I thought it might be time to address what we military folks already know, so that those without our experience might better understand some things. In particular, I want to speak about Awards and Decorations, better known to the uninitiated as Medals and Ribbons. No, the two aren’t intechangeable.
When I completed Basic Training I received approval to wear the National Defense Service Medal. There is a medal to go along with the ribbon, but until I owned a Mess Dress uniform, I never had the need to put it on. Medals aren’t worn except when in formal attire. We referred to the NDSM as “Alive in ’75” because automatic award ended with our involvement in Vietnam. It has since returned with the Gulf War in 1991.
I have two boxes of awards, medals, citations, etc., sitting in my attic. I don’t have an “I love Me Wall”. When I retired, I entered a completely new life, and it felt just that dramatic. But when I taught at USAFA, I brought all those things into my classroom one day to show all my students. I also had a world map mounted on foam board with pins showing all the places I had lived and worked during my career.The display went all the way around the room, and the cadets were duly impressed.
But that wasn’t the point. I explained to them that I had simply done my job, and done it well. In 20 years, they would also have similar collections. Those things come to you if you don’t try to get them.
I won’t bore you with what medals and other awards I received. I got them for doing my job. I didn’t request them, nor did I really feel I deserved any of them. Someone felt I did, and that was what meant something to me. I was honored by the sentiment.
I have known some real heroes in my life. I have seen people do some heroic things. Not once did any of them think about doing something heroic. They simply did their job as they saw it. Neither have I known anyone to brag about what medals they have, nor about the circumstances that got them the award. Well, perhaps I should clarify that just a bit. Some have told their story in a self-effacing way as if saying, “Boy was I stupid!” And some have told their story as in, “Damn was I scared!” But, for the most part, guys who have done something heroic don’t even realize it until the situation is over. They just did what needed to be done.
This is among many reasons why career military men and those who have seen combat have little use for John Kerry. His obsession about his four month tour and his medals identifies him to us as a fake. To us, all his bragging tells us he was the type who looked for a way to get an award, and was even willing to write it up himself. I can’t explain how disgusting that is. You just have to have seen it before, and know the personality of people who do such things. We called them Careerists. That is an epithet that has no equal I can think of in civilian life. There is strong emotion in that term because it identifies someone as self-centered, and not a team player. That is not the guy you trust your life to.
So, you ask, what is the point of all this? About a month ago, I wrote my view of the two men running for President as I see them 35 years ago. Lorie thought I was prescient. Thanks for the compliment, but I just looked at two military individuals and saw in them other people I have known.
I think the revelations have vindicated that opinion.
That was just great, Bunker. God Speed.
Comment by Paulie at The Commons — September 18, 2004 @ 6:21 pm
Well I still disagree with you Bunker, I have yet to see evidence that Kerry wrote his own citations, and believe me I have looked. I think, hell I know what kind of trooper Dubya was, he was a disobedient ass. I was very similar in my second enlistment, as I have written before. I can not attest to what kind of pilot he was, but to let yourself be grounded, tells a lot. No pilot I have ever known (and I knew more than a couple) would ever just walk away from flying. Look at Yeager, and Bob Hoover, those guys are in their 80’s and still flying. I knew a few Warthog guys (A-10 Thunderbolt II to the civilians out there), they were such egoists about their planes, I asked one about “top cover”, and he snorted, and replied, “Hell with top cover, I want a MiG to slip top cover so I can make a head on gun run”. That attitude is endemic to all pilots, especially the fighter jocks. I do not understand why he bothered to try piloting, “unless it is a competition with dad thing”. As I have mentioned before while I thought Bush the first was rather detached, he seemed intelligent. His son has all of the arrogance, but none of the ability to project intelligence. I think in fact why I dislike Dubya is that intellectual incuriosity, add to that his horse dung phony “populist” manner, and you get a guy I would not trust in a bar fight. In fact that to me is the difference between Kerry, and “Shrub”. They both will manage to start a bar fight, but one will stay and try to finish what he started, the other will coward out immediately. I don’t think either one is really presidential, but faced with the option of sitting this one out, or writing in a dead guy, I think the dead guy had definite possibilities this year. I am registered as an independent, and until I see a truly independent party I refuse to vote for any major-party candidate in presidential elections anymore. As is I think the low IQ crowd will eventually drag this country into “banana-republic” status if they get their way and allow four more years of Bush. Yes ladies and gentlemen I end this screed with an ad hominem attack, but that is just my opinion I could be wrong.
Comment by Bubba Bo Bob Brain — September 19, 2004 @ 10:02 am
Hey Bunker,
You’re saying what I’ve been telling anyone who will listen. Real heroes don’t brag about their exploits. In my six years on active duty in Airborne units, I served with three CMH winners, one of whom was my room mate in the 82d in 1967. I never once heard any of those guys mention anything about their medals much less boast about them.
BTW, I’ve been in a few bar fights and if I ever had to face ol’ Bubba Bo Bob Brain in one, I’d damn sure hope he had Kerry on his side and Dubya was on mine. A guy who squeezes his eyes shut when he tries to catch a football ain’t gonna see a punch coming.
Airborne!
Russ Vaughn
Comment by Russ Vaughn — September 19, 2004 @ 10:34 am
Bubba, if you’ve ever taken a flight physical, you might look at it differently. It’s an all-day invasion of your body. Knowing you won’t be flying regardless makes it seem pretty silly to endure it.
The intellectual incuriosity you mention is something I’ve never seen. Lots of folks have made such a claim, but I’m even less likely to believe it after all the CBS crap. Besides, I’ve heard Kerry did more poorly at Yale than Dubya. I’d guess that’s true seeing how desperate Dems are to find something to slam Bush for.
Comment by Bunker — September 19, 2004 @ 1:17 pm
Awards Decorations and the measure of a man
BunkerMulligan’s piece comes from a place that he knows and knows well. Taken all together, Mr. Kerry comes up wanting– very wanting.
Trackback by Wandering Mind — September 19, 2004 @ 10:25 am