American Military Heroes

June 29, 2006

Captain Brian Chontosh kindly agreed to an e-mail interview. His thoughts are raw and rough, honest answers not term-paper style responses.

Capt. Chontosh was awarded the Navy Cross for his actions in Iraq on March 25, 2003. The Navy Cross is the Marine Corps's second highest award for valor in combat.

1. What is the most important lesson that you would like your students to learn from you?
Not to worry about the moment. It will happen, you will perform, men will get hurt, you will succeed. The more time you spend anticipating, worrying, glorifying, apprehending... the expectations of the experience means you are wasting precious energy you could use training and preparing your men and for the things you have control over. "Success isn't luck; it's when opportunity meets the prepared"

2. How has combat changed your outlook on life?
I appreciate the simple values in life more. I don't get worked up over petty things. Ignorance doesn't bother me, I just ignore it/them. I love my family and live my life for them. Nothing else really matters in comparison.

3. Your units worked with embedded media. How do you feel about that program?
We had great experiences during both of my deployments to Iraq with the media professionals with us. We didn't think of them as embeds but rather they were Marines/brothers/family. A mutual respect for each other and each other's duty & views were paramount. I was never ashamed of my actions or the honorable actions of my men and encouraged it to be documented. What a great way for the world to see how magnificent the men I served with performed. It's when the media comes with agendas, opinions, and pre-disposed notions to look for what they think they already know (whether right or wrong) that you have problems.

4. You presented at a recent Army conference on tactics. Most of the other presenters were civilians, academics and RAND types. Do you think they understand the issues on the ground?
This is a difficult question. Yes and no. Formal schools need to be very careful when using after actions to change programs of instruction too rapidly. Formal schools must stick to the basic fundamentals tested over time. Not new age trends.

Unit training, follow on training, and pre deployment training must focus on using the basics as a basis to deviate from, to capture lessons learned in the immediate operational area expected to deployed to. And the right answer is mostly in the middle someplace of that basic premise. I'm finding that my experiences are already dated.

5. The War on Terror has seen the Marine Corps deployed inland, in new and non-traditional ways. What do you see as the future of the Corps in this regard?
Traditional operations may be a bad term in today's world. What is traditional? In WWI it was trench warfare, in Vietnam it was patrolling in the jungle, etc... The Marine Corps has to be prepared to evolve and meet the current threat. The current threat is terrorism, insurgency, and a fourth generation concept. This will be 'traditional ops' in a few short decades.

6. Absent the war, what were your impressions of Iraq and its people?
A place of unimaginable potential = tourism, industry, culture, history, and more. The true, common, value-based people are beautiful. The children are no different than our own except add fear and little opportunity due to a malicious, criminal, terrorist, extremist, and radical few.

Captain Chontosh is stationed at Quantico as an Instructor at the Infantry Officer Course. He was awarded the Navy Cross, the Marine Corps' second highest medal for bravery in combat.

My thanks to Captain Chontosh for this interview, and for his service to the United States.