Posted on 09/07/2018 2:15:55 PM PDT by jazusamo
I completey agree that he deserves a Purple Heart. However, he was not shot, he dislocated his shoulder.
PS Thanks for your service!! Hope you are getting the benefits you deserve!
Yeah, the Army is pretty clear on the issue.
1. Jump off a truck in a combat zone and break your leg - no Purple Heart.
2. Jump off the same truck while under fire and break your leg - you get a Purple Heart.
A terrorist shooting through your door and you dive over a desk and dislocate your shoulder and need medical attention? Falls under # 2.
Well said, I agree.
But, you knew they went do this.
Sorry, but dislocating your shoulder isn’t Purple Heart material. Enemy forces did not directly cause your injury. And I disagree with the above poster (on phone so can’t check easily), but #2 shouldn’t be a Purple Heart. You were not wounded by enemy action, even if these actions indirectly caused those wounds. The Purple Heart should go back to being a more rare, deserved award, not something just handed out like candy.
You would probably be surprised to find out how a lot of Purple Hearts were awarded.
i agree with your point...i probably should have made that disclaimer at the outset of my post. A dislocated shoulder is NOT Purple Heart Material. Although in all fairness, it IS complicated. Suppose that dislocated shoulder is a result of a combat operation? Suppose (as is an actual case, i know the recipient) the soldier was an MP who was shot while investigating a crime? The soldier in question DID receive a Purple Heart.
This is why the US Military has a board to determine such things. It CAN be complicated.
All that said, i STRONGLY object to a civilian court presuming to intrude in matters over which it has NO JURISDICTION. We have laws and Separation of Powers for a reason, and judges in this country had better get with the programme, or they may soon get the “Abraham Lincoln Treatment” —no, NOT assassination. Lincoln imprisoned judges, reporters, and state legislatures during the Civil War.
Bottom line is that President Trump through his designated administrators is the ultimate authority over the matters that concern the US Military (like awards of decorations), NOT the courts.
2. Jump off the same truck while under fire and break your leg - you get a Purple Heart.
OK, using that rule I am going to apply for a cluster for my purple heart. I did get a service connection rating from the VA for discs in my spine that degenerated and disintegrated and reduced my height by an inch. The service connection was because as a heliborne assault 11bravo grunt with over 20 heliborne insertions, there were times the pilot due to terrain or enemy fire could not land and would drop to 4-5 feet and the troops with full gear had to jump to the ground. So, the truck analogy should work, the slick was just an air truck lol.
You would have to had medical documentation that you sought aid and were treated for an injured back after one of those ops that you received fire.
If not it would be much, much harder - but not impossible.
It was pretty well a tongue in cheek reply as the post just indicated 'in a combat zone' not under fire. In retrospect I did have documentation of the disc loss since my discharge medical documented the height difference. But not hardly a serious thought on my part to go for it after 50 years, i'll just be content to have the purple durple for getting shot in a firefight. We always did kid each other about the remf's applying for shower soap slips though.
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