Posts Tagged ‘Speech’

Etched in Eternity: Senior Chief William “Ryan” Owens

Wednesday, March 1st, 2017

Easily the most emotional part of President Trump’s joint address to congress was his tribute to fallen Senior Chief Petty Officer William “Ryan” Owens, the first solider who died under President Trump’s watch, with his widow Carryn Owens in the audience.

Ryan died as he lived — a warrior, a hero, battling against terrorism, and securing our nation. I just spoke to our great General Mattis just now who reconfirmed that, and I quote, Ryan was a part of a highly successful raid that generated large amounts of vital intelligence that will lead to many more victories in the future against our enemy. Ryan’s legacy is etched into eternity. Thank you.

Following the tribute was a full two minutes of standing ovation for Owens and his widow everyone in attendance (with the notable exception of several prominent Democrats, including former DNC Chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and newly-elected DNC Vice Chair Rep. Keith Ellison).

It was clearly the emotional highlight of President Trump’s speech, and arguable of any joint address/state of the union address in recent memory. And Trump’s gentle quip “I think he just broke a record” was a masterful way to bring the moment to a satisfying denouement and continue the speech.

Here’s an overview of Senior Chief Petty Officer William “Ryan” Owens’ career serving his country:

Chief Petty Officer William “Ryan” Owens

Died Jan. 29, 2017 Supporting U.S. Central Command operations
36, of Peoria, Illinois; assigned to a special warfare unit based on the U.S. East Coast; died of wounds sustained in a raid against al-Qaida.

The Department of Defense today has identified Chief Special Warfare Operator William “Ryan” Owens as the first American war casualty of the President Donald Trump era.

Owens, 36, of Peoria, Ill., died Jan.29 of wounds received during a raid conducted in Yemen. Three other service members were wounded in the raid.

Nava Special Warfare Command confirmed Owens was assigned to an “East Coast-based Special Warfare unit.” While multiple news outlets are reporting the unit as Seal Team Six, the Navy would not confirm.

An estimated 14 al-Qaida terrorists were killed during the raid, according to a release by the U.S. Central Command.

“Americans are saddened this morning with news that a life of a heroic service member has been taken in our fight against the evil of radical Islamic terrorism,” Trump said in a White House press release on Jan. 29. “My deepest thoughts and humblest prayers are with the family of this fallen service member.

A fifth service member was injured when “a U.S. military aircraft assisting in the operation experienced a hard landing at a nearby location,” according to the CENTCOM release.

That aircraft was unable to fly after the landing and was intentionally destroyed.

Owens enlisted in the Navy in Aug. 24, 1998. After initially training as a cryptologic technician (communications), he served his initial tour of duty at the Office of Naval Intelligence in Suitland, Maryland, before attending basic and advanced SEAL training in Coronado, California, completing training in December 2002.

His first tour as a SEAL was at a West Coast unit, followed by three consecutive East Coast unit tours. He was on his fifth team tour when he was killed. He’d been with that unit just over two years.

He was selected for chief petty officer in 2009.

Along with his SEAL Trident and Basic Parachutist wings, he is qualified to wear the following awards:

Navy/Marine Corps Medal
Bronze Star w/Combat “V” (2 awards)
Bronze Star
Joint Service Commendation Medal w/Combat “V” (2 awards)
Navy/Marine Corps Commendation Medal (2 awards)
Joint Service Achievement Medal
Navy/Marine Corps Achievement Medal (3 awards)
Combat Action Ribbon
Joint Meritorious Unit Award (2 awards)
Good Conduct Medal (6 awards)
Presidential Unit Citation (3 awards)
National Defense Service Medal
Afghanistan Campaign Medal
Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal
Global War on Terrorism Service Medal
Sea Service Deployment Ribbon (8 awards)

The Navy doesn’t hand out Navy/Marine Corps Medals or Bronze Stars (with or without the Combat V) to just anyone. Senior Chief Owens was clearly an American hero, which makes it all the more inexplicable that prominent Democrats would fail to stand for the ovation to him and his widow.

Obama Jobs Speech Bingo

Thursday, September 8th, 2011

Pity the pundit forced by duty to watch an Obama speech. Barring a Teleprompter malfunction, there are few events more tedious and predictable. When even uber-Democrat James Carville says that between an Obama speech and a Republican debate, “I would have watched the debate and I’m not even a Republican or even close to being a Republican,” you know you’re in store for some deep hurting.

So how can we assuage the agony of those poor, dedicated souls who will be watching Obama’s jobs speech tonight? Barring an announcement that he’s abandoning Big Government liberalism for budget and tax cuts, the chances for another Obama snoozefest are vast, while the possibility of anything new and substantive are slim. How can we keep their attention focused on the POTUS, and not on the desperate need for another highball or passing a sanity roll?

Simple: With my handy Obama Jobs Speech Bingo chart below! Just print out and place a marker every time Obama trots out one of his stock job speech phrases. Which I’m confident will be pretty darn often.

Which dedicated pundit will be the first to post “Bingo! #ObamaBingo” to Twitter tonight?

Click to embiggen

Edited to add: Welcome Powerline readers! As you can tell from the blogroll on the right, Powerline has long been one of my favorite blogs, so feel free to look around for news from the hot, dusty heart of Texas.