Real Life Hero: Boots on the Ground Report #2 — A Tribute to SSG William. E. Vile

I received an email telling me to check out the responses to my Hollywood Heroes column and was overwhelmed and gratified to see so many respond in such a positive fashion. I guess most Soldiers, such as myself, go about our business and don’t expect too much in return. It’s a part of our ethos, as many of you commented, and therefore my aforementioned surprise at the great posts.

Accurate mortar fire lands on Taliban positions thanks to SSG Vile’s Mortar Ballistic Computer Skills

One of the many personal emails I received was from Staff Sergeant William Vile’s former battalion commander. Then-Sergeant Vile is the hero in my first Boots on the Ground Report and I purposely kept his name out of the piece because I remember how embarrassed he was by all of the attention he received from my team and me as we medically evacuated him from the Korengal Outpost to Bagram Airfield Combat Surgical Hospital. (more…)