You can tell it's an election year.......first the PH for PTSD, and now, we all gonna get a Combat Action Badge..........Bi-partisan support for the legislation........file it under "shameless pandering to Veterans" during the election cycle?
Personally, I'm pretty proud of the one I already have..........My kid "awarded" me his that he got in Iraq.......
This is from a Vietnam Vet who saw some serious combat himself. I see it a little differently. Of course, I don't have a serious combat record, either, just for the record.
This is how I see it, as I put it in my response.
Well, while I'm still ambivalent about PH for PTSD, I don't see why a guy who got a Purple Heart in Desert Storm, or Somalia, or fill-in-the-blank who would qualify under current regs for the CAB getting a CAB.
Just like I don't object to the concept that my father, who led North Korean partisans operating behind Chinese lines up near the Yalu as a part of the United Nations Partisan Forces Korea (UNPFK) during the Korean War, when there were no Special Forces, was awarded, retroactively, an SF tab for his work.
Does that make it easier to swallow?
Easing up on the quals for a CAB, now *that* would generate some fire for me, because of the obvious debasement of the award and the stench of "self esteem" crap creeping in.
Bad enough we created a ribbon back in the 80's so that *everybody* would have something to wear on their greens. How weak was that? As I told MG Faith, CG of 1st Armored Division, when he was taking questions at the annual AUSA meeting in Europe, "My uniform is my "Army Service Ribbon." Why in the name of good order and discipline do I need to have a ribbon to say what the uniform already says?"
I didn't get a good answer. I dont fault MG Faith. There wasn't a good answer. There still isn't. But the damned ribbon remains.
As for the pandering... I see my buddy didn't mention the GI Bill being tussled over. Some pandering is better than others... Said the guy who joined the Army during the six month period when there weren't any bennies to speak of, and by the time they had decided mebbe they ought to recitfy that, he'd already bought and paid for his Master's. I was *such* a cheap date for the Army.
Update: My correspondent responds:
I'd go for maybe backing it up to Desert Storm......but leave Us Olde Pharts out of it.
Would be kind of cool to see my daughter get one for action she was involved in in Somalia......she qualifies.
Steve went to Iraq with the 256th Inf Bde out of Louisiana........the first CAB awarded in that Brigade went to the Brigade Sgt Maj........That didn't sit well with the rest of the troops.
I decided years ago that I was the only rotor wing aircraft mechanic who ever served in VN.......everybody else was a LRRP, Seal, Ranger, Sniper.......or a "door gunner".......
Those would be the guys lining up to get a CAB.
Or - a Green Beanie. You could make the argument for the Purple Heart qualification as a sole qualification, though I would be inclined to accept any decoration with a "V" device attached. Bronze Stars, no - Bronze Star with "V", yes.
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