Monday, May 18, 2009
Medal of Honor, U.S. Army
First-term Congressman Duncan D. Hunter (R-CA), a former U.S. Marine who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, accused the Army’s top leaders this week of changing the standards by which service members are awarded the Medal of Honor, noting that not a single living combat troop has received the military’s highest honor during the conflicts. Troops are either “not as brave as they used to be, which I don’t believe is true,” Hunter told General George Casey, the former U.S. commander in Iraq who now serves as Army chief of staff, or the criteria for the award have been amended “so that you have to die” to receive it.
During a House Armed Services Committee hearing, it was revealed that five Americans have been awarded the Medal of Honor this decade, all of whom died in combat. The total is far lower than that of the Vietnam War, during which 244 troops received the Medal of Honor for heroism. Hunter said he knows of several living vets who deserved the award, and have been recommended for it by field commanders, but have not heard if they will receive it.
Casey denied that there has been any attempt to limit the award to only those troops who have perished, adding that he has reviewed several recommendations for living soldiers that “haven’t risen to the level of the Medal of Honor.”
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Lawmaker Engages Army General Over Medal of Honor (by Dale Eisman, CongressDaily)
Medal of Honor (U.S. Army)
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