Quote:
Originally Posted by Leozinho
I'm not sure how I feel about this.
the secretary of the Air Force, Deborah Lee James, directed the service’s Special Operations Command to review the seven Air Force Crosses awarded since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks for possible upgrades. She recently recommended the award to the defense secretary, whose approval is required before it goes to the White House.
Slabinski said he wondered whether the Air Force was motivated as much by hopes of receiving its first Medal of Honor since the Vietnam War as by a desire to fully understand what transpired on the mountain.
I wonder that as well.
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That was my take away when I read the article. The AF is feeling butt hurt and well it's been high on this POTUSes list to award as many as he can. While the services have routinely denied SOF especially Army SF higher than Silver Stars or the highest awards for bravery in combat.
The bar has always been set high, as it should be but, some sure seem to be handed out while others get downgraded based on rank or specialty. Even posthumously for courage above and beyond.
I'm not against the process and if TSGT Chapman and many others get a second look now that the war has dragged on for fourteen years maybe it is time to concede that the actions of those killed in the earliest days of the GWOT or throughout it have actually met the requirements and rank, MOS, or time in service will not be used as justification to deny them the highest honor this country can bestow upon them.
We all made jokes about it in my day, because the only way to get it was because you were dead. Laughing over beer came the reality of, I'd rather spend the pension money that comes with living.