Medal Shortage (An incensed Vietnam Vet blasts the Pentagon)

Newsweek ^ | Feb. 2, 2007 | Dan Ephron

[DTogo]

Circulating somewhere in the Pentagon is a list of dozens of soldiers and Marines who committed acts of supreme valor during the war in Iraq. One serviceman, for example, charged a row of Republican Guards under fire, killing 20 enemy soldiers. At least three others jumped on grenades to save their brothers. Yet relatively few medals have been issued in the 4-year-old war. The Medal of Honor, for instance, the highest citation a soldier or Marine can receive, has been handed out only twice since the war began, both times posthumously. By comparison, the military gave 245 Medals of Honor to combatants in Vietnam and 464 to veterans of World War II. Lesser medals, like the Distinguished Service Cross, have also been hard to come by for Iraq servicemen.

[PAR35]

Here are some numbers (rounded):

World War II

Total military force: 16.3 million
Combat Deaths: 292,000
Deaths/month 6,639

Viet Nam

Total force: 8.7 million
Combat deaths: 47,000
Deaths/month: 526

Based on the numbers, it doesn't look like MoH levels for Iraq are out of line.

Of course, there are always some undeserved medals given.

[MSF BU]

You are correct, every other person leaves with a bronze star and that is making them almost meaningless; they are pretty much the "standard" for PCS. In my opinion, the "V" device, even on an Arcom says much more. Awards for valor are an entirely different things.

[91B]

Army awards statistics for OIF are here and OEF here.

Some months ago Army Times ran a story about this with statisics for the various branches of the service (this week's edition also has some awards stats): the one thing that struck me was that the Navy has awarded about a dozen Navy Crosses while the Army has given out three DSCs (but a lot more Silver Stars). Even taking into account that most of those Navy Crosses go to Marines, there is still a serious disparity there. As for my Cav Squadron, all the leadership got meritorious Bronze Stars (to include platoon leaders, troop commanders, first sergeants and many platoon sergeants) but not a single award for valor that I know of. We spent a year in theater and had five killed. Combat in Iraq is different than previous wars, but you can't tell me that some of our soldiers didn't distinguish themselves.

[art_rocks]

You didn't list how many MOH per war. I can't tell if its out of line.

[PAR35]

You didn't list how many MOH per war. I can't tell if its out of line.

Sorry, from the Newsweek story excerpted at the start of the thread, WWII - 464, VietNam - 245 Iraq, so far, 2.

[brazzaville]

Good evening.
"hey, when my husbands unit returned from the Iraq all the Battalion commanders were awarded Bronze Stars..."

Were they valor awards or meritorious service awards?

Michael Frazier

[river rat]

The best recognition we can offer our warrior heroes, is to respect and SUPPORT the effort in which they have invested their lives..

If the Congress and the people can not stand with our warriors and give them the mission, moral support, ROEs and material support required to WIN THE WAR --- then we should pull them back home and let the enemy come to us...

At least when we're fighting on our own soil - which most leftists seem to prefer -- we will have the opportunity to kill off a lot of the leftist, cowardly sonsuvbitches and other "enemies within"....

Arm thy self neighbor --- it's coming soon.

Semper Fi