![destiny patrol enemy supplies claimed destiny patrol enemy supplies claimed](https://www.ineos.com/globalassets/inch-magazine/issue-20/images/master14.jpg)
By the time that he left Nicaragua, Chesty was known as “The Tiger of the Mountains”, a nickname he earned presumably by his great ability to destroy his enemy and was so despised by his enemies that the leaders of the rebel guerrillas had put a 5,000 peso reward on his head. For getting his platoon back safely with minimal loss of life, Puller received a second Navy Cross.
![destiny patrol enemy supplies claimed destiny patrol enemy supplies claimed](https://www.petrofilm.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/images/los_angeles_class_48.11061357_std.jpg)
Then, on the march back, he was ambushed twice more – both times resulted in the epic loss of everyone who took he and his men on. Four of Puller’s men went down under the initial attack, but he got his men to cover, directed their fire, and then led a flanking maneuver that resulted in the complete destruction of the ambushing forces. Another time he was leading his unit through a treacherous mountain pass when all of a sudden these rebels ambushed him from all sides with machine guns, mortars. For his bravery in combat, Puller won the Navy Cross – the Marine Corps’ second-highest award for bravery (just below the Medal of Honor, and some say he got jobbed out of the MoH because he refused to play any political games). Over the course of one week, Puller’s men routed the enemy in five separate engagements, completely annihilating the rebel positions while sustaining minimal casualties. In one of his first missions of the campaign, Puller led his platoon up against a much larger force of heavily-armed rebels, charging the fortified enemy positions without even flinching. Lieutenant Puller first established himself as a Marine’s Marine whilst killing rebels in the dense Nicaraguan jungles. His toughness and discipline earned him rapid promotions, and by the time he was shipped out to Nicaragua in 1930 he was already back to being commissioned Lieutenant. Over the course of five years, Chesty fought in over forty engagements against these rebels, where he gained valuable experience in small-unit tactics and taking the fight his enemies. Puller’s mission was to maintain order in Haiti as the Caco Rebels were intent on the violent overthrow of the U.S.-sponsored Haitian government. After training Chesty was shipped out to Haiti. Since nothing was going to stand between Chesty Puller and his mad desire to fight, Puller re-enlisted in the Corps, this time going in as a lowly Private. He was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the Marine Corps Reserves, but was placed on the inactive list ten days after his enlistment (WWI was winding down, and the government was scaling the military back). He enrolled in the prestigious Virginia Military Academy in 1917, but dropped out after a year to enlist in the Marines. Born in the small town of West Point, Virginia.