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CONTINUED FROMA1 GNATION &WORLDTHE PATRIOT-NEWS SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2010 G A9

front with him. The gunnerandthe squad medicwere inthe back.

He said his squad leaderkept yelling for himto drive,and the medic kept asking if everyone was OK.

Because his adrenalinewas so high, he didn’t re-alize he was injured until

he looked down and sawblood.

A piece of shrapnel hithim in the jaw and the el-bow. He said the scab on hisjaw is starting to turn into ascar,and hiselbow is almosthealed. He still has shrapnelin his elbow and jaw.

Although he said he wasangry and nervous, he kepthis composure.

When he told his familywhat happened, they wereshocked and nervous aboutthe seriousness of his inju-ries, he said.

His grandmother, SusanShakespeare of Hummel-stown, said she spoke to himsoon after the attack.

“He called me. He said,‘Nana, I’m OK. I’m OK.’ Andhe kept repeating that. Hetold me what happened,”she said.

Then his sergeant got onthe phone and assured herthat he was all right, sheadded.

He’s served in Iraq sinceJuly. Before that, he was inKorea for a year, then Fort

Stewart in Georgia.His father, Robert Mason

of New Cumberland, saidhe’s just glad his son is alive.

“I pray for him every day,”he said. “I worry about himall the time.”

Mason said he’s proud toserve his country.

The Purple Heart has aspecial meaning for the sol-dier.

“What the Purple Heartmeans to me is that I waswilling to put my life on theline for others, and I feel itshows great courage,” hesaid.

Mason said he’s learnedseveral tips on how to spotan attacker that he hopeswill come in ha ndy.

“Unfortunately, with allthe training in the world,some things are impossibleto prevent,” he said.

PURPLEContinued from Page A1

Submitted photo

Defense Secretary RobertGates presents a PurpleHeart to 2008 Cedar Cliffgraduate Shawn Mason.

Hamburg man to receive

posthumous Medal of Honor

WASHINGTON G President Barack Obama is awarding aposthumous Medal of Honor to an Air Force chief mastersergeant who braved enemy fire to help three woundedcomrades before suffering fatal wounds during combat inLaos in 1968.

The White House said Obama will present the medalSept. 21 to the three sons of Richard Etchberger of Ham-burg.

According to the White House, Etchberger showed“conspicuous gallantry” on Ma rch 11, 1968, when he delib-erately exposed himself to enemy fire to help his com-rades into rescue slings to be airlifted to safety.

— The Associated Press

AANNAALLYYSSIISS U.S. commander Gen. David Petraeus highlights the success

of special-ops missions to show that the Afghan war can be won.

 The other body countBY KIMBERLY DOZIERThe Associated Press

KABUL, Afghanistan ●

 The new top com-mander in Afghan-istan is talking up aweapon that has

been kept in the shadowsfor years — special-opera-tions missions to kill orcapture key insurgents —to try to convince skepticsthe war can be won.

More than previous com-manders, Gen. David Pe-traeus has released the re-sults of special-operationsmissions — 235 militantleaders were killed or cap-tured in the last 90 days,1,066 more rank-and-file in-surgents killed and 1,673 de-tained — to demonstratethat the Taliban and theirallies are also sufferinglosses as NATO casualtiesrise.

Petraeus told reporterstraveling Friday with thechairman of the Joint Chiefsof Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen,that in the past 24 hours,special-operations forcescarried out eight missions,capturing three targeted in-dividuals. Four more werebelieved killed or detained,Petraeus said.

Accentuating the positiveis part of Petraeus’ mediastyle, developed when hecommanded U.S. forces in

Iraq and was widely credit-ed with helping turn thetide in that war.

Since taking command,Petraeus has used a seriesof high-profile media inter-views to try to reverse thewave of pessimism aboutthe war, especially withinCongress and the Americanpublic.

Playing up missions byspecial-operations forces —Navy SEALs, Delta Force,Army Rangers and Green

Berets — offers a way todemonstrate that the U.S.and its NATO partners aretaking the fight to the Tali-ban.

Petraeus has shared keyheretofore classified datawith reporters at a level of detail that surprised manyU.S. officials here and inWashington.

Special-operations mis-sions are at their highesttempo, with nearly 4,000carried out between Mayand August, according to

officials here.U.S. officials are sensitiveto the suggestion that Pe-traeus is using the spec-opssuccesses for public effect,perhaps because it harksback to the largely discred-ited body counts of theVietnam War.

But back in Washington,the release of informationwas warmly welcomed insome quarters, offsettingthe daily drumbeat of risingU.S. casualties. At least 28

U.S. service members havebeen ki lled i n th e pastweek.

Special-operations troopshave been in Afghanistansince the conflict began in2001, working with the anti-Taliban Northern Allianceto drive the Taliban frompower after the Sept. 11,2001, terrorist attacks andlater to pursue al-Qaidaleaders.

Last fall, Gen. StanleyMcChrystal, the formercommander in Afghanistan,

stepped up th e tempo,broadening the missions toinclude killing or capturingmidlevel commanders inthe Taliban and their alliesin the Haqqani network.

What’s new is that Pe-traeus and his aides aretalking about it.

By highlighting their suc-cesses, Petraeus could earnbankable political capitalthat he will need if he rec-ommends that Obama slowt h e d r a w d o wn o f U . S .

troops that the presidentpromised will begin in July.

This does not mean thatPetraeus is shifting em-

ph asi s from traditi onalcounterinsurgency strategy— clearing territory, hold-ing it, building on it andthen turning it over to theAfghan government.

Demonstrating progressis difficult in a war foughtin hundreds of small, scat-tered engagements, wherefront lines do not move andwhere cities do not fall.

That’s where the spec-ops raids come in. Themystique of elite, highlytrained commandos swoop-ing down on an unsuspect-ing Taliban leader in thedead of night plays wellback home, especially at atime when much of thenews from Afghanistan fo-cuses on rising Americandeaths and frustration withthe Afghan government.

Heavy use of special-op-erations forces is not with-out risk. Afghans from Pres-i dent H amid Karzai tovillage elders complain thatnight raids offend Afghanculture and turn the popu-lation against the interna-tional coalition.

U.S. officials insist that anUzbek militant leader waskilled in a helicopter strikeon his convoy Thursday inthe northern province o

Takhar. Karzai and the localgovernor dispute this, say-ing the convoy contained acandidate for parliamentand his campaign workers.

A U.S. defense officialhere says armed special-opsactions are the exception.The official said one spe-cial-operations task forcerecorded no shots fired in973 out of 1,225 missions inthe 12 months ending in Au-gust. The targets simplygave up without a fight.

BRENNANLINSLEY, The Associated Press

A member of the Tactical Command Post of the 101stAirborne Division looks for a Taliban position in Zhari.

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