Sergeant Ronny Pool, a platoon sergeant with Headquarters and Service Company, Headquarters Battalion, 1st Marine Division, and Staff Sgt. Javier Acosta, a platoon sergeant with Charlie Company, 3rd Assault Amphibian Battalion, were on their usual commute home when they jumped into action and used their combat life saving skills to save an injured motorcyclist’s life on Sept. 27, 2012. Pool, a 29-year-old native of De Soto, Kan., and Acosta, a native of Santa Clarita, Calif., were the first to respond to the scene after the man sustained life threatening injuries after crashing his motorcycle on the back of a pick up truck. Pool used a Marine Corps Martial Arts belt as a tourniquet to stop the bleeding on the man’s severed leg. With the aid of their combat life saving skills, Acosta and Pool were able to stop the man’s bleeding and treat for shock until paramedics arrived on scene. Photo by Sgt. Alfred V. Lopez

DVIDS
Story by Sgt. Alfred V. Lopez

On a late Thursday afternoon, Staff Sgt. Javier Acosta, a platoon sergeant with Charlie Company, 3rd Assault Amphibian Battalion, and Sgt. Ronny Pool, a platoon sergeant with Headquarters and Service Company, Headquarters Battalion, 1st Marine Division, were both on their routine commute to their respective homes on Sept. 27, 2012.

As they slowed to a stop at an intersection of Winchester Road in Temecula, Calif., both Marines noticed a change in the traffic pattern. They scanned their surroundings for the cause and quickly noticed that a motorcycle accident occurred near the intersection.
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DVIDS
Story by Cpl. Timothy Lenzo

Staff Sgt. Maribel Valdez, the adjutant with 1st Marine Division (Forward), sits quietly at her desk. She sits straight with dark eyes, her M-9 pistol holstered tight to her uniform, and pictures of her family on the board behind her, showcasing the two different lives she lives. She’s a mother and a Marine. A balancing act that’s more difficult now that she’s deployed. She’s thousands of miles from her children and trading the sunny Southern California lifestyle for the heat and dust of Afghanistan.

“It’s very hard, I’m not going to say it’s easy,” Valdez said. “I think it’s harder being a mom, it’s hard to know that a big part of your life is not here with you.”
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USMC

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif.(May 6, 2004) — Marine Capt. Brian R. Chontosh received the Navy Cross Medal from the Commandant of the United States Marine Corps, Gen. Michael W. Hagee, during an awards ceremony Thursday at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Training Center, Twentynine Palms, Calif.

Three other Marines received medals for valor at the same ceremony.

Chontosh, 29, from Rochester, N.Y. , received the naval service’s second highest award for extraordinary heroism while serving as Combined Anti-Armor Platoon Commander, Weapons Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom March 25, 2003. The Medal of Honor is the highest military award.

While leading his platoon north on Highway 1 toward Ad Diwaniyah, Chontosh’s platoon moved into a coordinated ambush of mortars, rocket propelled grenades and automatic weapons fire. With coalitions tanks blocking the road ahead, he realized his platoon was caught in a kill zone. He had his driver move the vehicle through a breach along his flank, where he was immediately taken under fire from an entrenched machine gun. Without hesitation, Chontosh ordered the driver to advanced directly at the enemy position enabling his .50 caliber machine gunner to silence the enemy.

He then directed his driver into the enemy trench, where he exited his vehicle and began to clear the trench with an M16A2 service rifle and 9 millimeter pistol. His ammunition depleted, Chontosh, with complete disregard for his safety, twice picked up discarded enemy rifles and continued his ferocious attack. When a Marine following him found an enemy rocket propelled grenade launcher, Chontosh used it to destroy yet another group of enemy soldiers.

When his audacious attack ended, he had cleared over 200 meters of the enemy trench, killing more than 20 enemy soldiers and wounding several others.

“They are the reflection of the Marine Corps type who’s service to the Marine Corps and country is held above their own safety and lives,” said Gen. Hagee, commenting on the four Marines who received medals during the ceremony. “I’m proud to be here awarding the second highest and third highest awards for bravery to these great Marines.”

“These four Marines are a reflection of every Marine and sailor in this great battalion,” said Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps, Sgt. Maj. John L. Estrada.

“I was just doing my job, I did the same thing every other Marine would have done, it was just a passion and love for my Marines, the experience put a lot into perspective,” said Chontosh.

In effect since April 1917, and established by an Act of Congress on Feb. 4, 1919, the Navy Cross may be awarded to any person who, while serving with the Navy or Marine Corps, distinguishes himself/herself in action by extraordinary heroism not justifying an award of the Medal of Honor.

The action must take place under one of three circumstances: while engaged in action against an enemy of the United States; while engaged in military operations involving conflict with an opposing foreign force; or, while serving with friendly foreign forces engaged in an armed conflict in which the United States is not a belligerent party.

To earn a Navy Cross the act to be commended must be performed in the presence of great danger or at great personal risk and must be performed in such a manner as to render the individual highly conspicuous among others of equal grade, rate, experience, or position of responsibility. More than 6,000 Navy Crosses have been awarded since World War I.