Continental, OH Veteran Travis Dawson Goes Viral Thanks to HBO, ABC News and Business Insider

Travis Dawson, a 2004 graduate of Continental High School, entered the Marine Corps straight out of high school.  He progressed through the ranks, becoming known in his circles as Sergeant Dawson.  Sergeant Dawson deployed to Afghanistan three times, and it is during one of those deployments our story begins.

In February 2010, U.S. Marines launched Afghanistan:  Operation Moshtarak, the biggest operation since the start of the Afghanistan war, whose main target was the Taliban stronghold of Marjah, a town in Helmand province. Afghanistan:  Operation Moshtarak was the first attack launched after the administration announced plans to send 30,000 troops to Afghanistan, serving as a key test of the U.S. counter-insurgency strategy against the Taliban.  The campaign had four distinct phases:  clear Marjah of Taliban, hold all ground seized, build infrastructure and governance, and transfer control to Afghan security forces.

As an infantry squad leader for 1st Battalion 6th Marines, Dawson deployed to Afghanistan as part of the massive assault on Marjah in 2010.

But there was someone else with the First Battalion, Sixth Marines as well.  The British journalist Ben Anderson spent two months with the Battalion’s Bravo Company to report the film, which was shown in Britain in 2010 under the title “Bravo’s Deadly Mission.”  The film was later aired as the HBO documentary The Battle for Marjah.

According to the New York Times:

Mr. Anderson records the company’s commander, the square-jawed, straight-out-of-central-casting Capt. Ryan Sparks, declaring before the operation that the Marines are “masters of controlled chaos and violence.” What we see once Bravo Company lands are five days of fighting so highly controlled — because of restrictive rules of engagement intended to clamp down on civilian casualties — that the troops seem like marionettes as they advance and retreat among the mud huts.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/17/arts/television/17marjah.html?_r=0

The HBO documentary The Battle for Marjah features Travis on the cover.

Ben Anderson also wrote a book titled No Worse Enemy: The Inside Story of the Chaotic Struggle for Afghanistan which also features the same photo of Travis on the cover and gives a detailed account of his time with Travis’ squad and 1st Battalion 6th Marines.  Links to purchase the book and the documentary will be provided at the end of this article.

In addition to being on the cover of an HBO documentary, Travis was interviewed in length on the battlefield by ABC Correspondent  Miguel Marquez and appeared on national news.  This YouTube clip of the interview (provided to us by Travis) also gives a shout-out to Continental:

And another photo featuring Travis Dawson has also gone viral, and for good reason as it represents the bravery and heart of our American soldiers:

Most recently, Business Insider author Geoffrey Ingersoll wrote an article titled: From Combat To CrossFit: One Marine’s Plan To Whip America Into Shape.  This article features Travis Dawson and talks about the battle of Marjah, being in an HBO documentary, being on the cover of that documentary, and having a positive photo go viral across the internet.

Here are some of the highlights of the article:

• Travis talking about the battle of Marjah, saying “That deployment was one of the most fun, most scary, and most depressing deployment of all … I’ll remember it of all them most.”

• Travis talking about being in an HBO documentary: “As far as being in a documentary on HBO, I think it had a different effect on people,” Dawson writes via email. “Civilians and the regular population overall liked it and had good things to say about it. I think it was a far better experience for the Marines that were actually involved in the operation. It gives them something to look back on and even though we may never truly ‘win’ the war there, they can see the good they did in that operation and the sacrifices they gave and conditions they went through.”

• And when asked about his heroic photo being turned into an internet meme and going viral across the web, Travis states: “I’ve never really thought about it,” says Dawson. “Nowadays everything can be and is turned into a meme, so the fact that my picture became a meme in a positive way is humbling and pretty cool, something that I can always have and look back on.”

• And about Travis’ future: Travis received his Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty on Aug 12, 2013 and now he has settled down in South Carolina, gotten his CrossFit certification, and enrolled at Trident Technical College. He plans to transfer to the Citadel Military University and major in business with a minor in a health-and-fitness-related field.

“I have to be humble, coming from the most senior sergeant in the battalion with all this responsibility, everyone looked up to me. Now I don’t have a job yet, but I know when I do get a job, some kid that’s younger than me is going to be above me, I understand that. I have no experience in the civilian world whatsoever, I get that.”

It’s not every day that a Continental graduate is in a HBO documentary, featured on the cover of the documentary, is interviewed by national news and made into an internet viral sensation that personifies the bravery and heart of the members of our American military.

I think we can all agree that Travis Dawson is beyond doubt a hometown hero, and I am honored to have grown up with him and call him a friend.

As we are two days from Veteran’s Day, I would personally like to thank not only Travis Dawson, but all active military members and their families, and all military veterans for their bravery and sacrifice.  May God bless you all! Please join me in thanking Travis Dawson this Veteran’s Day by posting in the comments section of this article, and also use the comments section to show your gratitude and appreciation to other military veterans as well.

If you want to read Geoffrey Ingersoll’s Business Insider article on Travis, you can click here.

If you want to purchase a copy of Ben Anderson’s book, No Worse Enemy: The Inside Story of the Chaotic Struggle for Afghanistan, the HBO documentary movie or a poster sized image of the cover of the movie featuring Continental’s Travis Dawson, you can do so by clicking the links below.  NOTE, this link is an affiliate link which will give us a percentage of the sales, which we will donate to Travis Dawson, who will in turn donate all money earned to the Wounded Warrior Project.  Please contact the eNews if you would like to purchase these items locally.  In addition, if enough books, movies and posters sell, Travis is willing to travel back to Continental to hold a signing event sometime close to the Christmas holidays.