Why only two Medals of Honor?

[ellisonz]

Today, the second Medal of Honor was awarded for "Operation Iraqi Freedom," does anybody else find it incredible that with all the fighting our men and women in uniformn have seen there have been but two awarded?

Methinks the conversation went something like this:

RUMMY: Mr. Arse in Chief we need to keep the number of Medals of Honor down in order to keep media attention away from the seriousness of the fighting? Can't have dead heros on the front page.

ARSE IN CHIEF: Great plan Rumsferatu, more dishonored blood on my hands. Keep it hush hush. Yeah, that's right. HAHAHAHAHA - *evil laugh*

The two, both posthumous:

*Paul R. Smith Army Sergeant First Class near Baghdad, Iraq
4 Apr 2003 Held the Enemy at bay allowing for the wounded to be carried out
*Jason L. Dunham Marine Corps Corporal Iraq, near Syrian border
14 Apr 2004 Fought hand-to-hand with the enemy and selflessly hurled himself on a live grenade to protect fellow Marines

In total, 3,462 medals have been awarded to 3,442 different people.

The Pentagon is reconsidering the criteria as of early last fall (took'em awhile): http://www.defenselink.mil/Releases/Release.aspx?ReleaseID=9934

For the record: I don't support his war one bit, but I do wonder why the President doesn't support and honor the men and women "over there."

:grr:

[Howardx]

1. check this

http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=2&aid=115157

"After five years with troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Defense Department has issued only two Medals of Honor, the nation's highest award for valor. It isn't because there haven't been astonishing, selfless acts of courage. It is that something in the rules and award processes seems to have changed. The two medals awarded for service in Iraq were the first since the battle in Moagdishu, Somalia, in 1993. Last week, theHouse Armed Services Committee held a hearing to examine the way the Defense Department handles military awards. The Defense Department says "a number" of cases are nearly finished that will result in more recommendations being sent to President Bush."

more at the link

[Monkeyman]

2. We have 30 Who deserve a Heart but still not given

They all have wounds from Combat

[ellisonz]

4. They sure are taking their sweet time...

So we'll see a number of awards just in time for the worst of the "surge" :puke:

[Little Wing]

3. I'll take a stab at this

It's a different kind of warfare, with much smaller engagements. If you ever go to military history sites and read the actual award certificates, you'd see some amazing feats of bravery over long periods of time. Typically guys holding off entire companies of enemy with a single machine gun while keeping the guys around him alive overnight. In freezing temperatures, while being shot and wounded themselves. Or repeatedly crossing hundreds of meters of dangerous land, or no-man's land in the trench days, to either kill enemy installations or drag back the wounded Allies.

These days war is much more networked, and if firefights get too heavy, air support and artillery are brought in much more accurately than ever. I'm not taking anything away from the troops with this, but that's how it is. If there's an enemy sniper, don't risk yourself by mounting a suicidal one-man charge against it, just point a laser at it and wait 5 minutes. War evolves closer to where there shouldn't ~need~ to be Medals of Honor awarded.

[ellisonz]

8. Perhaps, but.

You'd have thought there'd at least be a few from the "invasion" phase of it all.

Your on the mark but the requirement isn't the incredible, it is conspicuous heroic acts "above and beyond the call of duty"...

"…conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while engaged in an action against an enemy of the United States…"<1>

When I was younger I read alot of them...and reread many of the WWII one's after seeing "Flags of our Fathers" and I still think Georgie obviously wasn't asking the right questions as always.

[Little Wing]

9. The Invasion was a walk, they were right about that part

I use the term 'walk' reluctantly, because I'm sure there were at least a few fierce firefights. But we were invading an Army comprised of guys holding positions at gunpoint, still in their daily loafers and not combat boots. The much ballyhooed "Elite Republican Guard" knew what was best for them and disbanded to form the insurgency against the inevitable Shia powergrab. Lucky for them, Rummy didn't think it was necessary to either guard or blow up the Iraqi munitions depots, which were then robbed clean.

I guess my main point is engagements today are much fiercer and faster than in the past. See Fallujah, that was a massacre. Today's Generals likely went through the ranks reading these old awards, and don't think the new generation rates. There's a lot of romanticism going on with "The Greatest Generation", and much of it is deserved, but in similar situations those guys wouldn't have done anything different than the guys in Iraq today - but their experiences would have been much different. There's no D-Day, Battle of the Bulge or things of that style in Iraq. It's a different American war machine, one that gets in, shoots a lot of stuff, and gets out.

[YDogg]

5. hell, this isn't like the pres medal of freedom, or whatever that now ...

... bogus medal bush gave to his war criminal friends.

:sarcasm:

[Howardx]

6. that paul r. smith is a real hero

google his name and read the story of what happened that day.

[Roland99]

7. When was the 1st one awarded? This one is awarded *3 years* later and right after

that horrid speechifying last night.

[ellisonz]

10. Exactly. He's playing games...

While mothers and fathers weep and wonder if it was worth it. It's obviously not, but he doesn't seem to give a damn, and you certainly don't tell that to a parents who have lost a son or daughter.

I'm sick to my stomach.:puke:

[hedgehog]

11. I suspect it's the nature of this war..

While it takes extreme courage and character to endure in Iraq day after day, deployment after deployment, there are few opportunities to display conspicuous bravery when so many of the attacks are RPGs or IEDs.