Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
NBC
December 16, 2008
NBC Nightly News, 7:00 PM
BRIAN WILLIAMS: We have an update tonight on the story that truly got our attention a few months back here. We watched as Richard Engel reported from Afghanistan embedded alongside the men of the U.S. Army’s Viper Company. Two months ago tonight, in fact, in the Afghan mountains, they lost one of their own in an accident of battle – friendly fire.
And tonight our chief foreign correspondent, Richard Engel, reports on what he saw then and those recovering from it back home now.
RICHARD ENGEL: In October, in one of the most dangerous places in Afghanistan, we witnessed a tragedy. Two units from Viper Company were attacked by Taliban and al Qaeda fighters in the rugged Korengal Valley. To fight off the gunmen, the commander called in mortars and bombs. But there was a mistake. A mortar landed on a house where a group of American soldiers was lying in wait.
CPT. JIMMY HOWELL [Viper Company]: Six wounded and one KIA, over.
ENGEL: Sgt. John Penich, 25, was inside, killed by shrapnel. Jimmy Howell was his captain.
HOWELL: It’s terrible. It’s – you know, they are kind of like your children, but they – this is a job you do every day and I think that’s – you know, that’s what we focus on.
ENGEL: We’d been with Penich the day before on a tiny mountaintop outpost. No power, no water, little food, but constant enemy fire.
SOLDIER: Watch out!
ENGEL: Mostly his soldiers remembered his smile and easygoing nature. Back in Illinois, Penich’s mother Kathy got the call.
KATHY GARROSS [John Penich’s Mother]: All I remember is saying “no” over and over and started shaking and that’s what I remember. I don’t remember much more about that.
ENGEL: Last week, we visited the Penich family in Beach Park, Illinois. Kathy looked at old photographs. They tell the story of a rambunctious boy, youngest of four, loved the outdoors and motorcycles. His brother Jeff was his best friend. With her husband Mike, Kathy showed me a new case for all her son’s medals.
GARROSS: And this is his Silver Star. It’s so beautiful, but they tell me that they’re very rare.
ENGEL: They are very rare. They are very rare.
Sgt. Penich was awarded a Silver Star for Valor for fighting off a Taliban ambush and rescuing fellow soldiers. Kathy’s last conversation with her son still haunts her.
GARROSS: I told him I didn’t think he was going to come home. I just felt it. I guess mother’s instincts, I don’t know.
ENGEL: Then she learned her boy was killed by friendly fire.
GARROSS: I wasn’t angry. I figure when you’re in a situation like that, things happen. I can’t imagine the poor guy that called it in.
ENGEL: With his family a few miles away, brother Jeff also doesn’t blame the unit.
JEFF PENICH [John Penich’s Brother]: It’s an unfortunate thing that happens and, you know, it’s just part of war. Now, me being mad at anybody is not going to change anything.
ENGEL: Jeff fixes motorcycles, Harleys, he looks tough, but ask him about John.
PENICH: I think about him all the time.
ENGEL: Now, he keeps his brother’s bandana on his handlebars and wears his dog tags. His mother Kathy wears a necklace too.
GARROSS: And I have half a heart and the other half is with John in his casket. So I’ll wear that forever.
ENGEL: She said everything now reminds her of John.
GARROSS: I just noticed it’s snowing and that’s perfect timing. He loves the snow.
ENGEL: The snow kept falling at the cemetery where Sgt. Penich now rests. By coincidence, his marker had just come in when we arrived.
MAN: This will be the marker that we’ll install out there for John.
ENGEL: It will go in this spring when the ground falls under the big oak trees here. For now, Sgt. Penich’s grave is marked by a metal cross. His mother hung a candy cane on it for Christmas.
Richard Engel, NBC News, Beach Park, Illinois.
WILLIAMS: Just one of this nation’s Gold Star families.
December 16, 2008
NBC Nightly News, 7:00 PM
BRIAN WILLIAMS: We have an update tonight on the story that truly got our attention a few months back here. We watched as Richard Engel reported from Afghanistan embedded alongside the men of the U.S. Army’s Viper Company. Two months ago tonight, in fact, in the Afghan mountains, they lost one of their own in an accident of battle – friendly fire.
And tonight our chief foreign correspondent, Richard Engel, reports on what he saw then and those recovering from it back home now.
RICHARD ENGEL: In October, in one of the most dangerous places in Afghanistan, we witnessed a tragedy. Two units from Viper Company were attacked by Taliban and al Qaeda fighters in the rugged Korengal Valley. To fight off the gunmen, the commander called in mortars and bombs. But there was a mistake. A mortar landed on a house where a group of American soldiers was lying in wait.
CPT. JIMMY HOWELL [Viper Company]: Six wounded and one KIA, over.
ENGEL: Sgt. John Penich, 25, was inside, killed by shrapnel. Jimmy Howell was his captain.
HOWELL: It’s terrible. It’s – you know, they are kind of like your children, but they – this is a job you do every day and I think that’s – you know, that’s what we focus on.
ENGEL: We’d been with Penich the day before on a tiny mountaintop outpost. No power, no water, little food, but constant enemy fire.
SOLDIER: Watch out!
ENGEL: Mostly his soldiers remembered his smile and easygoing nature. Back in Illinois, Penich’s mother Kathy got the call.
KATHY GARROSS [John Penich’s Mother]: All I remember is saying “no” over and over and started shaking and that’s what I remember. I don’t remember much more about that.
ENGEL: Last week, we visited the Penich family in Beach Park, Illinois. Kathy looked at old photographs. They tell the story of a rambunctious boy, youngest of four, loved the outdoors and motorcycles. His brother Jeff was his best friend. With her husband Mike, Kathy showed me a new case for all her son’s medals.
GARROSS: And this is his Silver Star. It’s so beautiful, but they tell me that they’re very rare.
ENGEL: They are very rare. They are very rare.
Sgt. Penich was awarded a Silver Star for Valor for fighting off a Taliban ambush and rescuing fellow soldiers. Kathy’s last conversation with her son still haunts her.
GARROSS: I told him I didn’t think he was going to come home. I just felt it. I guess mother’s instincts, I don’t know.
ENGEL: Then she learned her boy was killed by friendly fire.
GARROSS: I wasn’t angry. I figure when you’re in a situation like that, things happen. I can’t imagine the poor guy that called it in.
ENGEL: With his family a few miles away, brother Jeff also doesn’t blame the unit.
JEFF PENICH [John Penich’s Brother]: It’s an unfortunate thing that happens and, you know, it’s just part of war. Now, me being mad at anybody is not going to change anything.
ENGEL: Jeff fixes motorcycles, Harleys, he looks tough, but ask him about John.
PENICH: I think about him all the time.
ENGEL: Now, he keeps his brother’s bandana on his handlebars and wears his dog tags. His mother Kathy wears a necklace too.
GARROSS: And I have half a heart and the other half is with John in his casket. So I’ll wear that forever.
ENGEL: She said everything now reminds her of John.
GARROSS: I just noticed it’s snowing and that’s perfect timing. He loves the snow.
ENGEL: The snow kept falling at the cemetery where Sgt. Penich now rests. By coincidence, his marker had just come in when we arrived.
MAN: This will be the marker that we’ll install out there for John.
ENGEL: It will go in this spring when the ground falls under the big oak trees here. For now, Sgt. Penich’s grave is marked by a metal cross. His mother hung a candy cane on it for Christmas.
Richard Engel, NBC News, Beach Park, Illinois.
WILLIAMS: Just one of this nation’s Gold Star families.