Guardian Stone 1: Stone Genesis

The White House does not have many opportunities to present a Medal of Honor to a living recipient, so the event is something that is of great public interest. The action that prompts consideration for this recognition is by its nature life threatening and generally is awarded posthumously since the recipient did not survive that action. The person that survives that action is rare and recognition of the action is unfortunately rare. Therefore, a genuine real live hero whose exploits were sufficient to capture the public imagination was exactly the kind of event that the news media loves. A hero who just goes out and gets the job done and then tries to downplay his role in the event is exactly the kind of person that the public wants to hear about. Americans eat it up and want more. There were two heroes on display this particular day, Master Gunnery Sergeant Henry P. Stone (now a Captain) was being awarded the Medal of Honor and
Corporal Anthony Paloni (now a Staff Sergeant) was being awarded the Silver Star. Both men had continued on in service. The awarding of the Medal is not an overnight occurrence. The review takes time and delays of consideration for the Medal are not uncommon. When the Medal is finally awarded, the event is somewhat anticlimactic. To the public however the event is new and fresh. The action driving this award was several years in the past. The Medal of Honor citation read:

The President of the United States in the name of The Congress,

takes pleasure in presenting the

MEDAL OF HONOR

MASTER GUNNERY SERGEANT HENRY P. STONE

UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS

For service as set forth in the following:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the repeated risk of his life, above and beyond the call of duty, as a member of Marine Expeditionary Unit 17, in
Kajaki, Helmand Province, Afghanistan
, on 8 September
2008
. While First Sergeant of weapons platoon, assault section, conducting a routine patrol, he detected a large number of insurgents preparing to ambush his unit and diverted most of them in time to avoid their placement in an untenable position.

As his unit began to receive intense fire from about 80 insurgents who were dug-in and concealed on the slopes above the road on which they were traveling, Master Gunnery Sergeant Stone sent his Marines to sound cover positions and realized that two of his unit's vehicles had not been able to stop before entering the ambush zone. Both vehicles were disabled by enemy fire and were under heavy attack. He instructed his men to provide covering fire and mounted a gun-truck, driven by Corporal Anthony Paloni. Thee then raced to attack the ambushers. Using the .50 caliber sniper rifle in the truck, Master Gunnery Sergeant Stone proceeded to decimate the insurgents with exceptionally accurate fire. He also proceeded to rescue three Marines from the first vehicle including his Lieutenant, who were unable to escape the ambush area, each of whom were wounded and unable to assist in defense. He removed them from the battle area in his vehicle and arranged for their evacuation. He then returned for the occupants of the second vehicle who though wounded were able to return fire.

Upon removing the remaining three Marines to safety, he assumed command of the unit and instructed a fire team to close off the insurgent's withdrawal route. He then returned to the ambush zone with his driver three more times. On each foray he was able to avoid serious damage to his vehicle while eliminating more of the enemy. He returned a sixth time with a volunteer who, using a loud speaker, shouted to the insurgents in their own language to surrender or they would die by the Sergeants weapon. By this point the Sergeant had already removed 20 of the insurgents from further threat. After Master Gunnery Sergeant Stone used a few more rounds to emphasize his intent, and his unit had brought the withdrawal route of the insurgents under fire, the remaining insurgents surrendered en masse. Master Gunnery Sergeant Stone single-handedly turned the tide of the battle, saved his 28 Marines and evacuated his wounded brothers. There were no Marines killed in the action and six were wounded but all were able to return to duty following recovery from their wounds.

His vehicle was constantly on the move along the ambush front and with each pass, more of the insurgents fell. During the fight he killed at least twenty-two insurgents, personally evacuated 6 wounded Marines, and captured 50 insurgents. His timely warning allowed 28 Marines to escape likely death at the hands of a numerically superior force and determined foe. His lone vehicle forays drew machine gun, rocket grenade and small arms fire while he rescued the wounded Marines. His multiple attacks disrupted the enemy's ambush and his extreme accuracy of fire disconcerted and demoralized the attackers. He focused initially on insurgents with heavy weapons and had to switch to another gun-truck because the first was too damaged to maintain an appropriate attack speed. Master Gunnery Sergeant Stone and his driver remained unscathed.

By his extraordinary heroism, presence of mind amidst chaos and death, and unselfish devotion to his comrades in the face of great danger, Gunnery Sergeant Stone reflected great credit upon him self and upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the United States Naval Service.

Chapter 1: Musings

Juneau, Alaska – June 15 –

C Day minus 77

Henry Patrick Stone, Hank to his friends, did not look the part of a retired Marine. His youthful appearance belied his 22 years of active duty in the US Marine Corps including seven combat tours. Since receiving his Medal of Honor (MOH) years earlier, he had been pretty much assigned to a desk and in his heart he still wanted to be in the field. He suspected that the MOH was likely to prevent any assignments where his particular skills would be put to the test. While he did not look forward to combat situations, he knew he was a competent warrior and was skilled at keeping his fellow Marines alive and well. Following the Kajaki incident, he had been brevetted to Second Lieutenant then quickly promoted to First Lieutenant and then promoted to Captain. Just before he retired, he was promoted to Major. His Commanding Officer, Colonel Joshua Adams wanted to make it permanent.

Hank wanted some time to think that over before committing to an extended career and he was told the offer would hold for another 12 months. He was not interested in sitting behind a desk, nor assuming a role that played on his MOH, so the decision was not too difficult. He did however miss the camaraderie of the Corps and his friends there but he felt it was time to move on.

Happily, he was not in any financial difficulty since he had his retirement pay from the Corps and a long term consulting contract with Reever Enterprises who had manufactured the .50 caliber rifle with which he had fought so successfully at Kajaki. It turned out that his Lieutenant at Kajaki, who had been wounded in that action, was the son of the owner and CEO of Reever Enterprises, George Reever. The younger Reever, Paul, had fully recovered from his wounds and was still serving in the Marines. Hank was ready to turn down the consulting offer because he thought it was a gratitude gift for saving Paul's life and based on his MOH. George Reever convinced Hank that the consultation offer was genuine and relied on his military skills and his expertise with firearms. He decided to accept the offer and see what came of it. Since it only required his presence at the Reever campus about 5 days per month, he had plenty of time to explore other interests. There were also opportunities to increase his take home pay with additional work at Reever if he wished to avail himself of those opportunities.

To make matters even better, he did not have to be concerned about a roof over his head. His grandfather had structured a trust that left him a moderate 10,000 square foot lodge in Alaska on 160 acres of land near the Glacier Highway out of Juneau. The trust provided for maintenance of the grounds and for repair costs as needed. It also paid for a full time caretaker, Uncle Pete Simon, to help in maintaining the lodge and provide security for the site. He wasn't sure that Uncle Pete was a blood relative or not, but that did not matter. They got along like kin. The trust could only be transferred on his death to his heirs. He sorely missed his parents and both sets of grandparents who had died in a horrific accident about the time of his battle in Kajaki when their plane exploded over the ocean en route to a seminar in Switzerland. His father was piloting the executive jet and was a very experienced pilot. He had been due to stop in Rome to drop off his old friend, a priest, Father Tom Whistler before continuing on to Bern. He did manage a mayday indicating they had some kind of fuel leak before others lost contact with him when the plane exploded. Some debris was found by a Navy ship in the area who witnessed the explosion. They never made it. No bodies were recovered. It was a huge blow to lose both his grandparents and parents in that manner.

The lodge was very comfortable and cozy and much larger than he needed for himself and Pete, but if he ever decided to operate it as a lodge, he would have little difficulty finding customers. Several tour companies had already made him attractive offers but he had indicated that he was not currently interested. The lodge had direct access to the main highway and to the water. As a bonus, it had a view of the Chilkat Mountains that was spectacular. Since he had been fairly frugal during his years in service, he had no debt and few wants. In addition, the estate of his parents and grandparents went to him as the only heir. He joked that the 28-foot cabin cruiser left to him by his father was enough to keep him in food since the waters around the lodge were rich with Salmon, Halibut and crab.

His first order of business would be to do a thorough inventory of the property and its condition with Uncle Pete, and to determine what needed to be done to assure that the property remained sound. He intended to assist Uncle Pete with maintenance to the extent reasonable. Pete was quite a bit older than Hank but anyone guessing his age would likely miss the mark by a considerable margin.

As with most veterans, there were events Hank had witnessed that he would just as soon forget. He knew that he was not suffering PTSD but there were things about the incident that led to his MOH, he just did not talk about. He realized that he could not be entirely candid about what he knew of the incident so he stuck with a description that essentially matched what his men saw that day. He could not talk about the fact that he had experienced what he could only think of as a telepathic event in which a young woman warned him of the impending ambush and essentially shouted in his mind to stop the vehicle and why. That he believed what he heard in his mind and acted on it was also a complication that would defy explanation. Further, during the combat, she was identifying and prioritizing his targets.

And on it went. After the fifth run, she told him to offer them surrender because they were ready. Each time, he followed her suggestions without question. She told him not to speak of her assistance because his superiors would think he was crazy. To that he readily agreed since he believed the same and he would be labeled as a loony if he related her role in his actions. After the surrender, she disappeared from his mind, but not before he said thanks and had a clear mental picture of her as she said,

. He thought of her as his guardian angel and a vision she was with short blond hair in ringlets and quietly attractive features. She appeared to be in her 20's. He even heard her name as Sam and remembered thinking that was an unusual name for a guardian angel.

He felt that she was real but he had absolutely no way prove it, to search for her or for that matter to find her. He was more than a little smitten with his "angel" and was frustrated that he could do nothing about it. He thought that if that meant he was crazy, he would have to live with it. Hank was not likely to forget her.

His men were astounded at his actions that day and their awe was difficult to hide. Their debriefing interviews along with description of events from his Lieutenant and others in the unit resulted in the award of the MOH.

Hank had always been able to "read" people. He could tell when someone was lying or was untrustworthy. He relied heavily on that talent. This instinct or talent had enabled him to confine his relationships to persons who were trustworthy. George Reever was in that category of acquaintances. He was like a surrogate father to Hank. Hank trusted the man implicitly and was impressed with Reever's sense of fair play, fair dealings and his treatment of his employees. Hank liked the fact that Reever insisted on top quality products and services knowing that lives were on the line when his products were in use. He was due for his first visit to the Reever campus in eight weeks so he had some time to unwind and enjoy the countryside.

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