memorial day. clinton romesha joins us now from florida. good morning to you. good morning, steve. thanks for having me. steve: i know it s got to be tough for you to talk about. let s take folks back to october of 2009. you are the commander at outpost keating in afghanistan. and you have been sent there to dismantle it, why? we ll, we had been stationed there for about three months. we were holding the area for the elections going on that year. we had finally gotten word because of the tactical location being basically having an outpost at the bottom of a valley, it was deemed pretty much indefensible and unuseful. so we were actually about to break down. but two weeks before that the taliban had different plans for us. and hit us pretty hot and heavy that morning of october 3rd. steve: tell us how it started. kicked off bright and early, 6:00 in the morning. i mean, first shots came. in it was such, just wall of steve and rpgs and bullets
0 i did not think i would ever be guarding the tomb of the unknown soldier. we need to realize your freedom isn t free. it really isn t. thousands of soldiers have died for our country. i don t look at it just as three unknown soldiers i m guarding, i look all the soldiers that gave their live for this country. october 3, 2009. a storm of bullet s rockets, grenades and mortars rained down on a u.s. outpost in eastern afghanistan deep it in a valley. the taliban had found a perfect target, keating. studied by the enemy since it was set up three years before as seen in the taliban s own video. time and again since the post was kraicreated in 2006, its defenses were tested by the taliban. but on that october morning in 2009, the enemy staged its fiercest attack yet. the high ground and their vastly superior numbers gave the taliban a huge advantage. eight americans would be killed in a battle that lasted from dawn till dusk and would come to symbolize the end of a military strategy to
sexual orientation. and married couples, irrespectable of sexual orientation and their dependents will be granted full military benefits. it s remarkable, right? it s leon panetta saying that today s list of 40 or so new benefits for equal treatment for gay soldiers and their families is as far as the military can take this equality thing right now. but that the military would like to go the rest of the way right now. they would like to equalize all benefits. the reason they can t go further is defense of marriage act signed into law by president clinton, and president clinton now disavows it. to some extent, the question of whether or not the military is going to be as equal as it wants to be depends on the u.s. supreme court. the supreme court is going to hear challenges to the defense of marriage act next month. the question also depends on congress. and that s because the obama administration has decided to not defend that law. the obama administration says they believe that doma i
neighborhoods all around the country to get the president s supporters to watch the speech together. the president himself immediately after he is finished delivering the state of the union, he will get on a conference call that night with supporters and with members of organizing for action. the president will also participate in what google is calling a fireside hangout, kind of a riff on the fireside chat. on thursday afternoon, somewhere between north carolina and georgia, he is going to be taking questions on google plus. in terms of invited guests at the state of the union this year, traditionally the first lady invites a number of outside guests to sit with her during the speech. it s both an honor in itself, and it is to symbolize some of the proposals the president will discuss in the speech. this year the first lady s guests will include army staff sergeant clinton romesha who was awarded the medal of honor for valor in one of the deadliest battles in afghanistan. after atten
families get as is possible under the law. benefits like being able to shop at stores on a military base, benefits like getting assigned to the same place if your spouse is also in the military. things like visiting your spouse in the hospital or being notified in the case of the very worst news. those steps are as far as leon panetta can go under current law. and this is remarkable. look at this. this is from the memo today. he writes, quote, in the event that the defense of marriage act is no longer applicable to the department of defense, it will be the policy of the department to construe the words spouse and marriage without regard to sexual orientation. and married couples, irrespectable of sexual orientation and their dependents will be granted full military benefits. it s remarkable, right? it s leon panetta saying that today s list of 40 or so new benefits for equal treatment for gay soldiers and their families is as far as the military can take this equality thing right n