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A Memoir by
Medal of Honor Recipient
Sal Giunta, Joe Layden
Threshold Editions
December 4, 2012/ ISBN 9781451691467
Non-Fiction, Biography, Military
Amazon
Reviewed
by Elise Cooper
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Staff
Sergeant Salvatore A. Giunta, a Medal of Honor Recipient,
along with Joe Layden, has written a memoir, Living With Honor.
This is truly a soldier’s story where he allows the
American people to get a glimpse of what it’s like to
be in combat with people who are at first strangers, but who
then become a fraternity of brothers and sisters.
He was stationed with the 173rd Airborne Brigade near the
Afghanistan-Pakistan border in the Korengal Valley, known
as the “Valley of Death” for its insurgent stronghold.
After being ambushed by Taliban insurgents, Giunta engaged
the enemy to rescue others from his unit. He administered
first aid while he covered his squad leader with his own body,
being struck a number of times. After realizing that his buddy,
Sergeant Josh Brennan, was missing, he searched for him and
found he’d being taken by two insurgents. Giunta engaged
the insurgents, killing one and wounding the other.
After this harrowing experience he states that he does not
understand why these insurgents are not held “accountable
for their actions of extremism. Either we should be fully
engaged and fight it properly or we should start sending people
over there without guns and see if they feel safe.”
He writes in the book that a soldier’s options are success
or death with no margin for error and no opportunity to relax.
He explains, “Decisions have to made in a split second.
This will determine if you will live any longer in this world.
The rules of engagement given to us are not for fighting in
a combat country but seem more like what we do in America
with people who are for the most part fair minded.”
The most powerful parts of the book are when he speaks about
some of those who served with him. He regards those men and
women as family who “came together under a common flag,
the Red, White, and Blue. I wanted to give insight to the
American people on who the soldier was. Our military is vast
and diverse, but it is 100% united, bonded by combat.”
He also talks about his and some of his buddies’ experiences
as they returned home. In one scene Sal tells how he would
always tell his wife Jen that he was going to the bathroom.
The reason he included this, “I wanted to show how a
soldier must transition from one mindset to another. In combat
everyone knows where you are at; otherwise, you might be in
trouble. After returning home, it was a really strange feeling
to be alone. I am very thankful that my wife is the stable
part of my life.”
Living With Honor is a very candid, insightful, and
riveting account of Sergeant Giunta’s experiences. It
illustrates the empowering and invaluable lessons he learned
about combat and life. He summarized his story, “I believe
in the saying ‘the strongest medals are forged in the
hottest flames and the flames of combat are insanely hot.’
We as soldiers have the strongest bond that is unbreakable.”
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