The first Operation Iraqi Freedom Congressional Medal of Honor winner - SFC Paul Smith, U.S. Army

The CMOH will be awarded to a man who gave his life in order to save 100. I believe by reviewing this link to a multimedia tribute to SFC Paul Smith, you will see the story of a man who lived for this moment. He didn't live to die in the moment, he lived in a way to ensure his men had victory. I noted throughout the tribute, there is a significant thread about SFC Smith's philosophy, one that rang true with my own service: Train, train, train and then train like you mean it. The short term result is the men he was responsible for, his peers and his superiors gurglingly went along, while complaining about it. The significant meaningful measure of effectiveness of the ideals of SFC Smith is when one of his men, who survived said he had trained them to work as a team and that was what saved them that day. Morale of the story: Train for the worst day, it will make a difference.