honorable death

From today's Washington Post:

The commandos were soon spotted by three goat herders, who were initially detained but later released. They are believed to have given away the team's location to Taliban fighters.

A contingent of more than 50 fighters attacked from three sides, forcing the Seal team to begin bounding down a mountainside into a ravine. After more than 45 minutes of heavy fighting, with his radioman wounded, Murphy realized that the only way he could contact his headquarters for reinforcements would be to move into exposed terrain to get a signal.

"In the face of almost certain death, he fought his way into open terrain to gain a better position to transmit a call. This deliberate, heroic act deprived him of cover, exposing him to direct enemy fire," the medal citation reads.

As Taliban fighters shot at him, Murphy made the call and "calmly provided his unit's location and the size of the enemy force" while requesting urgent support. At one point, he was shot in the back and dropped the transmitter, but picked it back up to finish the call, the official account said.

Murphy continued to shoot back at the Taliban fighters but was severely wounded. His team was running out of ammunition. By the end of the brutal, two-hour firefight, in which an estimated 35 enemy fighters were killed, Murphy and two members of his team were dead. A fourth team member managed to escape and was later rescued.

What strikes me most about this story is not Murphy's exposing himself to fire to call for help, although that is remarkable. What strikes me is that Murphy and his team decided to let the three goat herders go, even though he knew they would probably alert local Taliban to the team's presence. His other choice, of course, was to kill the men. He chose not to kill civilians and paid with his life. Compare this to some of the trigger-happy private contractors in Iraq, those who do not hesitate to pull the trigger on civilians, even women and children, if they feel threatened by them.