Posted on 03/12/2013 6:44:58 PM PDT by DogByte6RER
Air Force Chaplain Awarded Bronze Star for PowerPoint Teaching Proper Sensitivity for the Koran
An Air Force chaplain has been awarded a Bronze Star for his service in crafting an especially good PowerPoint about how to treat Islamic religious materials with sensitivity, according to Ohio’s Dayton Daily News. After U.S. troops in Afghanistan accidentally burned copies of the Koran, sparking riots that took over 30 lives, Lieutenant Colonel Jon Trainer came to the rescue:
After the accidental burning last year of Qurans by U.S. troops in Afghanistan sparked deadly rioting, an Air National Guard chaplain from Springfield stepped in and potentially saved countless American lives.
For his effort, Lt. Col. Jon Trainer received the prestigious Bronze Star — a medal given for heroic or meritorious achievement in connection with operations against an armed enemy.
And he did it with a PowerPoint presentation. . . .
Within 48 hours, Trainer developed a PowerPoint presentation on the proper handling and disposal of Islamic religious material that was seen by every American — military and civilian alike — in Afghanistan. The presentation then was distributed to the U.S. for use in all pre-deployment training.
The piece explains that Trainer also helped teach service members just how wide the breadth of their sensitivity had to be, covering what constitutes Islamic religious material in the first place. “When a Muslim writes down even a few verses from the Quran on a piece of paper,” he told the paper, “that immediately gets that same protected status.”
Trainer is a nondenominational Christian minister who has been in the Air Force for 17 years. He is also being recognized for his work running the Army’s suicide-prevention program, in which he’s trained more than 36,000 service members.
The Bronze Star is the U.S. military’s fifth most prestigious combat award, and can be awarded for acts of merit or valor in a combat zone (if the military deems it an act of heroism, the award is given with a “V” device).
Either this is a joke in very bad taste, or it’s yet another sign of Obama’s ongoing effort to destroy our military.
My father also awarded a Bronze Star for combat on New Guinea, and one for action on the island of Morotai — 31st Infantry “Dixie” Division (Alabama National Guard). Giving one to a USAF chaplain for a PowerPoint brief teaching warfighters how to kiss Muzzie asses dishonors my father’s memory, as well as your father’s. And for that matter, it dishonors my uncle’s service in WWII, and my brothers’ and my service in Vietnam, Persian Gulf Ops, and Gulf War I. Disgusting. Zero & his henchmen are destroying everything, including the military.
Did he get the Bronze Star posthumously?
Next in line to get the award...
Jesse Jackass, Al Sharpie, the New Black Panthers, Nation of Islam and CAIR.
Chap ...
Thanks for your service. When I first read the NRO post, there is the distinct impression in the story that this was a simple PowerPoint course to sanitize the religion of Islam.
It too served (USN in the 1980s) and I experienced a great deal of the muslim world having been deployed to the Persian Gulf three times. As a regular FR poster, I have frequently posted topics critical of Islam and I make no apologies for that.
I agree with the Admin Moderator that you should consider posting a new FR thread to better describe this course you developed and the circumstances in which you were awarded the Bronze Star.
I think that the initial reading of the story just rubbed me wrong ... similar to how military drone operators are now being awarded medals that are higher than Purple Hearts and other medals awarded in dangerous combat situations.
Forgive my intial negative reaction ... but the NRO report does play to my sketicism of the Pentagon brass and the politically correct civilians running the DOD.
Best Regards,
Rick
No problem! The guys at The Corner did me a great disservice by redacting the original article in order to fit their political agenda. That hurts...not only because it undermines my service, but also because it discredits their journalism. This is something we expect on the left, but hope the right avoids. Hopefully, it will get cleared up in the next few days, but my character is totally besmirched and I am unable to defend myself.
FWIW, I agree with you regarding the new medal for UAV operators. I believe the current award system could be used to honor their unique contributions to the war effort.
” - - - Awarded Bronze Star for PowerPoint Teaching Proper Sensitivity - - - .”
What would General Patton say?
” - - - Awarded Bronze Star for PowerPoint Teaching Proper Sensitivity - - - .”
What would General Patton say?
If he throws it over the White House fence, will he become the next Secretary Of State?
Well this post makes me feel better in the case you do become the next Secretary Of State, and the sooner the better...
Match, rough surface, pages, warmth.
NR’s implication of ‘political correctness’ rings hollow after their firing of John Derbyshire. It hasn’t been the same since Buckley died.
Hang in there.
Soon they will be handing out Bronze Stars to the chair jockeys in the Pentagon who never darken the dust of a battlefield.
I could use a beer too.
bump
The only thing I find shocking about the whole thing is that anybody could be shocked by “medal inflation” at this stage of the game.
I was in the rear with the gear during most of OIF the first. Compared to my father, who was an honest-to-God combat infantryman in WWII with the 28th Division, I have a colorful chest. In fact, when I compared my copious medals and ribbons to his, I felt like a Cold War Politburo peacock.
Granted, the 28th was pretty sparse with the decorations because a lot of the valor shown was in actions the Army would just as soon forget, with many of the witnesses dead or POWs before they could write them up, but it’s still crazy to me that I have far more REMF awards than my father got as a WWII combat guy.
I remember in the late 80’s or early 90’s, being somewhat proud of a Navy Achievement Medal I got for busting my butt on an operation. Awhile later I stood in formation while a recruiting officer explained that if we referred one warm body that enlisted to him, we’d get a USMC windbreaker and a letter of commendation. Two bodies got you a Navy Achievement Medal and windbreaker. Three got you the jacket, the NAM and a coffee mug.
That NAM lost a lot of luster for me right then and there.
Later on as a SNCO I saw officers kicking around the “Who gets what” question with what amounted to a quota of decorations. I’ve heard the USMC was fairly stingy with awards compared to some of the other services, so a Bronze Star wasn’t a standard end of tour award, but there were one or two waiting for the top performers. There were unwritten but openly discussed rules about certain awards being for officers and others being for enlisted. It was really nauseating.
In fairness to the system, these weren’t “V” combat decorations. In fairness to those being awarded, refusing an award due to reservations about “medal inflation” would be an unwise career move.
Still, it’s gotten pretty silly if you try to compare the awards of earlier eras to what happened when I was in, and that’s getting close to a decade past.
Even back in WWII, General MacArthur was awarded a MoH for what amounted to political and morale reasons when ordinary soldiers had to give up life and limb to get lesser awards.
It is my wish that the enemy would approach the atrocious behavior of their own in the same way that the Military Leadership of our country handles bad behavior by our soldiers. God Bless you for your service to our Nation and, especially, our troops.
During wartime a meritorious service medal is awarded as a bronze star. A bronze star with a V for valor is a heroic medal. The plain Jane bronze star is a meritorious service medal in wartime combat zone wrapper.....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bronze_Star_Medal
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meritorious_Service_Medal_(United_States)
During Desert Storm there were aka REMF’s that didn’t even so much as get a suntan in the desert that were awarded such as the meritorious variant . Denigrates the medal IMO and experience. The bronze star was and should remain an award for heroism only. Not for such as what this chaplain did. There is the meritorious medal and the bronze star ..... Present them as intended.
My opinion....my experience as career military.
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