knew they would be coming for him". Just as he'd gone after his wounded Marines. Sgt. Major Kasal is truly the epitome of a Marine and his story needs to be told, over and over again.
Posted by Deb at May 2, 2006 09:50 AM
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Comments
What an awesome Marine. My son is a Corporal (in Iraq) and I can't wait to forward this to him...our "boys" need more role models like Sgt. Major Kasal. This COUNTRY needs heros like him!
I'm digusted by what the media celebrates as "heros"...pimps, thugs, actors, idiots.
Thank you for posting this. It's wonderful.
Posted by: Catherine at May 2, 2006 01:56 PM
Thanks for posting this story. It is a true feel good story. So much of these good stories are ignored by the press because they don't fit in with their agenda.
Semper Fi
Yarbz (AKA: Cris)
Sgt, USMC, 1979-1983 (Yikes that's a long time ago!)
Posted by: Yarbz at May 3, 2006 04:26 AM
OORAH!!!!
Posted by: GunnNutt at May 3, 2006 12:52 PM
I saw this post while at work and didn't have time to fully absorb it and comment, thus the previous brief one.
Thank you soooooo much for posting this story! News of Kasal has been very hard to find and I have thought about him often.
Sgt. Major Brad Kasal is a SUPER HERO!!!!
Semper Gratus!
Posted by: GunnNutt at May 3, 2006 03:54 PM
I was reading the VFW magazine and I saw the articles on Brad Kasal in Iraq.He is a strong person and a great role model to the Marines.Good Job Sir...
Posted by: Dee at March 13, 2007 08:33 AM