American Military Medals: their intent

[klenke]

With all this recent political talk of whether Senator Kerry is or is not deserving of the medals he received (three Purple Hearts, a Bronze Star, and a Silver Star), I thought I'd educate myself on the requirements to receive these medals. The Purple Heart's qualifications have always been fairly obvious to me, but I realized I didn't know what you needed to do for the Bronze and Silver stars.

 

This website lists the major medals for the U.S. Army (not including the Purple Heart): Americal Organization.

The page covering the Medal of Honor is particularly noteworthy. I didn't realize there had been over 3,000 recipients of it.

 

For some real inspiration, read the citations for the 13 Americal Division Medal of Honor Recipients. For those who were mortally wounded, this is how you're supposed to die for your cause and country. Emotional stuff.

 

[klenke]

bumped for Icegirl and Harpell.

[Fat_Teddy]

Most of the medals are fairly vague with their requirements. They leave it open to the chain of command. For the most part, I think it works out for the best.

[JoshK]

Silver Star:

 

"b. The Silver Star is awarded to a person who, while serving in any capacity with the U.S. Army, is cited for gallantry in action against an enemy of the United States while engaged in military operations involving conflict with an opposing foreign force, or while serving with friendly foreign forces engaged in armed conflict against an opposing armed force in which the United States is not a belligerent party. The required gallantry, while of a lesser degree than that required for the Distinguished Service Cross, must nevertheless have been performed with marked distinction."

 

 

Bronze Star:

 

". The Bronze Star Medal was established by Executive Order 9419, 4 February 1944 (superseded by Executive Order 11046, 24 August 1962).

 

b. The Bronze Star Medal is awarded to any person who, while serving in any capacity in or with the Army of the United States after 6 December 1941, distinguished himself or herself by heroic or meritorious achievement or service, not involving participation in aerial flight, in connection with military operations against an armed enemy; or while engaged in military operations involving conflict with an opposing armed force in which the United States is not a belligerent party.

 

c. Awards may be made for acts of heroism, performed under circumstances described above, which are of lesser degree than required for the award of the Silver Star.

 

d. The Bronze Star Medal may be awarded for meritorious achievement or meritorious service according to the following:

 

(1) Awards may be made to recognize single acts of merit or meritorious service. The lesser degree than that required for the award of the Legion of Merit must nevertheless have been meritorious and accomplished with distinction."

[Fat_Teddy]

Was that to help out your cc.com compatriots that wouldn't be able to find it through the link, were you driving home my point that the conditions to be met are vague, or was there a deeper meaning I'm totally missing that you could expand on?

[klenke]

Martlet: don't stir up shit with Josh just because you and he don't see eye-to-eye on political matters. He was simply doing us a service by pasting the requirements into a post. I could have done that, but then I only bumped it for Scott & Laura's use.

[Fat_Teddy]

klenke: Don't stir up shit with me just because you and I don't see eye-to-eye on political matters. I simply asked a question.

[klenke]

Ah, but how do you know we don't see eye-to-eye on political matters? What are my political views?

 

I am immune to your posting style. Your style can't hurt me.

[scott_harpell]

Everyone read the congressional medal of honor citations. The most pure form of bravery I have ever heard of.

[Fat_Teddy]

Everyone read the congressional medal of honor citations. The most pure form of bravery I have ever heard of.

 

Browse this site, there's some amazing stories. MOH Citations

[olyclimber]

I am immune to your posting style. Your style can't hurt me.

My kung fu style is unstoppable!

[JoshK]

Was that to help out your cc.com compatriots that wouldn't be able to find it through the link, were you driving home my point that the conditions to be met are vague, or was there a deeper meaning I'm totally missing that you could expand on?

 

As Paul said I was just being helpful. If you had been on this site for more than 10 days you would know that people generally appreciate articles, etc. from other pages pasted in the article. I also posted just the ones that Paul mentioned specifically.

 

Yes, the are vauge. It's pretty hard to lay out guidlines such as "Shot 4 enemies, decapitated as least 1, and wounded at least 5"

 

Given the description of those 2 medals, I'm still interested in how you get critisizng Kerry for his service yet backing up GW's time in the rich kid flying club?

[Stonehead]

I believe medals are all about recognition and as such, these remain visible manifestations of worth if the symbolism is not cheapened by the gratuitous granting of these honors.

 

The struggle for recognition underlies the motivation towards and the expression of ideologies, religious beliefs, and honors. The human need for recognition has a biological basis and that basis is related to levels of serotonin in the brain.

 

Francis Fukuyama further explains the significance of recognition. He credits Adam Smith and especially, Smith’s The Theory of Moral Sentiments in explaining the importance of recognition among humans. Though economists have the notion that people seek utility, Fukuyama believes that Smith understood the more complex psychology underlying our behavior. In Fukuyama’s words, “In some cases we do want resources, but in many other cases what we want is the intersubjective esteem of another human being that recognises your dignity. Smith has this phrase where he says that when the rich man glories in his richness it is not that he lives to enjoy in private the money that he has, it is more that he is seen by other people as having achieved wealth and status. The reason Smith says poverty is humiliating is that the poor man is invisible to his fellow man and is not recognised as another human being.” And this also from Fukuyama: “I think a great deal of politics is actually not over resource allocation, it's over recognition struggles—gay rights, feminism, civil rights, all of these things are essentially demands that other people recognise you as an individual, or your group of people, as having a certain kind of moral status.”

 

Again:

 

According to Hegel, human beings like animals have natural needs and desires for objects outside themselves such as food, drink, shelter, and above all the preservation of their own bodies. Man differs fundamentally from the animals, however, because in addition he desires the desire of other men, that is, he wants to be "recognised." In particular, he wants to be recognised as a human being, that is, as a being with a certain worth or dignity. This worth in the first instance is related to his willingness to risk his life in a struggle over pure prestige. For only man is able to overcome his most basic animal instincts-chief among them his instinct for self-preservation-for the sake of higher, abstract principles and goals. According to Hegel, the desire for recognition initially drives two primordial combatants to seek to make the other "recognise" their humanness by staking their lives in a mortal battle. When the natural fear of death leads one combatant to submit, the relationship of master and slave is born. The stakes in this bloody battle at the beginning of history are not food, shelter, or security, but pure prestige. And precisely because the goal of the battle is not determined by biology, Hegel sees in it the first glimmer of human freedom.

 

The desire for recognition may at first appear to be an unfamiliar concept, but it is as old as the tradition of Western political philosophy, and constitutes a thoroughly familiar part of the human personality. It was first described by Plato in the Republic, when he noted that there were three parts to the soul, a desiring part, a reasoning part, and a part that he called thymos , or "spiritedness." Much of human behaviour can be explained as a combination of the first two parts, desire and reason: desire induces men to seek things outside themselves, while reason or calculation shows them the best way to get them. But in addition, human beings seek recognition of their own worth, or of the people, things, or principles that they invest with worth. The propensity to invest the self with a certain value, and to demand recognition for that value, is what in today's popular language we would call "self-esteem." The propensity to feel self-esteem arises out of the part of the soul called emos . It is like an innate human sense of justice. People believe that they have a certain worth, and when other people treat them as though they are worth less than that, they experience the emotion of anger. Conversely, when people fail to live up to their own sense of worth, they feel shame, and when they are evaluated correctly in proportion to their worth, they feel pride. The desire for recognition, and the accompanying emotions of anger, shame, and pride, are parts of the human personality critical to political life. According to Hegel, they are what drives the whole historical process.

 

--Francis Fukuyama, The End of History and the Last Man (1992)

[Fat_Teddy]

Was that to help out your cc.com compatriots that wouldn't be able to find it through the link, were you driving home my point that the conditions to be met are vague, or was there a deeper meaning I'm totally missing that you could expand on?

 

As Paul said I was just being helpful. If you had been on this site for more than 10 days you would know that people generally appreciate articles, etc. from other pages pasted in the article. I also posted just the ones that Paul mentioned specifically.

 

Yes, the are vauge. It's pretty hard to lay out guidlines such as "Shot 4 enemies, decapitated as least 1, and wounded at least 5"

 

Given the description of those 2 medals, I'm still interested in how you get critisizng Kerry for his service yet backing up GW's time in the rich kid flying club?

 

The National Guard is the rich kid flying club? Which branch were you in?

[scott_harpell]

Damn! I dare ya to say that to a National Guardsmen.

[Distel32]

JESUS CHRIST PEOPLE SHUT THE FUCK UP ALREADY WITH POLITICAL DEBATES!!!! IF YOU LIKE WHO IS IN OFFICE OR YOU WANT HIM OUT OF THE WHITEHOUSE, THEN GET OFF YOUR SPRAYING ASS AND GO DO SOMETHING. VOLUNTEER OR WORK FOR YOUR PARTY OR CANDIDATE, BUT SHUT THE FUCK UP ALREADY!

 

seriously this political debate shit is soooooo dumb

[scott_harpell]

Erik... is that you?

[Ratboy]

HE'S RICK JAMES, BITCH!

[Stonehead]

To Be or Not to Be (Shakespeare in Hamlet)

 

To Be Is To Do (Socrates)

To Do Is To Be (Jean-Paul Sartre)

Do-be-do-be-do (Sinatra)

 

Scooby Dooby Doo (Scooby Doo)

[JoshK]

Was that to help out your cc.com compatriots that wouldn't be able to find it through the link, were you driving home my point that the conditions to be met are vague, or was there a deeper meaning I'm totally missing that you could expand on?

 

As Paul said I was just being helpful. If you had been on this site for more than 10 days you would know that people generally appreciate articles, etc. from other pages pasted in the article. I also posted just the ones that Paul mentioned specifically.

 

Yes, the are vauge. It's pretty hard to lay out guidlines such as "Shot 4 enemies, decapitated as least 1, and wounded at least 5"

 

Given the description of those 2 medals, I'm still interested in how you get critisizng Kerry for his service yet backing up GW's time in the rich kid flying club?

 

The National Guard is the rich kid flying club? Which branch were you in?

 

It is well known that his unit was one that hosted quite a few high profile "connected" kids. I was not referring to the NG as a whole. Just answer the question, how do you critisize carry's recognition. You seem so willing to claim he wasn't brave, but last time I checked you were never there.

[klenke]

De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da (The Police)

Doo Doo a Do Do (Robert Plant)

Doudou n'Diaye Rose (Rose Rhythm)

[scott_harpell]

HE'S RICK JAME'S BITCH!

 

Sick!

[Stonehead]

Super Freak

[Fat_Teddy]

Was that to help out your cc.com compatriots that wouldn't be able to find it through the link, were you driving home my point that the conditions to be met are vague, or was there a deeper meaning I'm totally missing that you could expand on?

 

As Paul said I was just being helpful. If you had been on this site for more than 10 days you would know that people generally appreciate articles, etc. from other pages pasted in the article. I also posted just the ones that Paul mentioned specifically.

 

Yes, the are vauge. It's pretty hard to lay out guidlines such as "Shot 4 enemies, decapitated as least 1, and wounded at least 5"

 

Given the description of those 2 medals, I'm still interested in how you get critisizng Kerry for his service yet backing up GW's time in the rich kid flying club?

 

The National Guard is the rich kid flying club? Which branch were you in?

 

It is well known that his unit was one that hosted quite a few high profile "connected" kids. I was not referring to the NG as a whole. Just answer the question, how do you critisize carry's recognition. You seem so willing to claim he wasn't brave, but last time I checked you were never there.

 

What branch were you in again, talker?

[glacierdog]

Hell, as far as I'm concerned, Kerry going to war at all was enough for military service. I'm not saying I like or trust the guy. But he did serve. Sure, he may have been in specifically for political reasons. But he was in, with the potential to take a fucking bullet. All the debate about his medals is is a bunch of poop flinging. Nothing new guys. Just poop flinging. I recieved a Navy Achievement medal for academic reasons, while a friend of mine got his for disarming a hostile while on duty in Okinawa. Does that mean I didn't deserve mine? I guarantee that if I were running for President, it would come up. So, in summary, ah, fuck off.