Thought I might share some of the views reported by David Hackworth, on the 1/2 dozen medals those US soldiers received after being returned.
Just so folks don't think I tout the "party line", you all might want to research Col. Hackworth's past. I don't always agree with him, but I have ONE HELL OF A LOT OF RESPECT for his opinion.
Regards,
Ron
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
PEACE IS BLOWING IN THE WIND
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
By David H. Hackworth, 11 May 1999
Finally, thousands of Yugoslavian lives and billions of U.S. dollars
later
-- and despite NATO's bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade -- the
doves are airborne. Peace watchers are saying a negotiated settlement is
blowing in the wind.
Barrels of blood, tons of rubble and inestimable suffering inflicted
on
the people of Yugoslavia could have been avoided if the NATO war makers had
been less into bombs and more into settling a 600-year-old civil war by
diplomacy rather than death and destruction.
The final peace treaty won't be much different than what could have
been
hammered out by diplomats over this terrible spring without one bomb
falling and without the mass exodus of a million human beings.
The smart way to triumph in a conflict -- a war, a divorce, an
argument
-- is to break the opponent's resistance without fighting.
But when Washington got caught with its bluff down, the war moved
grimly
from miscalculation to misadventure to a near "Apocalypse Now."
As the crisis in the Balkans shuts down, here are the losers:
* The people of Yugoslavia and the Balkans states.
* The United States. The sole surviving superpower comes out looking
like
a muscle-bound idiot outwitted at every turn of the war wheel by a two-bit
dictator from a state the size of Ohio.
* NATO. It failed every military objective including its latest, an
oil
embargo with less teeth than a bag of marshmallows. For the first time in a
century, Europeans have lost total confidence in Yankee savvy and
leadership, and it won't be long before NATO drops the NA -- North American
-- and morphs into a total European defense treaty organization.
* The U.S. taxpayer, who will again be ripped off for a dumb war's
surcharge, and our warriors, who were sent on one more futile mission
that's got nothing to do with America's national security.
* The Gang of Four Fumblers -- Madeleine Albright, Bill Cohen, Sandy
Berger and General Wes Clark - who, while they won't be dragged to the
guillotine, could well be sacked by Clinton, a master at passing the buck.
For sure, all will be skewered and roasted by the historians already
booting up their laptops.
* Congress, which lost face for its pathetic total lack of leadership
and
failure to stop Maddy's mad attempt to bomb the Serbian people to the peace
table
* America's reputation. This latest Clinton catastrophe has given new
worldwide meaning to the phrase "Ugly American." The people of almost every
other country see us as an arrogant, reckless, feckless Robo Globo Cop who
is all too ready to punch holes in anyone who has a different point of view.
And the winners:
* Russia will come out the star of the game. Not only will Boris
Yeltsin
have brought off the peace deal and regained international prestige, he'll
make sure Mother Russia's purse is stuffed with IMF billions. (read U.S.
dough for pulling Clinton's feet from the hot Balkan coals.)
* The U.S. weapon merchants, who cleaned up big time, and all the
other
American porkers, who out-greeded Ike's wildest prophecies and worst
nightmares regarding the Military-Industrial-Congressional-Complex.
* Former Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney's Brown and Root and other
megaconstruction outfits that will be cashing in for years rebuilding what
NATO bombs and Serbian ethnic cleansing blew down.
Oh, sure, expect Clinton to do as Nixon did with the tragic defeat in
Vietnam: turn up the propaganda machine and spin another "Peace with Honor"
which will repeat over and over again that Clinton stood tall, didn't blink
and in the end got his way. Milosevic will play the same tapes on what's
left of his TV network while the good people of Serbia continue on with
their plans for his demise.
Hopefully this will be Clinton's last military misadventure and the
American people will finally wake up and examine what Wild Billy hath
wrought with his military solutions -- how he's bumbled and stumbled in
Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia and Iraq, the Sudan and its August of 1998
disappeared vitamin factory and now Yugoslavia. Maybe now we'll pull the
keys from Billy the Kid's war machine and ground him until he slips off
into the Hollywood Hills to do what he does best.
===================================================
ARTICLE 2
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
********MAC NOTES********
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From all the traffic that has poured in, it seems unanimous: The
military
has lost its mind by awarding six medals to the three released P.O.W.s. I
do not mean to rag on the three troops -- although one did write a "Thank
You" note to his prison guards for his swell Motel 6 treatment, but more to
the point is the damage such giveaway policies do to our military awards
programs. Remember what Napoleon said about awards: "Give me enough ribbon
and I will conquer the world."
So that all of you have a complete list of the awards the three
"heroes"
got, I will list them for you:
Purple Heart
Army Commendation Medal
P.O.W. Medal
Armed Forces Medal
United Nations Medal
NATO Medal
The Purple Heart is awarded for wounds suffered while in armed combat with
an opposing force, for wounds received while in combat "operations" in a
combat zone or for wounds received from terrorist acts while in the
military. It is also awarded to the next of kin when someone is KIA or dies
as the result of wounds received. How can the Pentagon give out Purple
Hearts for injuries received that are no worse than those received in a
H.S. football game? Yes, they were soldiers; yes, they were on a mission
and yes, they were "treated roughly" -- broken nose, cracked ribs, chipped
teeth, cuts and abrasions. Is the Army telling me that the same award for
being killed, maimed or shot-up in a fire-fight is the same award for
taking a fist to the chops -- "treated roughly"?
I propose a new award -- the "Black & Blue Device." It would resemble
the
old WWII ruptured duck or just be a plain red cross on a white background --
the International Sign for First Aid. And by the way, it was the President
himself who referred to them as detainees and stated that they "weren't in
a war zone." Now they're hailed as conquering heroes and given combat
awards for sterling performance in a war zone.
The Army Commendation Medal, also known as the "Green Weenie," is
awarded
for "meritorious achievement" or for "valor in combat." It's meant to be a
slap on the back for a job well done. What was meritorious or valorous
about these three soldiers conduct? No weapons were fired except by the
Serbs and the Pentagon's three latest heroes -- remember Capt. Scott O'Grady
(Bosnia) and Warrant Officer Michael Durant (Somolia) who received similar
heroes' welcomes when their actions were also on the "flakey-side" --
didn't successfully evade the "enemy." All the latest poster-boys did was
surrender. That kind of violation of the "Code of Conduct" gets rewarded?
Article II of the Code states: "I will never surrender of my own free will.
If in command, I will never surrender my men while they still have the
means to resist."
The purpose of awards is to inspire and recognize troops when they
have
stood tall in battle, fought the good fight and displayed valor "in the
face of the enemy." That could entail returning fire upon a superior force
and shooting holes in some bad guys. Put simply, a fighting force needs to
inspire and recognize FIGHTING, RESISTING, and COMBATING the enemy. What is
referred to as FIGHTING SPIRIT! As Hack pointed out to me, "They give a
medal out now for just being a P.O.W." Yes, I do believe that surviving as
a P.O.W. is an accomplishment that requires, in most every case, heroic
efforts just to survive, but giving an award for it seems trite,
condescending and demeans all the past P.O.W. heroes such as Vice Admiral
James Stockdale and Colonel George "Bud" Day.
In nearly three and a half years in a combat theater, Audie Murphy
received 13 decorations and a battlefield commission. During his hitch with
the 3rd Infantry Division, he fought from North Africa to Sicily to Italy to
France and right on through Germany and into Czechoslovakia. All his time
was spent in rifle companies and the number of days he spent in the line
was damn near 400.
Audie Murphy, America's most decorated G.I. from WWII, gets 13 awards
for
400 days of battling with Nazis, killing Nazis and seeing his friends
killed day in and day out. These three Cavalry troops who didn't return
fire, were the victims of rough treatment, and who surrendered receive half
as many awards as Audie Murphy? Audie actually punched holes in enemy
troops. Against a superior force, Audie used a .50 cal while atop a burning
tank destroyer for damn near an hour -- he single-handedly could account for
50 enemy KIA's. He was awarded the Medal of Honor and lost half his ass in
the process.
It seems to me that these three troops are, like Capt. O'Grady and
W.O.
Durant, being used, and are victims in all this. From where I sit the whole
fiasco sounds like "meritorious underachievement" while being used as part
of some "Clark Clinton Super Spin" campaign by the Army, NATO and the
Administration in particular.
Soldiers who deserve a Purple Heart are troops such as Navy Lt. Jack
Daly.
Jack was lasered by a lasing device from a Russian ship, the Kapitan Mann,
in 1997. His eyesight is deteriorating and he is in constant pain. He may
eventually go blind. The U.S. Navy has not awarded him a Purple Heart,
however. Why? Because you cannot see his wounds? Or is it that acknowledging
his wounds may create another National Security crisis, further hurt our
relations with the Russians and wouldn't make good Clinton "spin"?
Don't focus your anger and derision at the three troops involved in
this
mess. The Army failed in its primary mission to these troops -- prepare them
for combat. The current "Be All You Can Be" and "Consideration Of Others"
training crowd of PR types is to blame. Troops in a combat area should be
trained for combat and resistance. Weapons carried should be loaded, enough
ammo made available and the will to use them instilled. These poor fellows
were trained for failure, I'm afraid. Now, it seems, that "failure" must be
hidden behind the smokescreen of creating heroes out of three very used
and confused poster-boys.
(Hack Note:
The other day I saw a woman soldier at an airport who had five rows of
ribbons. She looked like a cross between a Russian General and Douglas
MacArthur. If this give away program -- which has made the US military's
awards system a Barracks joke among our NATO Allies -- continues, the
Pentagon will soon be issuing awards with the MRE. Kind of like the toys
that used to be in Cracker Jacks.)
Have a good week. Don't bunch up.
Robert L. McMahon
Editor
Rlmcmahon@mindspring.com
Please see SPECIAL REQUEST at the end of this Newsletter.
====================================================
ARTICLE 3
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"THEY HAVE US SURROUNDED? THE POOR BASTARDS!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SUMMARY: The above quote reflects "fighting spirit." Below is a collection
of recent commo from the field regarding the awarding of no less than six
Medals, to include the Purple Heart and a "valor" citation, to the three
released P.O.W.'s.
***********************************************
From: A Marine Corps Major
I am absolutely appalled by statements made by Ken Bacon on CNN last light.
His comment that one of the soldiers followed their SOP and abandoned his
weapon when he started taking fire was absolutely incredible. My God, he
was manning a .50 cal. What is the Army teaching these days? Is it Cavalry
SOP to shrink from a fight? Do we no longer allow our soldiers the
Opportunity to defend themselves (or more importantly, require that they
defend themselves)?
The rationalization that the weapon was in 'travel lock' and not prepared
to fire doesn't wash. It takes a couple of seconds to remove the locking
pin from the mount. That shouldn't have been an issue.
Was the weapon not loaded? Why not? They were on a patrol near a border
with a country we were bombing. What could they have been thinking? Or
worse yet, were they actually following orders from some buffoon who
thought he was at Disneyland.
What about the M-16s? I have read that the Serbs were hiding behind a
screen of civilians. So what? Somalia proved that you have to be prepared
to do some distasteful things if you're being engaged by the bad guy. Are
our troops not prepared to take on these tasks?
If this is what we can expect from the troops who are on the ground and
have experience over there, I'm afraid of what will happen with 'green'
troops who arrive to carry out some foolish ground operation.
Am I missing something here?
*************************************************************
From: A Former Army MP
Did you see the AP report about the final investigation about the captured
GIs?
It said that they had a .50 cal. on top of the HUMVEE but it was not
loaded! Spokesman Ken Bacon was attempting to come up with some whitewash
story that said "typically that when you drive you do not have the thing
ready to fire and that they followed the normal rule of getting out of the
line of fire." So they ducked into the vehicle and closed the hatch! What
kind of ROE do they have over there? That is completely nuts to have a
fully functional .50 cal. mounted on a vehicle and not having rounds
chambered!
As a former MP who did countless "Convoy Escort" duty, route recons, and
all kinds of other mounted operations in the Middle East and Europe, it is
possible to travel safely with a loaded weapon mounted on a vehicle. I am
assuming that the Generals in charge over there have there heads up their
third point of contact and have devised some stupid ass ROEs to follow.
Which of course puts everyone involved at risk.
I would like to know what you guys think of this?
==============================================
From: H. Stout, Columbia, South Carolina
I watched the news today and the extensive coverage of the released soldiers.
They said they received 6 awards today including the Purple heart. Now I
don't know what the other awards were and that is not important, but I
question all of them.
I don't believe any of the Vietnam POW's received anything approaching that
after many, many years of captivity.
===================================================
From: J. L. Martin
Having been a colonel, and a decorated combat veteran can you tell what
medal it is that the prisoners are going to receive. My guess is that it's
the old Italian Medal of Honor, the Dyrar Medal.
(DYRAR - short for; Drop Your Rifle and Run.)
==============================================
From: Robert Ball, former Airborne Warrior
I'm beginning to feel that the whole world has gone crazy. Here are these
three kids, snatched without firing a shot from wherever they were,
Macedonia or Kosovo, beaten up, held in captivity, and released.
Now they are given SIX awards, including the Purple Heart and the P.O.W.
Medal, for taking a few lumps?
What the HELL goes on in this country, anyway?
==============================================
From: Three Black Hearts (excerpt)
As you know better than anyone, the Purple Heart (PH) is for wounds
received in combat action in the defense of country.
These three were not defending anything. Justification for the medals was
that they were beaten. Look how many men were beaten for 6 years in
captivity and did not receive the PH.
Some veterans have waited for 30 years to receive their PH for wounds
received in action. One is a Marine buddy of mine who was wounded on Iwo
Jima. In defense of great and sacrificial warriors of the past, please rail
out at this criminal injustice.
Writing congress is a waste of time. They are all PC. Whatever you can do
to correct this injustice will be appreciated.
================================================
From: W.W.G.
I find it unbelievable that the U. S. Army would decorate the three that
elected not to resist. Is there no one in the Army anymore with any smarts?
================================================
>From Allen in Nashville, TN
This is totally stupid giving all these medals to those guys. I've vented
to Senators Frist and Thompson.
================================================
From: Britt
I can't believe the Prisoners of Peacekeeping Action are being awarded
Purple Hearts. I thought the Purple Heart was awarded for injuries received
in "Combat," not while getting lost on the way to the store.
I know when smoke is being blown up my leg, I spent nine months in Hungary,
and Bosnia as part of Operation Joint Endeavor (131st Mobile Public Affairs
Detachment, Alabama Army National Guard), General West (?) was performing
major damage control by hugging his soldiers (how about a salute and a
handshake, oh I forgot it's the new kinder-in-touch Army).
Those three simply had a case of the stupids and wandered into the wrong
neighborhood at the wrong time.
================================================
From: Warren, former Airborne officer, Vietnam
I saw on one of the cable shows yesterday with the three former 'POW's'
standing in Germany, and the voice-over said that each had received six
'awards' or 'medals' (I forget what the announcer said) as a result of
their brief period of captivity. One of the awards was for the Purple Heart
for the 'wounds' they received.
Look, I'm all for recognizing the heroic or meritorious deeds of our
soldiers, anytime, anywhere. But I look at the "wounds" these soldiers
received and I think back to my tours in Vietnam; there's a major
disconnect. I (and I know you have too) saw kids in the 101st wounded under
significant combat situations and get the Purple Heart, and maybe a Bronze
Star. One of my assistant S3s in the 1st of the 501st is paralyzed for life
because of some shrapnel he took in the head in '69; he got a Silver Star
and a Purple Heart. I cannot imagine how he feels about our three young
sergeants getting these six awards.
What's your take on this? Do you know what the "awards" are? Has our
military leadership gone completely haywire? What the hell are they
thinking at the Pentagon these days?
================================================
From: Kitch
I like our POWs, but they need a boot up their ass, not the Purple Heart.
They should have given something to our CINC too; his campaigns with Monica
while on duty, should warrant an award - how about the PURPLE CONDOM.
================================================
From: Bill Cowdrey
Why are the three POW's getting purple hearts? I know they were roughed up
a bit but do you give the purple hearts for that? I personally think it
cheapens the medal, same thing with the infantry soldiers in desert storm
who were given CIB's without any infantry combat. To get the CIB don't you
have to be in a combat environment for something like 100 days?
================================================
From: Glen Ellison, Korean combat veteran, F Co., 27th Reg., 25th Inf. Div.
What the hell is going on here? I understand the draft-dodger is giving out
purple hearts to these three POWs because they got beat up. What did I
miss here?
Mr. Ego, Gen. Clark, states Kosovo is a military operation, not a war. If
it's not a war then the three must not be POWs?
I was wounded in Korea, but I did not want the purple hearts because I
didn't feel the wounds were serious enough. I never left Fox Co, The
Wolfhounds or go to the rear. We both know you are going to get some bumps
and scratches in any serious combat.
=================================================
From: Deran
I can understand the giving of a Purple Heart -- everyone saw their
"wounds" (beaten up) -- and maybe with an explanation the NATO cross, too.
But what about the other four?
These guys were taken prisoner with barely a fight, and they're getting six
medals each? Like the rest of the Kosovo follies, there is something
dysfunctional about this. It seemingly makes being taken prisoner more
militarily rewarding.
==================================================
From: Ken Estes
The cover-ups and excuses continue over the case of the three stooges,
newly returned from their POW tour in Serbia. Their CG, 1st Armored Div.
left me agape on last night's press conference, when he stated that they
had been using standard CALVARY tactics when captured, that nothing was
wrong, etc. Calvary? I guess the general had come up via the Chaplain Corps.
Funny, every armor school course I ever took stressed the tactics of mutual
support; two vehicles minimum on patrol, fire support, reserve, etc. These
guys must have been in it for their education, but at least came away with
two complete rows of decorations!
(For more on medals, decorations, and P.O.W. issues of Hacks, visit his
archive site at his homepage - hackworth.com.)
====================================================
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