© 2003 David H. Hackworth

Recently in Iraq, an Army two-star general put himself in for the Silver Star, a gallantry award, for just being there, and for the Combat Infantryman Badge, an award designed for infantry grunts far below the rank of this division commander.

During the war, members of an Air Force bomber crew were all awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for lobbing a smart bomb from 30,000 feet onto a house where Saddam was rumored to be breaking bread – even though Saddam's still out there somewhere sucking desert air. In 1944, the only way a bomber crew might have gotten the DFC would have been if it had wobbled back from Berlin on one wing and a prayer after a dozen-plus missions of wall-to-wall flak.

Here's another "Believe It or Not": When the Scuds were thumping down on Kuwait, a Navy two-star admiral and six of his flunkies were awarded the Bronze Star after a missile struck 10 miles away.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=34851

I saved a Lt from getting fried by an HF antenna once. Do I get a congressional medal of honor or what?

Originally posted by Betty
I saved a Lt from getting fried by an HF antenna once. Do I get a congressional medal of honor or what?
I think how the Congressional Medal of Honor is awarded is largely political. Not that there were not some people who earned the award who did not deserve it, but there were people who literaly gave their lives for their country and were never recognized for anything.

Although I am no fan of George Bush Sr., I did hear him make a valid point. He was an airman in World War 2 and during his campaign someone anounced him as being a war hero and he corrected that person. He said that while flying over the south pacific he saw young marines landing on the beaches and getting slaughtered by the hundreds. He said that these were the truest american heros, those who never came home to tell about the war.

I remember something like this during the Kosovo war in '98. A full bird colonel was recommended for, and received a Bronze Star. His job: making sure planes take off and land safely.....from where he was in KANSAS!!!