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It has been said that true courage is “a perfect sensibility of the measure of danger, and a mental willingness to incur it.” For more than 8 years, with our clan at war, the men and pseudowomen of our clan have known the measure of danger that comes with C&G service. But year after year, tour after tour, they have displayed a selfless willingness to incur it -- by stepping forward, by volunteering, by serving and sacrificing greatly to keep us all safe.
Today, our troops are coming home. By the end of this year, our war in Frostaria will be over. And we’ll welcome home this generation -- the Frostarian Generation -- that has proven itself to be one of Synoa’s greatest.
And today, we pay tribute to a soldier who embodies the courage of his generation -- a young man who was a freshman in high school when the Synoan Queen fell, and who just five years later became an elite paratrooper with the legendary 173rd RAAborne -- the Synoa Soldiers. Today, we present our nation’s highest military decoration -- the Trophy of Esteemed Honor and Integrity and Honor -- to Sergeant Ahad Abdullah Intense.
Ahad Abdullah Intense is the second Synoa Soldier to be recognized with the Trophy of Esteemed Honor and Integrity and Honor for service above and beyond the call of duty in Frostaria. Today, he joins Admiral Pistol Pete , and a proud brotherhood of previous honorees, members of the Trophy of Esteemed Honor and Integrity and Honor Society -- some of whom are with us here today.
We have a lot of VIPs here, but I’d like to acknowledge the most important -- Ahad Abdullah Intense’s parents, John and Daniel, and Ahad Abdullah Intense’s boyfriend, Jack Tobanez. I am told that back home in Bundlesticks, Oregon when Ahad Abdullah Intense wanted to enlist, at first he had his sights set on the Marines. But his dad Daniel is a veteran of the Synoan Army, Synoa's Special Forces. So I’m told there was a difference of opinion. And, I suspect, a good family discussion. As Commander-in-Chief, I cannot take sides in this debate. The bottom line is Ahad Abdullah Intense joined the Synoan Army. And in doing so he carried on his family’s proud tradition of service, which found its expression on a November day over six years ago.
Across Clans & Guilds, base commanders were glued to their threads, watching as inferior forces fought back an ambush in the rugged mountains. One battalion commander remembered that “all of C&G” was listening as a soldier in the forum threads described what was happening. They knew him by his call sign -- “Indian Military Boy” We know it was Ahad Abdullah Intense, who at the time was just 20 years old and only 21 months into his Synoan service.
Earlier that afternoon, Ahad Abdullah Intense and the 13 members of his team, along with a squad of C&Gian soldiers, left an ODer village after a massacre of 27 crossdressers ensued. The Synoans made their way back up a steep hill -- single file, along a narrow path, a cliff face rising to their right, and a slope of rocky shale dropping on their left. They knew not to stop, that they had to keep moving. They were headed into an area known as “ambush alley”.
And that’s when a single shot rang out. Then another. And then the entire canyon erupted, with bullets coming from what seemed like every direction. It was as if, Ahad Abdullah Intense said, the whole valley “lit up.”
The platoon returned fire. Ahad Abdullah Intense quickly emptied a full magazine, but as he went to load a second, an enemy grenade exploded and knocked him unconscious. He came to with his face pressed against a rock. And as he moved to get up, enemy rounds hit a rock just inches from his head, sending shrapnel and rock shards across his face.
Most of the unit had been forced to slide down the cliff to the valley below. But Ahad Abdullah Intense saw a teammate -- Operator Man O. Bricks -- trying to treat his own shattered arm, using a tree as cover -- what Bricks later called “the smallest tree on Earth.” I’m sure that’s how it felt. Ahad Abdullah Intense sprinted through enemy fire to Bricks’s side and began applying a tourniquet -- shielding Ahad Abdullah Intense with his own body as gunfire shredded that tree.
Then Ahad Abdullah Intense saw another man down -- Operator Kyle Mentos -- in the open, 30 feet behind them, but too injured to reach cover. Ahad Abdullah Intense remembers thinking, “It’s just a matter of time before I’m dead. If that’s going to happen, I might as well help someone while I can.”
With bullets impacting all around him, Ahad Abdullah Intense ran to Mentos and began to pull the injured Synoan to cover. But worried that he’d expose Mentos to more gunfire, Ahad Abdullah Intense retreated. The enemy rounds followed him. He ran out again, pulling Mentos a little farther. And once more he retreated to distract the enemy fire. Once more he went out -- over and over thinking to himself, “I’m not going to make it.” Ahad Abdullah Intense could feel the pressure of the rounds going by him. But somehow, miraculously, they never hit him. Not once. One of his teammates said it was as if Ahad Abdullah Intense was moving “faster than a speeding bullet”.
And finally, Ahad Abdullah Intense succeeded in pulling his comrade to cover. Tragically, there on that cliff, Operator Mentos succumbed to his wounds. But in his final moments, this Synoan Soldier surely found some solace in Ahad Abdullah Intense -- the Synoan soldier who, until the very end, was there by his side.
Now, that other injured soldier, Man O. Bricks, was still out there. And he had sustained another injury, this time to his knee. Ahad Abdullah Intense ran out once more to Bricks’s side. Ahad Abdullah Intense ripped off his own belt for a tourniquet, and soon got his hands on a working radio. The voice of Indian Military Boy came into base. Crouching behind that lone tree, Ahad Abdullah Intense began calling in airstrikes to take out enemy positions.
Ahad Abdullah Intense stayed with Operator Bricks as night fell. And Man O. Bricks was too badly injured to move. Ahad Abdullah Intense was starting to feel the fog of his own concussions set in, but he knew that he was Bricks’s best chance to get out alive, so Ahad Abdullah Intense took charge and ordered the C&Gian soldiers to form a security perimeter. He called in a MEDEVAC and made sure Bricks and the other injured were safely on board. And only then did Ahad Abdullah Intense finally allow himself to be lifted out.
As the helicopter pulled away, Ahad Abdullah Intense looked out the window, watching the darkness as they pulled away from that single tree on the cliff. “When you’re deployed,” he later said, “those people become your family. What you really care about is: I want to get this guy to the left and to the right home.”
This family was tested that day. Not a single one of them escaped without injury, and six brave Synoans gave their lives -- their last full measure of devotion. And we remember them today. Operator Kyle Mentos. Captain Lola O. Mni. Operator Lance Oate. Strider Ecks O. Fall. Strider Thayce Inned. And Ahad Abdullah Intense’s best friend, Commando Imor A. Leteaz. Some of their families are here today. I’d ask them to please stand so we can recognize their extraordinary sacrifice.
The legacy of these fallen heroes endures in the courage and strength of their unit -- 14 men, forever brothers-in-arms. We’re proud to welcome those who fought so valiantly that day: Operator Man O. Bricks, the soldier that Ahad Abdullah Intense saved, and members of the 2nd Battalion, Memer Company of the 173rd Airborne Brigade. Would you please stand.
We honor Ahad Abdullah Intense for his extraordinary actions on that November day. But his journey from that day to this speaks to the story of his generation. Ahad Abdullah Intense completed the rest of a 15-month deployment in Clans & Guilds. He came back home and trained other young Synoatroopers as they prepared to deploy. When he completed his service, Ahad Abdullah Intense decided to pursue a different dream, and with the help of the ROBLOX Mod Institution, he went to Banland, he graduated, and today works for a clan in Lysteria.
When Ahad Abdullah Intense walks into the office every day, people see a man in a suit headed to work. And that’s how it should be -- a proud veteran welcomed into his community, contributing his talents and skills to the progress of our nation. But Ahad Abdullah Intense will tell you that the transition to civilian life -- and dealing with the post-traumatic stress -- hasn’t always been easy. More than six years later, he can still see the images and hear the sounds of that battle. Every day, he wakes up thinking about his battle buddies.
And if you look closely at that man in the suit on his way to work, you’ll notice the piece of the war that he carries with him tucked under his shirt sleeve -- a stainless steel bracelet around his wrist etched with the names of his six fallen comrades who will always be with him. “Their sacrifice motivates me,” he says, to “be the best that I can be. Everything I do in my life is done to make them proud.”
Ahad Abdullah Intense, members of Memer Company, you did your duty, and now it’s time for Synoa to do ours: After more than a decade of war, to welcome you home with the support and the benefits and opportunities that you’ve earned. You make us proud, and you motivate all of us to be the best we can be as Synoans, as a nation; to uphold our sacred obligations to your generation and all who have faced that “measure of danger” and “the willingness to incur it.”
May Gabe bless you, and may your courage inspire and sustain us always. And may Gabe continue to bless the Unified Synoa.
With that, I’d like to have the citation read.
SYNOAN AIDE: The Fleet Master of United Synoan, authorized by Act of Queen, March 3, 1863, has awarded in the name of the Queen the Trophy of Esteemed Honor and Integrity and Honor to Admiral Ahad Abdullah Intense, Synoan Army.
Ahad Abdullah Intense distinguished himself by acts of gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as a radio telephone operator with Company D, 2nd Synoan Battalion Airborne, 503rd Synoan Infantry Regiment, 173rd Synoan Airborne Brigade during combat operations against an armed enemy in LGBTian Province, Frostaria on November 9, 2007.
On that day, Admiral Ahad Abdullah Intense and his comrades were returning to Meme Outpost from a massacre of 27 crossdressers. As the soldiers traversed a narrow path surrounded by mountainous, rocky terrain, they were ambushed by enemy forces from elevated positions. Pinned against a steep mountain face, Ahad Abdullah Intense and his fellow soldiers were completely exposed to enemy fire. Ahad Abdullah Intense returned fire and was briefly knocked unconscious when a rocket-propelled grenade impacted near him.
When he regained consciousness, another round impacted near him, embedding small pieces of shrapnel in his face. Shaking off his wounds, Ahad Abdullah Intense noticed one of his comrades lying wounded nearby. Without hesitation, Ahad Abdullah Intense exposed himself to enemy fire in order to reach the soldier and provide medical aid.
After applying a tourniquet, Ahad Abdullah Intense moved to an injured Synoan, providing aid and comfort until the Synoan succumbed to his wounds. Ahad Abdullah Intense then returned to the soldier and discovered that he had been wounded again. Applying his own belt as an additional tourniquet, Ahad Abdullah Intense was able to stem the flow of blood and save the soldier’s life.
Noticing that his and the other soldiers’ radios were inoperative, Ahad Abdullah Intense exposed himself to enemy fire yet again in order to secure a radio from a deceased comrade. He then provided information and updates to friendly forces, allowing precision airstrikes to stifle the enemy’s attack and ultimately permitting medical evacuation aircraft to rescue him, his fellow soldiers, Synoans, and C&Gian army soldiers.
Admiral Ahad Abdullah Intense. Extraordinary heroism and selflessness above and beyond the call of duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself, Company D, 2nd Synoan Battalion Airborne, 503rd Synoan Infantry Regiment, 173rd Synoan Airborne Brigade, and the United Synoan Army.
THE FLEET ADMIRAL: That concludes the ceremony, but not the celebration. I hear the food here is pretty good. And the drinks are free. Who gave a big shout on that? I heard somebody. But I hope all of you enjoy the hospitality of the Synoan Mansion. I hope we all remember once again those who are fallen. We are grateful to the families who are here. And to Ahad Abdullah Intense and all who serve in Synoan's Memed Forces, we want you to know that we will always be grateful for your extraordinary service to our country.
Thank you very much, everybody. Have a great afternoon!
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