In Vietnam, 248 Medals of Honor were awarded, 156 of them posthumously. They had raised it too high, he thought," Gates wrote. Peter Chiarelli, then the Army vice chief of staff, why so few had been recommended, and Chiarelli replied that "because medals had been handed out so freely in Vietnam, succeeding officers were determined to raise the bar. "President (George W.) Bush was, I think, always disappointed that he was unable to present the Medal of Honor to a single living recipient," Gates said. In his opinion, "too few have been awarded in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan." Of the estimated 40 million who have served in the military since the Civil War, only 3,500 have received the Medal of Honor, Gates wrote. Duncan Hunter, R-California, have criticized bureaucratic delays in the awards process for the medal, but Pitts said it was never a concern to him.įormer Defense Secretary Robert Gates spoke to the systemic difficulties in selecting recipients of the Medal of Honor in his book "Duty." Pitts' award came five years after the Battle of Wanat. Kyle texted me and said, 'What's your number? They're going to be calling you soon.' " "And it was when Kyle White was going through his preparations that I received a phone call from the Pentagon. "More or less, it was rumors for a long time that it had been upgraded to a Medal of Honor," Pitts said. Pitts said that he had heard from White, a buddy in the 173rd who received the Medal of Honor in May, that Pitts' Distinguished Service Cross recommendation was being upgraded to the MoH. He had heard he might have been considered for a Distinguished Service Cross, the second highest award for valor, but "I never wanted an award, never wanted anything." In the aftermath, an initial investigation of the battle recommended reprimands for several officers in the chain of command for failures in providing support to the troops at Wanat, but a subsequent investigation overturned the recommendations.Īt the Pentagon meeting, Pitts disclosed that the Medal of Honor came as a surprise. "They came between us and the chopper" that would take them home after more than a year in Afghanistan, Dzwik said. David Dzwik, who was then the platoon sergeant. It was the enemy who made the mistake in attacking the paratroopers of the 173rd, said 1st Sgt. There wasn't much choice in ceding the high ground in mountainous Kunar. "I didn't have any doubts," said Myer, who was then a captain and the company commander at Wanat. The survivors who gathered at the Pentagon last week said they viewed their position at Wanat as just another challenge to overcome in the final mission of their 14-month deployment in Afghanistan. "And the aerial surveillance they were counting on was diverted away to other missions." "Heavy equipment to help build their defenses was delayed," Obama said of the soldiers of 2nd Platoon, Chosen Company, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, of the 173rd. On every side, mountains soared 10,000 feet into the sky."
Parts of the village sat on higher ground. President Obama described how the defensive position in Wanat "had significant vulnerabilities. The president alluded to it at Pitts' ceremony. The lack of support the 173rd received during the battle has raised controversy within the Army. forces time to reinforce the OP and bring in airstrikes which turned the tide of battle," the narrative said. He continued to fight and "his actions allowed U.S. "In that moment, Pitts resigned himself to certain death, but remained determined to do as much damage as possible to the enemy before they overwhelmed the OP," the Army narrative said. Gunnar Zwilling all died beside Pitts at Observation Outpost Topside. Pitts was the sole survivor at his observation post and held the line after he sustained shrapnel wounds to both legs and his left arm. soldiers dead and 27 wounded after more than 200 Taliban members attacked an outpost manned by 48 U.S. Pitts earned his Medal of Honor in the Battle of Wanat in Afghanistan's Kunar province on July 13, 2008. Pitts, White and Giunta each earned their medals for actions taken during bloody battles in the mountainous regions of eastern Afghanistan. Soldiers with the 173rd have faced some of the fiercest fighting in Afghanistan over the past decade. Myer joined Pitts and other former members of the 173rd at the Pentagon on July 22 for the induction of Pitts to the Pentagon's "Hall of Heroes," one day after President Obama presented the Medal of Honor to Pitts at the White House. Valor was more the reaction to the realization that "my buddy is in trouble," he explained. "No one goes out and decides to be valorous," Myer said.