As the Military Editor of The Conservative Voice I have the sad privilege of receiving and reviewing all of the casualty press releases that the Department of Defense publishes on our service members who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan. Twenty-five years ago I served as the Battalion S-2 for 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry, and so when a casualty report comes in on that battalion I read it and reflect back.
Today I learned that Captain Joel E. Cahill of the 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry was killed in action in Iraq on November 6, 2005, and so I called up the Department of Defense and asked if he was a company commander, and if so, over which company. I was told he was the B Company Commander and had assumed command in August of this year.
I found out that this Officer had been awarded the Soldiers Medal earlier in his career, the highest medal for valor given in peacetime, for grabbing a live hand-grenade that had come loose from a soldier and throwing it before it could kill that soldier and perhaps others. I heard this and I was not surprised. Then I heard that this airborne ranger had previously been an NCO, had served four combat tours of duty receiving the Bronze Star and Purple Heart, and again I was not surprised.
I never met Captain Cahill but I know all that I need to know about him simply by finding out that he was the B Company Commander. You see 60 years ago Audie Murphy was the B Company Commander of 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry when he became the most decorated war hero in World War ll, and from that day to this the Army reserves the command of Company B to only the best officers in the Army. To be a B Company Commander Captain Cahill had to be brave, decisive, tenacious and honorable. If he was like the B Company Commanders I have known, he must have had All American qualities, for that is the type of Officer the Army wants to see in command of its most distinguished company.
Each year the 3rd Infantry Division celebrates Audie Murphy day and the B Company Commander takes center stage, for he stands as the sterling example of the best the Army produces, he stands in Audie Murphy's boots. May Audie Murphy and Joel Cahill never be forgotten.
Author’s bio: Gutheinz is a former military intelligence officer and aviator and a retired NASA Office of Inspector General senior special agent. He is a criminal defense attorney licensed by 10 courts to include the United States Supreme Court; and a college instructor for both the University of Phoenix and Alvin Community College. He holds 6 degrees and 8 teaching credentials. He is the recipient of the NASA Exceptional Service Medal and the President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency Career Achievement Award. He is the past top graduate (Honor Graduate) from the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center's Criminal Investigators Basic Course. His prior writings include: In Search of the Goodwill Moon Rocks, Geotimes Magazine; There Will be a Day After Tomorrow, SpaceDaily.com and Hizb-ut-Tahrir is a Scary Group that Needed to be Outlawed, The Conservative Voice.
