Professional Soldiers ® - No GWOT CMOHs?

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- - No GWOT CMOHs? (http://www.professionalsoldiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8842)

We are in the process of re-naming a re-activated range at Fort Benning, Georgia. If approved Brinson Range (formerly a TOW/DRAGON tracking range named for the post Range Officer) will become Krilling Range (Close Quarters Combat Marksmanship) for Master Sergeant Bill Krilling, Distinguished Service Cross.

In researching his Korean War award and citation we found the original recommendation for "The Blue Max" came down to a General Officer asking "Will he survive his wounds?"

The answer was "Yes," and I am told it was then down-graded to the DSC.

Lew Millett and Ola Lee Mize made it.

OTOH, the MOH standards prior to WWII were not what they are today. Even then, MacArthur was awarded one for his unsuccessful defense of the Phillipines. Lindburgh was awarded the MoH, as was Buffalo Bill Cody and Admiral Byrd.

Most of the pre-WW I MOH awards were significantly less valorous that the later criteria. That is because most of the valor medals were created during or after WW I, and the MOH was the only one they had from 1862 till the DSC was created in 1918. During the Civil War, they were handed out like candy. During WW I, a Marine was awarded both the Army MOH, and the Navy MOH for the same action. Another Marine won the two (Army and Navy) in one day. The Silver Star was created for lesser acts in 1932, and the Bronze Star in 1944. That hierarchy of the top valorous awards remains today, and despite the spate of questionable valorous awards since Korea, the MOH has remained at the top, infrequently awarded.

There was 2% or less chance of awardees earning the MOH posthumously prior to WW I. 0% of awardees died in the Spanish-American War, 26% in WW I, 57% in WW II, 71% by Korea, 62% in Vietnam, and 100% for the 3 awarded since then. Based on the following stats, it would appear that the standard has unofficially been raised several times, beginning in WW I and generally trending upwards since then..

Civil War 1,527 MOH, 25 posthumous
Indian Wars 428, 6
Spanish American War 109, 0
Philippines Samoa 91, 1
Boxer Rebellion 59, 1
Vera Cruz 1914 55, 0
Haiti 1915 6, 0
Dominican Republic 3, 0
Haiti 1919-1920 2, 0
Nicaragua 1927-1933 2, 0
Peacetime 1865-1870 12, 0
Peacetime 1871-1898 103, 0
Peacetime 1899-1911 51, 0
Peacetime 1915-1916 8, 1
Peacetime 1920-1940 18, 4
World War I 124, 32
World War II 440, 250
Korean War 131, 93
Vietnam War 244, 150
Grenada 0,0
Panama, 0,0
Somalia 1993 2, 2
DS/DS 0,0
OEF 0,0
OIF, 1,1
Unknown Soldiers 9, 9
Total 3,432, 575

HTH.

TR

My take on the CMH issue is as such: There are alot of our brothers that are on the front lines in the GWOT, whether or not CMH's are awarded and what the Congress motivation may/may not be for awarding them, the fact still remains the same...US Marines, Soldiers, Airmen and Sailors are making the sacrifice day in and day out. They do so in harms way not asking after personal decoratons, awards, etc. They do so because somewhere in their AO a terrorist is looking to kill them. They work swiftly, diligently and stead fastly so as to kill the terrorists first and protect our freedoms. while there are probably alot of men who make that sacrifice and aren't awrded the CMH, the people who they mattered to most...their brothers on their left and right...know what they did and the true value of their sacrifice and dedication to their country. Those in the know...know.

My younger brother is a Marine in A/1/3, same unit as Sgt. Peralta. The Sgt truely made the ultimate sacrifice for his fellow Marine brothers that day. I'm sure it's a sacrifice that can be appreciated by all of us here today.

A week into the battle for Fallujah, the Marines were still doing the deadly work of clearing the city, house by house. As a platoon scout, Peralta didn't have to go out with the assault team that day. He volunteered to go.

According to Kaemmerer, the Marines entered a house and kicked in the doors of two rooms that proved empty. But there was another closed door to an adjoining room. It was unlocked, and Peralta, in the lead, opened it. He was immediately hit with AK-47 fire in his face and upper torso by three insurgents. He fell out of the way into one of the cleared rooms to give his fellow Marines a clear shot at the enemy. During the firefight, a yellow fragmentation grenade flew out of the room, landing near Peralta and several fellow Marines. The uninjured Marines tried to scatter out of the way, two of them trying to escape the room, but were blocked by a locked door. At that point, barely alive, Peralta grabbed the grenade and cradled it to his body.

His body took most of the blast. One Marine was seriously injured, but the rest sustained only minor shrapnel wounds. Cpl. Brannon Dyer told a reporter from the Army Times, "He saved half my fire team."

Kaemmerer compares Peralta's sacrifice to that of past Marine Medal of Honor winners Pfc. James LaBelle and Lance Cpl. Richard Anderson. LaBelle dove on a Japanese grenade to save two fellow Marines during the battle of Iwo Jima. Although he had just been wounded twice, Anderson rolled over an enemy grenade to save a fellow Marine during a 1969 battle in Vietnam.

Peralta's sacrifice should be a legend in the making. But somehow heroism doesn't get the same traction in our media environment as being a victim or villain, categories that encompass the truly famous Jessica Lynch and Lynndie England respectively. Peralta's story has been covered in military publications, a smattering of papers including the Seattle Times and the San Diego Union-Tribune, ABC News, and some military blogs. But the Washington Post and the New York Times only mentioned Peralta's name in their lists of the dead. Scandalously, the "heroism" of Spc. Thomas Wilson — the national guardsman who asked a tough question of Secretary of Defense Don Rumsfeld that had been planted with him by a reporter — has been more celebrated in the press than that of Peralta.

Kaemmerer recounts how later on the night of Nov. 15, a friend approached him and said: "You're still here; don't forget that. Tell your kids, your grandkids, what Sgt. Peralta did for you and the other Marines today." Don't forget. Good advice for all of us.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tuukka

Of the three DSC recipients that I have seen published, none of them were posthumous.

You're right. For some reason, I was mixing Maj. Mitchell up with someone else.

While at the museum at Fort Benning I visited the exhibit on the Medal of Honor. There was a lengthy read on the history. Apparently alot of the MOH that were awarded during the civil war were downgraded many years later. Not sure if TR's post reflects the number prior to the downgrading. I would think not, which means that there were even more awarded than reflected in his post.

Quote:

Originally Posted by CoLawman

A review board convened in 1916, chaired by LTG Nelson Miles, who had himself won the Medal of Honor as colonel of the 61st New York Infantry at the Battle of Chancellorsville. Their report was released in 1917, and 911 names were stricken from the rolls. These were the 864 men of the 27th Maine, who were given the Medal of Honor for reenlisting, the 29 officers and men of Abraham Lincoln's honor guard, 6 civilians (a surgeon and 5 scouts), and 12 other persons considered unqualified. A few, including "Buffalo Bill" Cody's, were later un-stricken. He and the other civilians had theirs returned in 1989.

There were also 17 rescindments of Navy Medals of Honor, mainly for desertion or misconduct.

Somehow, the awarding of the MoH as a reenlistment bonus seems disturbing.

Yes, I know the circumstances, and what happened.

Still strange.

Miles also distinguished himself on the frontier after the War.

TR

Did Neil Roberts Bronze Star ever get upgraded to a MOH? I know when he first died they gave him the Bronze Star for the time while they reviewed the case. I looked on google and I found nothing that said it was upgraded.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spartan359

No. The only one from OEF/OIF so far to be approved and awarded is SFC Smith.

TR

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spartan359

That would be quite an upgrade.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roguish Lawyer

That would be quite an upgrade.

Authority to award the Bronze Star is often devolved to local commanders. So someone at one or two-star level can immediately award it as an impact award, and then request that DOD upgrade it later once more information is available. For the MOH, this is actually important, as there is a three-year statute of limitations in the U.S. Code. So no MOH will be given for the operations in Afghanistan in 2001-02 unless it is already in the works, or if it represents a "correction" to an existing award.

That said, I don't think anything MOH-related is happening as regards Roberts, though I think his BS with "V" might have been upgraded to a Silver Star.

Another Navy SEAL, Senior Chief Britt Slabinski, received the Navy Cross for the Battle of Takur Ghar, or "Roberts' Ridge." And both of the posthumous Air Force Crosses for OEF, to T/SGT John Chapman, a combat controller, and to SRA Jason Cunningham, a PJ, were also for that action.

Slabinski's citation: http://homeofheroes.com/verify/02_wot/nc_slabinski.html
Chapman's: http://homeofheroes.com/verify/02_wot/afc_chapman.html
Cunningham's: http://homeofheroes.com/verify/02_wo...unningham.html

A number of others received the Silver Star, including special operations soldiers with the QRF:

CPT Nathan E. Self, 1st BN, 75th Ranger Regiment
SSG Raymond DePouli, 1st BN, 75th Ranger Regiment
SSG Harper Wilmoth, 1st BN, 75th Ranger Regiment
SSG Arin K. Canon, 1st BN, 75th Ranger Regiment
SSG Eric W. Stebner, 1st BN, 75th Ranger Regiment
SGT Matthew LaFrenz, 1st BN, 75th Ranger Regiment
SGT Joshua J. Walker, 1st BN, 75th Ranger Regiment
SPC Aaron Totten-Lancaster, 1st BN, 75th Ranger Regiment
S/Sgt. Kevin Vance, AF combat controller, 17th ASOS, attached to 1-75
T/Sgt. Keary Miller, AF pararescueman, 123rd Special Tactics Squadron
S/Sgt Gabriel Brown, AF combat controller (also 17th ASOS, I think)

The pilots and WSOs of the two F-15s that flew CAS also received Silver Stars:

Capt. Kirk "Panzer" Rieckhoff, 335th Fighter Squadron
Capt. Chris Russell, 335th Fighter Squadron
Maj. Chris "Junior" Short, 335th Fighter Squadron
Lt. Col. Jim "Meat" Fairchild, 335th Fighter Squadron

As did an F-16 pilot called in as the F-15s ran out of ammo:

Lt. Col. Burt "Divot" Bartley, 18th Fighter Squadron

Those are the ones I know about. There might have been others.

While several sites have MOH citations and the site linked to above has DSC/NC/AFC citations, it's hard to find the full citations for most Silver Stars. Here are some:

Keary Miller, the AF PJ, who by the way is a Kentucky Air National Guardsman:

Quote:

Technical Sergeant Keary J. Miller distinguished himself by gallantry in connection with military operations against an opposing armed force near Marzak, Patkia Province, Afghanistan, on 4 March 2002. On that date, Sergeant Miller was the Air Force Combat Search and Rescue Team Leader assigned to a Quick Reaction Force tasked to recover two American servicemen evading capture in austere terrain occupied by massed al Qeada and Taliban forces. Shortly before landing, his MH-47E helicopter received accurate rocket-propelled grenade and small arms fire, severely disabling the aircraft and causing it to crash land. Sergeant Miller and the remainder of the assault force formed a hasty defense and immediately suffered four fatalities and five critical casualties. Despite intense enemy fire, he moved throughout the battlefield, crossing open danger areas on numerous occasions, in order to assess and care for critically wounded servicemen. As the battle drew on, Sergeant Miller removed M-203 and 5.56 rounds from the deceased and, in multiple acts of extraordinary courage, proceeded through some of the day’s heaviest rocket-propelled grenade, mortar, and small arms fire, while distributing the ammunition from position to position. Shortly thereafter another attack erupted, killing one pararescueman and compromising the casualty collection point. Sergeant Miller braved the barrage of fire in order to move the wounded to better cover and concealment. His intrepidity and skill led to the successful delivery of ten gravely wounded Americans to life-saving medical treatment and to the recovery of seven servicemen killed in action. By his gallantry and devotion to duty, Sergeant Miller has reflected great credit upon himself and the United States Air Force.

Lt. Col. Jim "Meat" Fairchild:

Quote:

Lt. Col. James E. Fairchild distinguished himself by gallantry in military operations against an opposing armed forced at Shahi Kot Valley, Afghanistan, on March 4, 2002. Flying as Twister 51, Fairchild contacted Slick 01, who reported they were taking fire from enemy troops 75 meters from their position. Slick 01 requested strafe passes only, due to danger-close friendly troops within minimum risk distances of injury and death from friendly weapons expenditures on enemy locations. Target recognition and accurate delivery were imperative. Twister 51, without regard for his own safety, made four strafe passes at 1,500 feet above ground level, well within the threat envelope of small-arms fire and surface-to-air missiles. Out of high-explosive incendiary ammunition, Twister 51 became the forward air controller-airborne, targeting Twister 52 on four more low-altitude strafe passes employing 20-millimeter ammunition. Twister 51, again acting as forward air controller-airborne, cleared Clash flight into the target area. Due to the expeditious target handoff, Clash 71 was able to make the first strafing pass five minutes after arriving in the target area. With Slick 01’s concurrence, Twister flight attempted to walk each of their successive bombs closer to Taliban and al-Qaida forces without injuring United States forces 75 meters away. Twister 52 dropped 400 meters away from the friendly location, followed by Fairchild, who dropped a single laser-guided bomb 200 meters from the friendly location. By inflicting direct losses to al-Qaida and Taliban forces and subjecting himself to enemy fire to suppress the same and provide cover for downed friendly troops 75 meters from enemy forces, Fairchild’s aviation prowess was responsible for the eventual rescue of 23 personnel and for advancing the goals of the United States’ war on terrorism. Fairchild remained on-station for more than five hours, two hours past the scheduled coverage time, combining to make it a 12.3-hour combat sortie with three night and five day air-to-air refuelings per fighter.

Lt. Col. Fairchild was the backseater on Twister 51, piloted by Short. Twister 52 was Rieckhoff (pilot) and Russell (WSO). Clash 71 was Bartley's F-16. I think Slick 01 was Gabe Brown, but there were other combat controllers involved as well, including Vance.

IMHO, the pilot awards cheapen the decoration and lower my opinion of the AF.

They did their jobs, the risk was to those on the ground.

TR