...is a good guy, who did a good thing, but because he's one of those good guys who doesn't seem comfortable with anyone actually KNOWING he's one of those good guys who does good things, I (and a lot of people MUCH closer to him) found out about this good thing because of a random conversation during a random hair cut.
Anyway, this is that guy, Paul Cusack...
...and the good thing he did was this (from
MyNorthwest.Com):
An Army Ranger at Joint Base Lewis-McChord gets a medal for heroism Friday that has nothing to do with his service in combat.
Still, what he encountered last April surely looked like a war zone.
Two pressure-cooker bombs rocked the Boston Marathon near the finish line. There were wounded people lying in the street, some had lost body parts.
Sgt. Paul Cusack, with the 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment had just finished the 26.2 mile race. Instead of finding safety, he ran toward the trouble.
"He was right there at the scene, immediately after the blast," said Joseph Piek, JBLM spokesman. "He, himself, ran into the blast area, not knowing whether there were going to be secondary blasts."
Sgt. Cusack found several people lying in the street and on the sidewalk at the second explosion site and, "He immediately started helping some of the victims, he assessed and triaged their injuries and evacuated people from the immediate scene as quickly as he possibly could," said Piek.
For his heroic actions, the Army will award Sgt. Cusack a Soldier's Medal.
I have little more to add other then Paul (who is -- to me -- merely a friend of a friend) is an unabashed progressive who eschews publicity with a passion.
That said, he's clearly worthy of the medal and a little recognition, so I, here, choose to shine the light where he will not.
**
More info on the Soldier's Medal (h/t to Its The Supreme Court Stupid via Wikipedia
The Soldier's Medal is an individual decoration of the United States Army.
It was introduced as Section 11 of the Air Corps Act, passed by the Congress of the United States on July 2, 1926.The criteria for the medal are: "The Soldier's Medal is awarded to any person of the Armed Forces of the United States or of a friendly foreign nation who, while serving in any capacity with the Army of the United States... ...distinguished himself or herself by heroism not involving actual conflict with an enemy."
