Local community honors Navy Seal
 

I know that the Special Operations community is very small. Some of you may have known this warrior. For reference purposes, my town is 106 miles North of San Francisco. As many of you FOG's know, some folks here in The People's Republik of Kalifornia have not always been kind to military people.
I just though you all would like to see what we did here for him...
http://www.ukiahdailyjournal.com/fdc...=1317050935022

Local community honors Navy
SEAL

By TIFFANY REVELLE The Daily Journal

Updated: 09/24/2011 11:59:47 PM PDT

Hundreds of people lined the streets of Willits and
Ukiah waving American flags and filled the stands at
the Redwood Empire Fairgrounds Saturday to affirm
that U.S. Navy SEAL Jesse Pittman, of Willits, died a
hero.

Pittman, 27, was one of 30 American servicemen
who died when his helicopter was shot down Aug. 6
over the Wardak Province in Afghanistan.

"I was not there, so I cannot tell you exactly what
happened," said Chief Bill Lyman of U.S. Navy SEAL
Team 5, Pittman's team. "But being in the Navy 17
years, I have a pretty good idea. I'm pretty sure they
didn't know enough about the terrain. I'm pretty
sure they didn't know how many enemy there were.
I'm also pretty sure they didn't know when they were
going to be coming home. But they knew one thing
that stood above all others: there were men in need,
and they were going to get them. They did the right
thing."

Pittman and his fellow servicemen were supporting
Operation Enduring Freedom, according to the U.S.
Department of Defense.

Lyman said Pittman, who the SEAL team called "Pitt,"
led from the bottom up.

"If you were in charge of Pitt, you had to do your
absolute best to keep a performance level as high as
his, and that was difficult," Lyman said.

Speakers from Pittman's firefighting days with Cal
Fire and from his school years affirmed that he was
also a local hero, long before he became a Navy
SEAL.

Cal Fire helicopters overflew the memorial service
Saturday in Pittman's honor.

"He helped me become the firefighter and the man I
am today," said Frank Hunter of Cal Fire, one of
Pittman's fellow firefighters. "He wasn't just a leader
to me, but to the entire crew, no matter your rank,
even up to the engineer captain; in a way he looked
up to Jesse."

Hunter described what became a regular training
circuit for Pittman, which was a run from his home
in the Forks to the far side of Lake Mendocino,
where he swam across and ran back home. He did it
at night, running and swimming anywhere from nine
to 12 miles, according to Hunter, and for the first
time under a dark, new-moon sky.

"He said he wanted to be ready for whatever the
Navy threw at him," Hunter said.

Cal Fire officials said previously that Pittman
inspired his fellow firefighters to be in top shape
because of his uncommon drive.

Hunter also remembered Pittman as a prankster and
a loyal man who would rather take a write-up than
reveal his father's tightly-guarded personal cell
phone number, and Hunter said his own parents
loved Pittman like a son.

Two former principals agreed that the Navy SEAL
Creed best described Pittman: "a common man with
an uncommon desire to succeed."
__________________________________________________


The amount of people that showed up was amazing...There was a giant American flag draped between two CDF (California Fire Dept) ladder trucks. CDF helicopters did a fly over. There were Americans flags everywhere!

There was a small gathering afterwards in the bar at our local bowling alley. Some vets and what may have been a platoon of Seals gathered for a few toasts...That is all I remember... Who knows...:D

On a sad note however, someone set fire to the American flag at the local mortuary. I live across the street from it. At about 2200 I saw a bright flash of light come through my bedroom window. I looked out the window and saw the huge flag waiving in flames. In an instant it was gone. The burning flag fell into the bushes below and they lit up pretty bad. In an instant, the flames rose higher than the building. I called the calvary and with in minutes it was out -with no damage to the building.

This mortuary and the fairgrounds where Jesse's ceremony took place are only a stone's throw away from one another. The thing is, this mortuary had nothing to do with Jesse's burial. The owner is just a kind, patriotic man who always fly an American flag outside his business. Sad...