No need to steal the medals of military valor - you can buy them

jacksonville.com ^ | July 11, 2015 | Clifford Davis

[Berlin_Freeper]

Nearly every single award that American soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines fight, bleed and sometimes die to receive can be bought by everyone else on the Internet — even from the same company that makes them for the U.S. military.

With the lone exception of the Congressional Medal of Honor, it’s all perfectly legal.

It’s even legal to wear them now, unless the person is using his fraudulent medals to gain something of value.

[South40]

I don’t know what to think about this. I can see the benefit in being able to replace what might have been stolen or lost. But getting and/or wearing what wasn’t earned isn’t cool and if done around the people I hang with could cause some real problems.

[Conservative4Ever]

It would appear valor is dead.

[Smokin' Joe]

I have part of a collection a late friend had. He never claimed to have earned those decorations, but to have collected them. He could not serve, but had the highest regard for those who had and were serving.

I also have some of the decorations my father earned.

I will not wear any of them, nor would I display any except those my father earned in that context, as a tribute to him.

I have enough accomplishments of my own that I do not feel any need to claim anything I haven't done, nor would I cheapen the accomplishments of others by falsely claiming to have done the same if I had not.

However, you really run into problems when you are dealing with the group of Korean War vets whose records were damaged or destroyed in the warehouse some years back. Not all of those awards are well documented, even though they were earned.

[GailA]

Do they come engraved like my Dad’s Bronze Star? I had to submit his DD214 to get his medals replaced. But then I went through my US Congress critter.

[GailA]

It wasn’t just Korean Vets, WW2 Vets had theirs destroyed as well. If my Dad who was WW2, 503rd Parachute Battalion under MacArthur had not been using the VA I’d never have gotten his records to get his Medals. It’s a slow process, but eventually you get them.

[precisionshootist]

We really have to get off this nonsense. Valor is not a medal or a uniform and CANNOT be stolen. Anyone that wears these items that did not receive them through service is doing nothing more than wearing a costume.

The supreme court was right to strike down the stolen valor law. It was emotionally driven nonsense.

[tanknetter]

Ok, so lets say that I want to put together a shadow box with the medals awarded to my late Grandfather (3rd Army) and Great Uncle (15th Air Force) for their WWII service? Which I don’t have. I shouldn’t be allowed to obtain replacements?

Let’s say that, for my local library, I want put together a display honoring a local veteran and want to display his medals, which again I don’t have. I shouldn’t be allowed to obtain copies?

Let’s say that a reenactor who is portraying a serviceman as part of a living history display/reenactments wants to display or even wear (on the appropriate uniform) the medals the person he is portraying earned? He shouldn’t be allowed to?

It’s one thing to say that people shouldn’t be able to steal or otherwise someone’s honor by wearing medals that they didn’t earn and portray them as their own. But there are a lot of different scenarios out there where people who didn’t earn the medals can and should be able to have access to copies/replacements and even wear that.

[Organic Panic]

John Kerry knows where to get fraudulent medals.

[Gay State Conservative]

I served during the Vietnam *Era* but never got within 6000 miles of SE Asia...while in uniform,at least.I have too much respect for those who *have* served in combat to pretend to be one of them.I'd also never wear a medal that I wasn't awarded for the very same reason.

Those who *do* are pretty low,IMO.

[Dusty Road]

They're pretty easy to spot. While they always have the Silver Star's or bronze they don't even have a clue what other hardware goes with combat in foreign countries. The proper unit citations are either wrong or not there. It's BS hardware but those who were there spot it immediately. 1971

[dila813]

I don’t see an issue with this, people need medals for replacements, making memorials, and costumes.

My relatives purchased a bunch of medals that were granted to my now departed uncle to make a shadow box.

If they weren’t able to buy them, I don’t know where they would have got them. They didn’t want to put his original medals in the shadow box because they are placing this in his crypt.

[centurion316]

Ridicule is an effective weapons as most of the sickos who wear awards not earned are looking for recognition. Those who are seriously disturbed will probably not be deterred by this tactic, but they may have still violated parts of the Stolen Valor Act that can still be enforced.

Part of the problem is how the military administers and issues decorations and awards. The award process is just another one of military personnel administrative actions and are controlled by people who deal with transfers, promotions, and benefits actions. Awards are just another admin task. The medals themselves are a supply action, complete with a stock number and requisition, just like socks and 100 mph tape. Even the award certificate is just a form number. The only thing that really counts is the order authorizing the award, and even these are ofter handled haphazardly. The recent effort to build national databases are a real step forward, but they are incomplete and only cover the higher awards, Silver Star and above. Now that service and achievement in combat are now valued by the public, we ought to ensure that fakers are found out.

Consider the system that exists in the United Kingdom and in most of their Commonwealth countries. Legally, all decorations and even campaign medals are a gift of the Sovereign and are subject to limitations established by the Sovereign. They have a system called Gazetting that publishes the name and award in a legal notice, now done on the web. Everyone can quickly verify the real recipients and reveal the fakers. In many cases, the decoration itself cannot be worn without the Sovereign permission, so any faker can be prosecuted. Additional the medal are named by the government, used a pressing technique that cannot be replicated by an engraving shop. Medals and decorations are very highly regarded by the public and fakers are few and far between. While replicas can be purchased, they will be easily recognized as such and are suitable only as a place holder in a collection or some a relative’s display.

Of course, the foolproof way to determine if someone really holds the award that they claim is to check with the Communist Chinese, they have all the records.