Posted on 03/30/2008 8:07:31 AM PDT by LSUfan
Fair enough. thanks for serving!
"The way to win a war is not to die for your country, it is to convince the enemy to die for his country."
The Medal of Honor has become primarily a Dead Man's Medal, and is often divorced from the achievement of any major military objectives. Like the Purple Heart, is has become an award you don't want to win, at least if you value your own life.
I'm perfectly happy to be on the same side as Patton on this issue.
In World War II a baseball player was serving with the Marine Corps. I think it was at the Battle of Tarawa. The Japanese had been lobbing grenades onto the Marine's position, this Marine was lobbing them back.
After three times, the Japanese changed their tactics. They waited a bit before lobbing the grenade. The Marine picked up the grenade, started to throw it back when it went off.
Needless to say, he no longer had a baseball career.
There are lots of other awards for heroism. Anyone with a CIB is a hero in my book. But the MOH is by definition for those that went 'above and beyond." The consequences of going above and beyond in modern warfare is more likely than not, a posthumous award.
Like the Purple Heart, the MOH has become one of those medals that you don't want to receive.
Why would anyone want to be in a position to want a bronze or silver star? I'd steer well clear of anyone psycho enough to have any of those as an objective.
You said the purpose of medals is to see them pinned on a live soldier's chest. I'll ask again: Were all the posthumous MOH's and other medals we've awarded in over a century were given by mistake? Frank Luke, Addison Baker, John Jerstad and Vince Capodano all got their MOHs by mistake? Aspberger (mentioned upthread) shouldn't have gotten his Navy Cross because he died in another battle before it was awarded? We shouldn't have ever awarded posthumous Purple Hearts? Colin Kelly's DSC should never have been awarded? The Brits shouldn't have given the Victoria Cross to Andrew Mynarski, who today still inspires young Canadians with his courage and selflessness 63 years after his death?
Why don't you show some courage and answer the bloody question?
Excellent post.
Tsk. Tsk. Instead of a cogent argument, you resort to personal slander.
The real issue with the MOH is that it has become more and more rare for the medal to reward actions that result in a substantial military gain, but where the protagonist has survived to tell the story. Instead, the award often has come to memorialize tragedies, such as the tragic loss of the two Delta force members in Somalia.
I served with hundred of officers with superlative records who had one of the highest rewards that the military can give, which is a tour of duty at the military academy. While I don't think that they would necessarily be as crude as I have been about the MOH controversy, I am quite certain that they would agree with the general assessment that the MOH has failed to recognize the valor of those who have lead and survived difficult military operations.
There were three different departments who pleaded for me to return. I certainly trust their judgment rather than to listen to your personal invectives.
“The Medal of Honor has become primarily a Dead Man’s Medal, and is often divorced from the achievement of any major military objectives”
Could you show where any US award is linked to military objectives?
MOH FAQ: Congressional Medal of Honor Society
http://www.cmohs.org/medal/medal_faq.htm#1A
10. What are the guidelines for which the medal could be awarded?
10A. On July 25,1963 Congress established a set of guidelines under which the Medal of Honor could be awarded:
a.) while engaged in an action against an enemy of the United States;
b.) while engaged in military operations involving conflict with an opposing foreign force; or,
c.) while serving with friendly forces engaged in armed conflict against an opposing armed force in which the United States is not a belligerent party.
I totally agree.
And it looks like he will be awarded the MOH on June 25, 2019.
Milton Olive was a paratrooper in the 173d Airborne Brigade. He was a soldier, not a Marine.
I stand corrected.
Yes, absolutely United States Army.
Medal of Honor and a $1,366.81 per month stipend to boot.
It’s not a Congressional Medal of Honor, it’s simple the Medal of Honor. It’s awarded by the President in the Name of Congress.
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