My father-in-law was awarded the Purple Heart for service in Normandy, going in a couple of days after D-Day. His car license plate identifies him as a Purple Heart veteran. I have been with him on occasion when a stranger has come up to him and asked to shake his hand, and has said “thank you.” It makes an impression on the boys when it happens.
We had a presence in Korea before it actually became war over there. My dad was in Korea sometime in the late forties. He was always careful to say that he had been in Korea, but not during the war. He was a member of both the American Legion and the VFW – they gave him an honor guard at his funeral, and a flag over his casket that my nephew, his oldest grandson, now has.
Well, Ursa, your replies speak volumes of your attempt to understand a culture that is different than yours.
First off, your use of the words “recompense” and “rewards” are alien concepts to those of us who served and were recognized. You don’t “win” these medals, it is not like getting Top Salesman at Xerox, or anything comparable. No sane soldier, sailor, airman, or marine stays up nights wondering how good the Purple Heart will look on his or her uniform blouse. The government and people of this country did not engineer our present system of honors and decorations to save money on recompensation. I had a very good Serviceman’s Group Life Insurance plan worth a quarter million if I bought it in service and the Veteran’s Administration has programs for us if we incur disabilities in the service short of dying. Fortunately I never had to call any of these markers.
In net worth, our battle honors and decorations mean nothing outside the military. I can’t take mine and go to Sears and get a discount on a vacuum cleaner. Nor was this the intent of these colored bits of ribbon. In your world Ursa, it doesn’t break even or turn a profit on the “bottom line”. It may not even make logical sense to you that pieces of cloth and cheap metal badges are valued in ways more than you can ever hope to understand. Among those of us who served and have been “in harm’s way”, as John Paul Jones once said, they speak volumes. In logic, I concede this to you.
I was in Brooklyn recently, on business, and was flying out of LaGuardia. At the airport bar I got into a conversation with an army sergeant. It turned out that we both were in Panama during Operation Just Cause and were just 50 or so kilometers away from each other during the Gulf War. I talked about my new civilian life (I had just retired early last year) and he talked of getting back to his home in Kentucky after 22 years. I noticed the small, nondescript purple ribbon and a few other campaign ribbons and badges. Before I ran out to catch my flight back to Atlanta, I bought him a beer, brought the remnants of mine and tapped his glass. All I said before I left was “To Absent Friends”.
I may never see this man again, but the look in his eyes was the understanding of a bond shared between those of us who took up the profession of arms.
I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt on this one, cyb, and just pretend that you think the term “one million” is equal to the figure 800,000.
But had you actually been in service, and even in combat, then your DD Form 214 would have those particular awards entered and you would be eligible for veteran’s preference, combat veteran’s preference, and even (depending on the severity) disabled veteran’s preference in hiring.
The story you posted about LaGuardia actually brought tears to my eyes. That usually happens when I laugh uncontrollably.
These are wonderful benefits so long as you’re applying for a position in the VA or the Post Office. Beyond that, they might get you a quarter from the guy outside the coffee shop.
The best lack all conviction
The worst are full of passionate intensity.
*
Monty:
I don’t know cyb (I assume cyb==Bluepony), but I am a veteran and tend to agree with him on this particualr issue. I do not know of any civil service jobs that grant preference to combat veterans over other veterans. For that matter, I do not know of any Postal Service jobs that do som but given the paramilitary organization of that service I would not rule it out. Regardless, those “benefits” never entereed my thoughts when I was on active duty, and they certainly are not asociated with the “awards” of Ursa Major’s post.
When I saw a solier with four hashes on the right sleeve, the recognition I gave him had nothing at all to do with the idea that he might have an advantage the next time he was aplying for a job sorting mail.
The best lack all conviction
The worst are full of passionate intensity.
*
Ursa, it doesn’t take a single specific act to earn the Purple Heart. What it takes is the willingness to put your body between your country and hostile powers, and getting wounded for it. A medal is possibly the least recognition we can give to them.
I sold my soul to Satan for a dollar. I got it in the mail.
SM: I did not say, nor did I imply, that the veteran or combat veteran status of a particular individual is not recognized by other members of the Armed Forces in the manner you describe, which manner I also follow for obvious reasons.
Go down to your local post office or base Human Resources Office and grab an appliation for federal employment. You will notice the questions checking for veteran and combat service. That shows that the federal government, as the potential employer, sees such service as meaningful after such service.
1: First and foremost, it’s gonna be Bush vs Gore. I’m wondering exactly how long its going to be before Gore’s Nam vet status gets compared to Dubya’s valiant defense of Texas air space? This time the Democrats the guy with the veteran credentials and the Republican is the guy who weasled his way into the Air National Guard! Delicious! Hoisting upon petards will commence. Let the people rejoice!
Unless my memory fails, wasn’t there a time when Vietnam vets were not welcome in the VFW? As I recall, the difficulty was that so many had returned with politically unsavory views.
Are there any special ribbons or such to indicate a veteran of the glorious campaign agains the Mambo Marxists of Grenada? Don’t recall seeing any license plates with “Grenada Era Vet” or any such. Will we?
I think Kerry’s bunch, Vietnam Veterans Against the War, as one of the most powerful groups for good in American history. So many would have spoken out sooner, if they hadn’t been afraid of seeming not to support “our boys”. When those medals were flung back into the face of the government that awarded them, the corner was turned.
I cannot accept that one honors one’s country by aiding it in a dishonorable enterprise. Rather than be drafted, I would have been willing to emigrate to Canada, live in an igloo and eat walrus fat. I got lucky, a few of my friends weren’t so lucky. Not proud of it, not ashamed particularly, it was as it was. I got out from under the shit, so did Dubya. I can say it out loud. Can he?
Not only that, but by doing my job in the Military (whatever that may be), I let other do their jobs. If I take care of ordering supplies and making sure they get to where they are supposed to be, then whoever is counting on them has one less thing to worry about. The military service needs everyone in it…from the store clerk, to the front line soldier.
The talk of purple hearts reminded of a question I was wondering about. What exactly is required to earn a purple heart? I remember stories about someone who drops a book on their toe, and has to get a bandaid while in a combat area, and recieves a purple heart. Are these sorts of things true? What is the most absurd reason for recieving a purple heart?
What is the most absurd reason for recieving a purple heart?
I recall a story going around, late 60’s early 70’s, to the effect that a guy in Viet Nam was on the recieving end of oral sex from a Vietnamese hooker, who bit him severely (no details offered). It was then determined that she was a VC agent, and he got a Purple Heart. Maybe one of those legends.