Posted on 02/10/2007 6:28:36 AM PST by Cailleach
WASHINGTON — A Vietnam veteran who flew his unarmed helicopter into heavy combat to drop supplies and evacuate wounded troops will be honored with the Medal of Honor later this month, White House officials announced Friday.
Bruce Crandall, an Army helicopter pilot, will receive the nation’s highest military honor for wartime valor from President Bush during a Feb. 26 ceremony. The award is for his actions in November 1965, when the then-major served with the Company A 229th Assault Helicopter Battalion.
According to military records, Crandall and then-Capt. Ed Freeman volunteered to fly UH-1 Hueys into battle in the Ia Drang Valley after military commanders deemed the area too dangerous for aircraft.
(Excerpt) Read more at estripes.com ...
The 73 RIF was rough. Here but for the grace of God.
Right after Vietnam the Army stopped promoting to Major for a couple of years. There was an active list but it just stopped. The RIF looked at things a little differently. There were Captains who already had a promotion number for Major who were RIFed. I knew of two Captains who had spent a year at the Inf Advanced Course followed by two years of degree completion only to be RIFed as they got their degrees at Tampa.
I meant to say, The RIF boards looked at thing a little differently.
Considering the number of helicopter pilots in the Army at that time he's lucky he made it to Lieutenant Colonel.
They didn't RIF helicopter pilots. They RIFed officers who sometimes happen to be helicopter pilots.
Thanks, we needed that.
Also need to add that the 'rising to the top' was well underway prior to '73. I think there is always an underground of time servers and ticket punching bureaucrats at work in the military and they need to undercut the others even while seeking all the ribbons and ranger tabs the doers and would be doers earned honestly.
Thanks for the ping. Better late than never -- and he gets to wear it, which many MOH recipients don't.
There are always those who game the system but you can't do it for an entire career. Army Selection Boards are not perfect but they are the next best thing. I know, I worked there for a while. There are so many checks and balances that no one can be carried or screwed unfairly. Oh, and it's not "ranger tabs," it's Ranger Tab, and it's not given to anyone. It's earned.
"I was disappointed to find out that the flood of officers being discharged seemed to be mostly the aggressive warriors, and the combat commissioned types."
The bean counters were doing the selection, and the only curb on them was the WPPA.
"There are so many checks and balances that no one can be carried or screwed unfairly."
If your definition of fairness is limited to "applying the same rules to everyone the same way every time," then that might be true.
However, when the rules are structurally unfair, inequities can emerge despite the equitable application thereof.
Remember what Felix Frankfurter said: There is no greater inequality than the equal treatment of unequals. That is the Catch 22 the bean counters use to displace and dispose of warriors.
"Selection for promotion has very little to do with the awards you have earned. They don't hurt but the boards look at efficiency reports and potential."
See, that statement contains a contradiction. The most significant indicator of potential *should be* performance in combat, of which personal awards for valor are an important indicator.
No one who has performed well, even heroically, in combat, should *ever* be passed over for someone who hasn't.
"Crandall got out but not because they tried to kick him out or any other such thing. Its not because they screwed him."
Was he on the list for 0-6 when he got out? Had he been passed over? How many times? Had someone given him a "word to the wise?"
I've got to run out for a while but what you propose - combat v. non-combat - is not possible.
You're wrong about the WPPA also. You'd be amazed what I saw happen on the boards.
I'll be back.
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This Trojan 6-India.
GARRY OWEN, Sir.
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Trojan 6 = Lt. Col. HAL G. MOORE
Trojan 6-India = Lt. Co. HAL G. MOORE Radioman
http://www.lzxray.com/guyer_set1.htm
(See 1st Photo)
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NEVER FORGET
Army Aviator to be Awarded Medal of Honor
http://www.Freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1782228/posts
NEVER FORGET
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How do I spell Leslie Clark?
Let me see if I can get my brain around this one? There were how many pilots who should have been awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, who got RIF'd?
Thank you for the additional information.
BTTT
BTTT
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