The Outpost

I'm reading "The Outpost" about an Afghanistan battle because a family very close to me pointed out .  Their son in law, Clint Romesha, was in that battle and is going to receiver the Medal of Honor on the 11th of February in Washington D.C. 

I thought I ought to try to understand the complicated story since it starte.d in 2004 and ended in 2008.
Anyway, the book is written very well so far.  I know because I pretty much can follow what the author has to say.

Clint was raised in a tiny town of about 500 up in the California extreme northeast.  He met and married into a family of six (now 15 more) tough people who have weathered storms of all kinds over the years.  At the time I met him he was a highschool kid wooing a girl from this family.  His father was a farmer in this valley 200 miles above Reno, Nevada. 

There was very little to attract a young family in that valley to stay for their lifetime.  It does have a post office, but only six other "business" buildings which include two restaurants and two grocery stores.  We carried a lunch and finally found the place in the outback of the Nevada high desert at tje California line after these people moved there.  Our friendship went beyond the boundary of extreme isolation.

I never really knew Clint.  But this I can tell you...anybody who can live and thrive in the environment where he was raised has what we used to call "grit."  Inhospitable winters, no resources they didn't supply for themselves. It came in handy when he became a hero of the grandest sort.  I can tell you his acts were against all odds, with our military working in its inefficient fashion, keeping its fighters in the dark about reasons for putting their lives in sure harms way for a questionable war.

I expect Clint feels more badly about the men he could not save than receiving a medal so many years later for making the best possible decisions under an impossible situation.  I've known some heros just like him, who remain unsung.  It's a pleasure to see one of them honored.